The EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), despite its shortcomings, can support national and local governments in curbing Europe’s out-of-control packaging crisis, a report published today by the Rethink Plastic alliance shows.
Through analysis of the PPWR and other relevant EU legislation, such as the Single-Use Plastics Directive (SUPD), the report outlines how Member States can best implement and raise the ambition of packaging reduction rules, including:
- Set higher and broader reuse targets for the sectors included in the PPWR, as well as targets for additional packaging sectors, such as binding reuse targets for the takeaway sector.
- Set fiscal/economic incentives to support the transition from single-use to reusable packaging systems, such as environmental taxes on economic operators, consumer-facing levies, and ring-fencing the funds to support reuse and waste prevention measures.
- Enhance Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), by including litter clean-up costs in the EPR fees for all single-use packaging types and earmarking a percentage, e.g. at least 10%, of the EPR fees to supporting waste prevention activities, including reuse packaging systems.
- Introduce a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) as soon as possible: the PPWR mandates a separate collection level of 90% for plastic bottles and metal cans. Only a DRS can achieve this target.
- Invest in identifying substances of concern that negatively affect reuse and recycling of packaging materials and pose risks to human health and the environment.
The report, ‘Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation Implementation: A roadmap for national and local governments to slash record levels of packaging waste,’ is from the Rethink Plastic alliance with Break Free From Plastic, Zero Waste Europe, ClientEarth (Europe), Environmental Coalition on Standards (ECOS), Fair Resource Foundation, and the European Environmental Bureau (EEB).
