The EU’s draft packaging rules are unfair. They can still be changed [Promoted content]

Few votes in the European Parliament have generated as much heat as the one on Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) that took place in Strasbourg last month. MEPs were subject to intense lobbying from different industry sectors, NGOs, governments and other policy bodies that sought to influence their decision.

Simon Spillane, Head of Operations, The Brewers of Europe.

It was perhaps inevitable that the result was a flawed version of the legislation that failed to correct the preferential treatment for some sectors. 

In the case of the drinks industry, the proposals voted through by the European Parliament undermined basic aims, such as setting fair rules for cutting packaging across the EU. The draft PPWR now discriminates against some sectors, like beer. 

However, this is not the end of the legislative journey for the planned rules. There is still plenty of time to fix the PPWR, starting with today’s meeting of Member State ambassadors, preparing the path for Environment Ministers to agree on a so-called General Approach at the Environment Council meeting on December 18. 

Afterwards, the Parliament, Council and Commission versions of the legislation will need to be reconciled, which is why we are at a critical stage when the PPWR can and should be changed. 

What needs to be done? 

The overall aim of the PPWR is to reduce the scourge of needless and excessive packaging and it is certainly what Europe’s beer sector is doing: we have introduced sustainability into our own value chain, and we lead by example when it comes to reducing, reusing and recycling packaging. We make sure our bottles are returned and our cans recycled, while beer sold in bars and restaurants is served on tap from endlessly reusable barrels.

One of the problems with the Council’s draft PPWR text as it currently stands is how it deals with alcoholic beverages at large, whether it be with regard to reuse and refill targets or in relation to obligations around deposit return systems. Simply put, beer brewers will be faced with unjust demands and extra costs compared to competing alcoholic drink sectors. 

This is about discrimination. There is no objective justification for having an uneven playing field – this favouritism goes against the EU’s basic principles of a free and fair Single Market. Indeed, the principle of non-discrimination is at the heart of the EU rulebook: when it comes to competing products, in the PPWR there should be no difference in treatment.

Yet beer and other alcoholic beverages (especially wine) are obviously competing products vis-à-vis the consumer. Their respective treatment should not introduce any unjustified distortion of competition. This basic principle of market fairness has been upheld by the EU Case Law on numerous occasions. 

Just as rules in the PPWR should apply to all alcoholic beverage sectors without exception, if exemptions are provided, then they must apply to all alcoholic beverage categories. 

We believe that this oversight can still be corrected. This egregious discrimination can be removed from the text. Beer cannot be the only alcoholic drink obliged to deliver on packaging reuse targets and bound by rules around deposit return systems.

Let’s be clear. We need a level playing field in packaging legislation, where beer and other alcoholic beverages play by the same rules. If the EU is to meet its ambitions in terms of environmental sustainability, circularity and packaging waste reduction, it needs legislation that is fair.

If category-wide exemptions for wines and spirits are to be introduced for situations that are neither common to the entirety of those sectors nor exclusive to those sectors, then they must also include the beer sector to avoid distorting the market and for the benefit of fair competition. 

Finally, it is critical that the PPWR build on best practise and ensure that misguided rules or governance do not discourage best practice packaging such as kegs. The legislation also cannot provoke the dismantling of well-functioning existing collection systems, be they well-established reuse systems set up and supported by the brewers in many countries or efficient recycling collection systems already in place in others.

We brewers are proud of our record on sustainability. We lead the way in recycling, reuse and reduction. The EU now needs to ensure a fair regulatory framework that encourages brewers and other sectors to continue to step up in support of cutting packaging waste.