A number of leaks in the build up to the proposals saw heavy lobbying from industry, resulting in environmental ambition and targets being watered down.
Packaging law keeps an eye on reuse
For a sector hungry for natural resources and producing record levels of waste, the proposal for a new packaging regulation represents an important shift towards waste prevention, reuse, and recycling.
New targets are proposed for reuse in a number of sectors, including beverages, take-away food, and transportation. This is supported by an overall waste prevention target of 5% by 2030 and 10% by 2035.”Today’s proposals to support packaging waste prevention, reuse, and closed-loop recycling are urgently needed given the historic levels of waste Europe faces. Parliament and Council must focus on improving the proposals so that genuine reuse and recycling can be scaled up, avoiding fake solutions”, says Jean-Pierre Schweitzer, Deputy Manager Circular Economy.
To support the European objective of making all packaging recyclable by 2030, design for recycling requirements are introduced to remove difficult-to-recycle packaging from the market.
Measures lost ambition compared to a previous draft widely circulated. Reuse targets were reduced by as much as 50%, a ban on expanded polystyrene has been dropped, and technical details on the approach to defining recyclability were scaled back.
The missing puzzle piece: green claims
Over half of European citizens are interested in making sustainable choices, which has led to a flood of green claims on more than three quarters of products in the EU. However, according to authorities, 42% of online claims are potentially misleading and 59% lack easily accessible evidence.
Despite the growing prevalence of “greenwashing,” the initiative on green claims saw itself booted out of the Circular Economy package for a second time. This means yet another delay in establishing clear requirements for environmental claims and labels, which should be based on robust standards and holistic assessment methods, including the substitution of hazardous chemicals and biodiversity protection.
“The EU needs to urgently regulate the jungle of green claims and labels. Greenwashing does not only sow confusion and distrust among consumers, it also undermines the efforts of businesses that provide genuinely green products and services. A further delay of this initiative is bad news, as it slows down progress of the Circular Economy Action Plan to empower consumers and public buyers for the green transition”, states Blanca Morales, Senior Policy Officer for EU Ecolabel
Further delays to right to repair
Despite soaring living costs and years of citizen calls for repairable electronics, the proposal for the right to repair was once again delayed and left out of this Circular Economy package. By delaying the legislation, the Commission is leaving consumers unprotected when it comes to affordable and accessible repairs, wasting precious resources in a growing mountain of hazardous e-waste.
