Following the member states„ approval of the compromise on the amendments to the EU Packaging Regulation, manufacturers are criticising the changes. The IK Industrievereinigung Kunststoffverpackungen e.V. criticises the “mirror clause", among other things.
After the EU member states agreed on 15 March to the compromise on changes to the EU Packaging Regulation (PPWR), manufacturers of plastic packaging are criticising the fact that the PPWR continues to be numerous unfounded loopholes. The unjustified privileges enjoyed by paper and cardboard packaging, for example, when it comes to bans, the use of recyclates and reusable packaging obligations lead to more packaging waste, higher CO2-emissions and less recycling - a contradiction to the objectives of the regulation.
Furthermore, in the opinion of the IK through the short-term „mirror clause“ on massive trade conflicts to. The clause stipulates that the same environmental requirements as in the EU must apply to the manufacturing process for plastic recyclates and therefore to the import of goods packaged in plastic from third countries so that they can be placed on the market in the EU.
„We are appalled that the PPWR is to be transformed into an anti-plastics regulation,“ criticises IK Managing Director Dr Martin Engelmann. „The Commission's continued silence on the changes is unacceptable. We are calling on the Commission to disclose its concerns, particularly with regard to trade barriers. It should also clarify that the massive expansion of the reusable quotas for industrial packaging to 100% is technically impossible in many cases and ecologically nonsensical and amounts to a ban on many types of packaging.“
Dr Martin EngelmannManaging Director of the IK
At the same time, the IK continues to demand Same rules for all packaging materials, to avoid ecological misdirection. The association sees the Commission's review of the compromise as an opportunity to establish clear and, above all, legally secure regulations and thus avoid a wave of lawsuits.
„Food packaging made of paper and cardboard, for example, usually cannot do without a plastic coating, as uncoated fibres cannot retain moisture or grease. Compared to pure plastic packaging, however, they are significantly less recyclable and are also 40 per cent heavier on average, which has a negative impact on energy consumption. The fact that they are excluded from many regulations leads to an undesirable development on the market and contradicts the EU's principle of equal treatment.“
Dr Isabell Schmidt, Managing Director Circular Economy at the IK
The association finds it incomprehensible, for example, that Plastic-coated packaging with less than 5 per cent plastic content excluded from the recyclate use quotas and would not have to fulfil the requirements for large-scale recycling. It will also be possible to continue eating out of plastic-coated disposable packaging in fast food restaurants in future, while pure plastic packaging is to be banned.
The IK, its members and other associations have already publicly pointed out the dramatic ecological shortcomings caused by material-discriminatory regulations on several occasions. The positions are supported by studies on material efficiency and environmental impact and, most recently, by a legal opinion from the law firm Dentons on the legally unfounded unequal treatment of plastic packaging.
Source: IK Industrievereinigung Kunststoffverpackungen e.V. (Industrial Association for Plastic Packaging)
