2023-11-22 19:45:18
Putting an end to the waste represented by packaging waste is the fight launched by Brussels. The European Commission has put on the table a draft regulation which aims to ensure that all of our packaging waste becomes recyclable or reusable by 2030.
It provides for the elimination of unnecessary packaging and sector-by-sector objectives. This is an ambitious text which shakes up a certain number of economic sectors, so much so that it gave rise to intense lobbying in Strasbourg before the European Parliament’s vote on this project, this Wednesday, November 22. “Usually, on texts which concern the environment, the European Parliament is more ambitious than the European Commission. But there, on the contrary, we saw the MEPs weakening the text proposed by the Commissionregrets Lionel Cheylus, spokesperson for Surfrider, an NGO which campaigns for the protection of the oceans. Parliament sided with the disposable manufacturers. »
188 kg of packaging waste per year for each European
In 2021, each European threw away an average of 188 kg of packaging waste. They were made of 40% cardboard and paper, 20% plastic, 20% glass, 15% wood and 5% metal. This weight continues to increase: it is 11 kg more in one year, and 32 kg in ten years. If nothing is done, each European will throw away 209 kg of packaging per year in 2030…
The reason for this inflation is the development of distance selling and the evolution of the agri-food industry. Defenders of the text argue that packaging often hides the fact that the quantity of product contained in a box is decreasing, so that the consumer is not aware of inflation.
The Commission’s project intends to force manufacturers to reduce their packaging with the objective of producing 5% less in 2030 and 15% less in 2040. To do this, the text plans to ban a certain number of packagings. single use, such as miniature bottles of soap in the hotel industry, sachets of sugar or ketchup given in cafes and restaurants. It will also fight against empty spaces in boxes and double bottoms.
355 billion euros in turnover for the packaging sector
The text also sets ambitious recycling and reuse targets: at least 90% of packaging materials must be collected separately by 2029, and all packaging sold should be recyclable from 2030. The text also provides for a deposit system for plastic bottles and aluminum cans when their collection rate does not reach 85%.
But the debate in Parliament showed how difficult changing behavior will be for a certain number of sectors, while the packaging sector represents 355 billion euros in turnover per year in Europe. “Industrialists led a campaign to dilute the text, revise its objectives downwards and obtain exemptions”, denounces the Rethink Plastic coalition. During the committee examination, the reuse objectives for wine bottles and takeaway food containers, for example, disappeared from the text.
The battle of the fast food restaurants
“Representatives of fast food restaurants and the paper and cardboard industries have spoken out extensively against the ban on single-use packaging,” says Diane Beaumenay-Joannet, from the NGO Surfrider. The European text plans to ban disposable tableware in fast food in all establishments which employ more than ten people. The measure follows what has already been done in France with the anti-waste law, which prohibits single-use tableware in all establishments with more than 20 seats.
“It is essential that the European Union adopts this ban, judge Pascal Canfin, Renew MEP. If this is not the case, we risk seeing fast food restaurants return to the charge in France, to request exemptions. » The MEP also intervened to help the wooden Camembert box. She was threatened by the text, because it is not recycled. An amendment tabled by the MP provides for an exemption.
The Council of Heads of State and Government should now give its position on this text, probably in December. It will then be the subject of a compromise between the Council and Parliament, before its final adoption.
—
Packaging represents more than a third of the waste collected
Packaging waste represented 66 million tonnes in 2009 within the European Union and 78.5 million tonnes in 2019, an overall increase of 19% in ten years.
40% plastics and 50% paper used in Europe are for packaging. These represent 36% of solid waste collected.
A plastic cup has an average usage time of thirteen minutes before being thrown away.
Plastic (+27%) and paper and cardboard (+25%) are the two waste streams that have seen the strongest growth since 2009.
#reusable #packaging