Belgium (Brussels Morning Newspaper), The pulp and paper industry in the EU has welcomed a key vote on the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR).
They say the vote, the EU Parliament, supports the trilogue agreement and “avoids delaying” the legislative process.
The last step will be a final confirmation of the agreement by the EU Council.
The move comes after an intensive democratic process and Cepi, the European association representing the paper industry, says “it is now time to start working towards the objectives the PPWR has set for the packaging industry.”
The objectives outlined in this week’s agreement as adopted by the European Parliament suppose for the EU’s national recycling systems to ramp up their performance, while packaging rules should become more harmonized under the EU Single Market.
To ensure timely compliance with the new regulation from its entry into force, the packaging industry and its many customers say they will need to “work hand in hand” with local authorities in charge of implementing the legislation, notably on the collection of recycling materials, a key factor in increasing the EU’s recycling rate.
Any delays threaten the industry’s capacity to comply with the regulation promptly and meet its ambitions, says Cepi.
The pulp and paper industry says it now urges EU Member States to endorse the agreement in the Council when they cast their vote on the file in autumn.
Jori Ringman, Cepi Director General, said, “Our position is to support the PPWR’s agreement and its adoption without delays. Everyone needs legal certainty to meet the very ambitious objectives set in the PPWR.”
However, other groups are not so pleased with the outcome.
Zero Waste Europe, ECOS, and the Rethink Plastic alliance said they are “baffled by the European Parliament’s failure to back the ENVI committee’s call for robust sustainability safeguards for defining recycled content.”
The environmental groups said “such short-sightedness undermines” the provisions on recycled content accounting that were approved in the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) the same day in the plenary.
A statement from the alliance said, “The European Parliament rejected a much-needed proposal to clarify the recycling technology hierarchy, failing to introduce rigorous safeguards in the definition of recycled content and not protecting the recycling industry from unfair imports of recycled plastics in the EU.”
Lauriane Veillard, Chemical Recycling and Plastic-to-Fuels Policy Officer at Zero Waste Europe said,“The European Parliament today may as well have voted blindfolded. They have ignored the loud and clear concerns of environmentalist voices. By rejecting this resolution, MEPs are essentially handing European consumers an umbrella full of holes in a rainstorm of greenwashing. It’s more than a missed opportunity–it’s a direct hit against consumers, SMEs, and local recycling businesses.”
Mathilde Crêpy, Head of Environmental Transparency at Environmental Coalition on Standards, added, “The European Parliament has just opened the door for companies to cook the books on plastic for the SUPD and other future European implementing acts on recycled content. This decision will trigger a cascade of misleading green claims on recycled plastics.”
