The EU Council, Parliament and Commission have agreed on a regulation to reduce unintentional pellet losses.
 

The new rules aim to minimise the accidental release of plastic pellets along the supply chain, both on land and at sea, and to reduce environmental pollution from microplastics. The negotiations were based on a legislative proposal from the European Commission. The Parliament and Council must now formally adopt the agreed rules before they can come into force. The new rules will apply 24 months, or 36 months for sea transport, after the regulation comes into force.
 
In order to reduce the administrative burden on small businesses, the European Commission had advocated limiting the certification requirements to companies that process more than 1,500 tonnes of plastic pellets per year, according to a statement from the Commission. This threshold has now been adopted by the Council and Parliament: according to the regulation, operators who process more than 1,500 tonnes of plastic pellets per year must obtain a certificate from an independent third party. For companies that handle less than 1,500 tonnes per year, as well as micro-enterprises, it is sufficient to submit a self-declaration of compliance. The new rules also require non-EU transport companies, in addition to EU transport companies, to follow handling measures to prevent, contain and eliminate pellet losses. According to the EU Commission, the measures in the regulation are based on industry best practices. For example, attention must be paid to the quality of the packaging used during packaging, loading and unloading, as well as during transport. According to the regulation, containment facilities such as drip pans must be used for spilled granules. If microplastics have entered the environment, companies must use suction devices with sufficient capacity to collect them. The regulation also contains provisions for labelling the transport of plastic granules, as well as guidelines on what to do in the event of accidents or leaks and who needs to be informed.
 
In an initial assessment, Virginia Janssen, Managing Director of PlasticsEurope, the association of European plastics manufacturers, welcomes the agreement on the Pellet Regulation. The new rules rest on the voluntary industry initiative Operation Clean Sweep® to prevent plastic pellet loss and will support the industry's prevention goals, says Janssen. The pragmatic approach of the legislation was based on best practices and will help to minimise the additional regulatory burden on industry. PlasticsEurope calls on the European Parliament and the Council to confirm the agreement reached in a timely manner so that a final legislative text can be published as quickly as possible and legal certainty created for companies.
 
The BDE Bundesverband der Deutschen Entsorgungs-, Wasser- und Kreislaufwirtschaft (Federation of German Waste, Water and Recycling Industries) has also explicitly welcomed the agreement in a statement. BDE President Anja Siegesmund explains: ‘From the BDE's point of view, a workable and practical compromise has been reached that skilfully combines environmental protection and economic feasibility – in particular through the recognition of existing environmental management systems.’ In the view of the BDE, the new regulation is based on a risk-based approach that relies on corporate responsibility. In the future, companies would be able to choose individual measures to prevent pellet losses – tailored to the size of the company, its structure and specific risk factors.
 
Sources:

• Press release EU Council (8.4.2025)
• Press release European Commission, Press release PlasticsEurope, Press release BDE (9.4.2025)
• Photo: © Christian Lue / Unsplash