Revised Circular Economy package to focus on waste management, higher recycling targets, product design and innovation & research
The announcement was made during Plastics Recyclers Europe (PRE) AGM in Brussels (June 18-19) and the package will include a legislative proposal on waste targets, taking into account ‘comments made by many that the previous waste proposal needed to be more country-specific’.
A more competitive resource-efficient economy
The Circular Economy Package will transform Europe into a more competitive resource-efficient economy, addressing a range of economic sectors in addition to waste.
The approach is two-fold: Focusing on waste targets and building a roadmap for further action on upstream: in the production and use phase, before products become waste; and downstream: after products are no longer waste, looking at what can be done to encourage and develop a market for recycled products.
Jane Muncke, managing director, Food Packaging Forum Foundation (FPF), told FoodProductionDaily the revision is a positive move and in line with society’s environmental goals.
“The challenge however, will be to keep hazardous chemicals out of materials that are to be recycled, because it will be impossible to manage the risk otherwise,” she said.
“For example, brominated flame retardants (used for example in electronics plastics) are not authorized for use in food contact materials because they are highly persistent and of concern for health.
“Yet, they have been found in food contact materials in Europe and elsewhere, likely because these articles had been made from recycled plastics.
“If we want to avoid people being exposed to such chemicals of concern we need to restrict their presence in plastics for all applications—this concept is known as “source control”. It is central to successful, practical recycling.”
Increased EU Plastics Recycling Targets Environmental, Economic and Social Assessment
Speaking at PRE Veller said it estimates not just plastic but waste prevention, eco-design, re‑use, recycling and similar measures could bring net savings of €600bn, or 8% of the annual turnover for businesses in the EU.
Also at the AGM, PRE released a study: Increased EU Plastics Recycling Targets Environmental, Economic and Social Assessment, which argues Greenhouse Gas savings of plastic recycling could result in 11.5% less emissions produced by the EU plastics industry by 2025.
The study claims to achieve the recycling target of 60% for plastic packaging by 2025 as many as 250 sorting facilities and 300 recycling plants will be needed in Europe to meet its target.
Ton Emans, PRE president, said as much as 74% of plastics waste in Europe is still not managed in a sustainable way, either by landfilling or incinerating it.
