Circular economy and plastics become EU priorities
In addition to addressing waste and recycling, the EU adopted also comprehensive, material-specific strategies and legislation, in particular for plastics. In January 2018, the European Commission published the European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy, which sets for the first time a vision for EU’s new plastics economy. It states that by 2030, all plastic packaging placed on the EU market should be reusable or recyclable. The Strategy announces multiple actions e.g. to boost product design and recycled content, to improve separate collection of plastic waste, investment and innovation, and to reduce single-use plastics.
These measures include: bans of certain single-use plastic items (e.g. straws, cutlery, plates), consumption reduction targets, labelling and design requirements as well as awareness raising measures. Mandatory recycled content is introduced for the first time in EU legislation, of 25% in PET bottles from 2025 and 30% in all bottles from 2030. The new directive also sets a 90% separate collection target for single-use beverage bottles to be achieved by 2029. Deposit-return schemes are recommended in the directive as a way to achieve these targets. The directive furthermore extends EPR requirements to cover also the costs of litter clean-up and awareness raising.
Sustainability is at the forefront of core policy for many countries around the world, including the EU and its Member States. Such ambitions have also been confirmed by the European Commission’s President-designate Ursula von der Leyen, who has pointed to the “European Green Deal” as one of her priorities. Circular economy and plastics pollution will continue to be among the priorities for the next European Commission, which is said to take office in December 2019. Von der Leyen has announced several actions to further stimulate circular economy in the EU, such as the second circular economy action plan, focusing on priority sectors like construction, textile, food, mobility and ICT, expanding eco-design, decreasing over-packaging, establishing a regulatory framework for biodegradability, and tackling microplastics. The Commission is currently also looking into revising the essential requirements for packaging for more reuse and recycling, and is preparing a guidance document on EPR, which will include eco-modulation of EPR fees. By end 2024, it will look into introducing new targets for reuse, construction and demolition waste, commercial waste, textile waste and other. Moreover, the EU is currently considering a tax on plastic packaging waste. According to the upcoming Environment Commissioner, the new European Commission will be the greenest Europe has ever seen.
The EU has set ambitious goals and objectives which Member States will have to implement in the coming years. TOMRA Leads conference in June 2019 in Bulgaria provided a great place to showcase the latest plastic recycling technology, which can help Member States achieve the EU ambitions to transition towards a truly circular plastics economy, a key objective of the European Plastics Strategy and also one of the priorities for the next European Commission.