Food packaging-and more generally, food contact objects and materials-are at the center of the EU Circular Economy Package. The ABC of the four new directives, below.
Thecircular economy expresses an economic model where residues that result from production and consumption activities are reintegrated into the production cycle. In a logic of full resource regeneration in order to reduce human impact on the environment.
The European Union has been active on several fronts in recent years to promote this economic model. Public funding in research, environmentally friendly design of goods, quality of secondary raw materials, reuse of wastewater, prevention of waste and recovery of waste generated.
Circular economy package, the four new directives on waste
The ‘circular economy package’ includes four reforms, approved on 18.4.18 by the European Parliament (rapporteur Simona Bonafè, Socialists and Democrats Group). Which significantly affect key EU waste regulations:
– Directive 2008/98/EC (waste framework directive),
– dir. 94/62/EC (packaging and packaging waste),
– dir. 1999/31/EC (landfills),
– Directives 2003/53(EC (end-of-life vehicles), 2006/66/EC (batteries, accumulators and waste), 2012/19/EU (WEEE, waste electrical and electronic equipment).
The four new directives were finally approved, by the Council, on 5/22/18. They will have to be transposed by member states within 24 months of their entry into force.
Member states will have to adopt specific measures whose priorities relate to prevention, reuse and recycling as alternatives to landfilling and incineration. Measures as ambitious as necessary to adapt waste legislation to current and upcoming environmental protection challenges.
Packaging waste and others, targets set in EU
Europe, thanks to the aforementioned legislative reforms, now leads the way globally in waste regulation. Next are the targets agreed upon by the member states.
About packaging waste, the specific recycling targets are as follows:
| By 2025 | By 2030 | |
| All types of packaging | 65% | 70% |
| Plastic | 50% | 55% |
| Wood | 25% | 30% |
| Ferrous metals | 70% | 80% |
| Aluminum | 50% | 60% |
| Glass | 70% | 75% |
| Paper and cardboard | 75% | 85% |
For municipal waste, recycling targets are set at 55% by 2025, 60% by 2030, 65% in 2035.
The criteria for calculating recycling quotas are also tightened to more closely monitor actual progress toward the circular economy model.
The new recycling collection rules will expand the existing obligation to sort paper and cardboard, glass, metals and plastics. With the aim of improving the quality of secondary raw materials and promoting their reuse. Thus, they will have to be collected separately:
– Household hazardous waste (by 2022),
– organic waste (2023),
– textiles (2025).
Prevention is the key element of the new EU legislation, which sets ambitious targets for food waste and marine litter, among other things. To help achieve the sustainable development goals set by the United Nations.
Therefore, all wastes suitable for reuse, recycling or other recovery, including those contained in municipal waste, will not have to be accepted in landfills from 2030.
Packaging, the responsibilities of manufacturers
Producer responsibility is extended, albeit incrementally, to the stage at which goods reach the final stage leading to reuse or recycling (where possible, as an alternative to landfill).
The producer is thus called upon to help cover the costs of collecting, transporting and treating a variety of waste, as well as the general costs of cleaning up the coasts and seas. We refer, in particular, to food and beverage containers (rigid or flexible), glasses, filter cigarettes, tampons, wet wipes, balloons, plastic bags, and fishing nets.
Some products will have to carry information on their packaging about adverse effects of plastic waste, as is the case with cigarettes on human health: tampons, wet wipes, and balloons.
Luca Foltran and Dario Dongo
Expert in packaging and materials intended to come into contact with food substances and related legislative changes. He manages the information site foodcontactmaterials.info on European and extra-European regulations in the field of materials intended for contact with food.
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
