The industry association calls on Brussels to show ecological foresight in the new regulation of the packaging market.

 

On Wednesday, the EU Commission had presented its proposal for a new EU Packaging Regulation, which, in the view of the IK Industrievereinigung Kunststoffverpackungen, is intended to radically reorganize the European packaging market. In an initial statement, the IK supports the Commission's proposals on the recyclability of packaging and packaging reduction. "On the way to a European circular market economy, we welcome uniform European rules for the design-for-recycling of packaging. They strengthen the circular economy and the common EU internal market," comments IK managing director and circular economy expert Dr. Isabell Schmidt on the present draft. "The Commission's thrust is also in line with our stance of using as much packaging as necessary and as little as possible. The requirement to minimize packaging and the promotion of reusable packaging offer opportunities for lightweight and material-efficient plastic packaging. However, a prerequisite is overcoming plastic bashing for fair competition among materials." Among other things, the draft envisages recyclate use quotas of 25 to 50 percent from 2030 - including for food packaging. According to its statement, the IK considers these to be problematic. It is true that quotas provide investment impetus for recycling, which is to be welcomed. But these could not be met equally for all packaging. "For contact-sensitive plastic packaging, such as food packaging, there are hardly any approved recyclates today. Even chemical recycling will not be able to close this gap in the foreseeable future," says Schmidt. The industry also fears supply bottlenecks for other segments. The IK is also very concerned about the enormous amount of bureaucracy that would be created for companies by the new regulations of the Packaging Ordinance and the high level of monitoring required by the authorities.

 

In an overview, the IK has summarized its positions on what it considers to be particularly relevant points such as design-for-recycling, recyclate use and reuse quotas, and reductions and bans on packaging.

 

Further information: newsroom.kunststoffverpackungen.de
 

Sources:

• kunststoffverpackungen.de (Nov. 30, 2022)
• Photo: © IK