Yesterday, the EU Parliament’s Environment Committee adopted a contradictory position that endangers packaging waste circularity and Europe’s recycling industry.

EuRIC welcomes the recyclability provisions, mechanical recycling prioritisation, revision of the recycled content targets not based on prices, mandatory collection quotas, and more stringent compostable packaging rules. While positive developments were made, a striking contradiction with the EU’s circularity objectives emerged. We warn that relying solely on self-declaration for recycled content won’t cut it for EU compliance or shield our industry from unfair competition. We need mandatory third-party verification.

Granting priority access for producers to recycled materials would strangle competition and breach EU law, hampering innovation. Facilitating monopolistic aspirations from one industry in the name of addressing an alleged availability issue is a deceptive idea with massive perverse effects.

We also strongly oppose the bio-based plastic feedstock amendment. Mixing sourcing of plastics with its end-of-life treatment would undermine the recycling content targets ’efficiency and vital investments in R&D.

It’s time to shift focus towards measures that address the core challenges of the circular economy, laying down the groundwork for building robust collection and recycling infrastructure in Europe. ENVI’s final text, whilst improving recyclability provisions, opens the door to undermining efficiency and packaging circularity objectives at EU level. This step in the wrong direction should be reversed in the plenary session.

Note to editor:

For press-related enquiries, please contact Zoi Didili, EuRIC Communication Advisor, by email at zdidili@euric.org or by phone at +32 (0) 489 09 46 02.  The European Recycling Industries’ Confederation (EuRIC) is the umbrella organisation for the recycling industries in Europe. Through its 75 members from 23 European countries, EuRIC represents more than 5,500 large companies and SMEs involved in the recycling and trade of various resource streams. They represent a contribution of 95 billion EUR to the EU economy and 300,000 green and local jobs. By turning waste into resources, recycling reintroduces valuable materials into value chains over and over again. By bridging circularity and climate neutrality, recyclers are pioneers in leading Europe’s industrial transition.