Packaging Packaging Waste Regulation
Billi Plancarte
Although the implementation of these rules has been considered a success, the amount of packaging waste in the EU is still increasing, and too many of our finite resources are being wasted without being recirculated into the economy.
EU rules on packaging cover all types of packaging and packaging waste placed on the European market. This means all materials, and packaging including industrial, commercial, household and other sectors.
These rules regulate what kind of packaging can be placed on the EU market, as well as packaging waste management and packaging waste prevention measures. All packaging placed on the EU market has to comply with essential requirements related to its manufacturing, composition, and reusable or recoverable nature.
Among other rules, by end of 2024, EU countries should ensure that producer responsibility schemes are established for all packaging. The Directive also sets the following specific targets for recycling.
The Inception Impact Assessment was published on 11 June 2020 with a feedback period up to 6 August. A Study on the Effectiveness of the essential requirements for packaging and packaging waste and proposals for their reinforcement was completed in early 2020. In addition to targeted stakeholder consultations and interviews as well as several workshops, an open public consultation was held from September 2020 to 6 January 2021 and concluded with almost 500 responses from general public and stakeholders.
Following years of assessments, discussions, stakeholder meetings and intense trilogue consultations, on April 24, 2024, the European Parliament adopted the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) at first reading, which should contribute to the transition to a circular economy. Once in full effect, the PPWR will replace the Packaging Directive 94/62/EC.
Percentages of recycled plastics content in packaging. Any plastic part of packaging placed on the market, in future, must contain a minimum percentage of recycled content, recovered from post-consumer plastic waste, and calculated as an average per manufacturing plant and year (Art. 7 PPWR). The minimum percentages differ depending on packaging type, such as:
Article 7(3) PPWR requires that packaging and packaged products imported into the EU from third countries must also comply with the minimum recycled content requirements. In addition, imports may enter the market only when originating from a country that has equivalent rules concerning the prevention and reduction of emissions into air, water and land associated with recycling operations. It remains to be seen, whether third countries see these requirements as violating World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, and seek to challenge them in WTO dispute settlement against the EU.
EU conformity declaration. The PPWR will require packaging manufacturers to issue a declaration of conformity for packaging before placing it on the market. That declaration requires an assessment that the packaging complies with Art. 5-12 PPWR (Art. 15, 39 PPWR). The declaration must follow a specific format and content and must be kept and provided to authorities upon request for 5 years after placing single-use packaging on the market and 10 years after reusable packaging is placed on the market.
Notable exemptions exist for all re-use targets, e.g., cardboard boxes, packaging used for the transport of dangerous goods and certain food contact packaging are generally excluded from these re-use targets as well as packaging of certain beverages (in particular wine products). Further, final distributors having a sales area of not more than 100 m are exempt.
Refill/re-use systems in the HORECA sector. The PPWR will require final distributors in the HORECA sector offering beverages or ready-prepared food in take-away packaging (of all materials) to provide the option of refill and re-use systems to consumers at no higher costs and no less favorable conditions than beverages and food in single-use packaging (Art. 32, 33 PPWR). Final distributors must inform end consumers about these possibilities at the point of sale. For German final distributors, this will lead to changes of the existing obligations under 33 of the German Packaging Act (VerpackG), which already covers single-use beverage cups of all materials, but so far is limited to single-use plastic packaging for food.
Extended producer responsibility. Articles 44-47 PPWR introduce extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging producers, e.g., in the form of financial participation in the costs of collecting, sorting, and recycling packaging waste (Art. 8, 8a Waste Directive 2008/98/EG). Producers may delegate their EPR obligations to PROs. Reporting duties will become significantly more complex.
Return, collection and deposit return systems. Articles 48-50 PPWR require Member States to set up systems and infrastructure for the return and separate collection of all packaging waste from end users to facilitate its preparation for re-use and high-quality recycling.
Furthermore, every Member State is required to establish, by January 1, 2029, deposit and return systems to ensure the separate collection of single use plastic beverage bottles and single use metal beverage containers with a capacity of up to three liters. These deposit and return systems need to ensure the separate collection of at least 90% per year by weight of the respective packaging. Notable exemptions exist for wine products, alcohol-based spirituous beverages, milk, and milk products as well as the option for Member States to exempt packaging with capacities lower than 0,1 liters, as well as national deposit and return systems already established. Stakeholders in Germany are already familiar with such systems as nationwide return and collection systems as well as a nationwide deposit and return system are already established.
Green public procurement. Article 63 PPWR sets out minimum mandatory requirements for public contracts in which the packaging or packaged products represent more than 30% of the estimated contract value or of the value of products used by the services object of the contract. As the EU Commission is asked to adopt implementing acts specifying these minimum requirements, it remains to be seen how this measure will affect future public procurement procedures in the Member States.
After an almost two-year discussion, the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) was voted on April 24th, 2024. While the final text is said to have been watered down from its initial environmental ambition, the prevention and reuse measures show a good step forward in reducing waste.
First introduced as a Directive in 1994 and continuously amended since, the PPWR has been under discussion since 2022 to set ambitious yet realistic reduction, reuse, and recycling targets to decrease the amount of packaging waste and improve end-of-life options.
While the Directive needed transposition by all EU Member States in their own legislation and mainly dealt with recycling and managing waste, today, we witness the vote for a regulation directly applicable in all EU countries to prevent waste from being generated in the first place. With reuse measures, market restriction bans, deposit-return scheme obligations, and more, the Regulation goes a step further in setting a clear direction for packaging and recycling in the EU and throughout the world.
Since the PPWR draft was published in November 2022, discussions have been marked by unprecedented lobbying (see our article from November 2023) from industry leaders and environmental organizations. The final vote took place on April 24th after disagreements between the three legislative EU bodies on two specific subjects: the EU origin of recycled content and the plastic-centered aspect of the law.
According to the Waste Hierarchy Framework, reduction should be the most effective and privileged solution to decrease the environmental impact of packaging and decrease the total amount of packaging waste generated each year.
While these targets and obligations constitute strong enablers for packaging circularity, they can imply huge transformations for companies. To ease the transition toward a more circular economy, prevention and eco-design plans (already mandatory in some countries) can be an effective and methodological way to set and achieve an ambitious circular strategy that not only complies with regulation but also goes the extra mile.
The PPWR vote is an important step to help transition our way of producing, distributing, and consuming towards more circularity. By setting strong obligations in the short and medium term, the text enables whole industries to implement reuse systems, innovative and more circular packaging solutions and more.
Our sustainability and packaging experts can support you in understanding current and upcoming regulation and its impact on your portfolio and provide you with the right insights on how to transform and reduce the environmental impact of your packaging.
The Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation is the result of nearly two years of discussions and lobbying between the EU legislation bodies, industry representatives and environmental NGOs. It aims to reduce packaging by setting reduction targets and banning several packaging by 2030. It also requires the development of reuse systems and separate collection targets by 2029 for specific products. Keeping up with the evolving legal framework is a necessary step for companies to ensure compliance over time, not just in regard to the PPWR but also with the broader EU regulation landscape (CSRD and EU Taxonomy).
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