The European Commission has published a report detailing how Member States are reducing single-use plastic food and drink containers in line with the Single-Use Plastics Directive. We take a closer look at its findings and what they mean for data collection in the next few years.
Food containers and cups
The Commission reports that 17 billion single-use plastic food containers were placed on the EU market in 2022. Such packaging was said to generate 524,003 tonnes of single-use plastic, or 1.60kg per capita.
Apparently, 106 billion of these containers, or 477.8 thousand tonnes, were wholly made of plastic. Within the 5 billion products made only partially of plastic, these components represented 4.6 thousand tonnes of weight (compared to 110.7 tonnes of non-plastic).
At the same time, 111 billion single-use plastic beverage cups were thought to reach the market. Cups like these apparently comprised 152,037 tonnes of single-use plastic, or 0.46kg per capita.
The Commission finds that 7.6 billion beverage cups, or 126.6 thousand tonnes, were wholly made of plastic. Among the 9.4 billion cups partly made of plastic, the plastic components were said to weigh 25.4 thousand tonnes in total (compared to 66.1 thousand tonnes of non-plastic).
Germany was a major contributor to these figures. According to the data, it placed 24.7 billion food containers on the EU market, which translated to 261.6 thousand tonnes of plastic. Similarly, it generated approximately 8 billion plastic beverage cups and almost 70 thousand tonnes of cup-related plastic.
Another major source of plastic by weight was Poland – bringing just over 80 thousand tonnes of plastic food containers and just under 60 thousand tonnes of beverage cups to market.
Other countries saw larger gaps between their food container and cup outputs. Many of them have, or are on their way to introducing, a deposit return scheme for drinks packaging.
For example, Romania was said to place 73 billion plastic food containers on the EU market, but less than 2 billion cups. Almost 90 thousand tonnes of plastic food containers are attributed to Spain, but it is believed to have supplied less than 10 thousand tonnes of plastic cups.
Similarly, Lithuania is said to have generated 8.19kg of plastic food containers per capita, but far below 1kg of plastic beverage cups per capita.
The Commission also asked countries to specify which consumption-reduction measures they applied to food and beverage containers. Every respondent stated that they used economic instruments, such as (but not limited to) EPR obligations, levies, and/or subsidies or discounts for the adoption of reusable alternatives.
25 EU Member States reported that they had taken steps to raise awareness and promote sustainability-minded alternatives, respectively. These included informative campaigns about the environmental impacts of single-use plastics and the public promotion of reusable packaging.
Furthermore, 14 countries had introduced quantitative targets for reducing plastic food and beverage containers placed on the market. For example, the Greek Law 4736/2020 targets a 60% reduction by 2026; within the same time frame, Norway aspires for a 50% reduction, and the Netherlands a 40% drop.
Bottles
Regarding beverage bottles, the Commission states that 2.54 million tonnes reached the EU market – representing 5.7kg per capita.
The results suggested that the countries with the largest populations – Germany, Italy, France, Poland, and Spain – reported the highest absolute amounts. At the same time, it notes that Malta and Cyprus reported the highest per capita values.
Twelve countries were found to have surpassed 2025’s 77% collection target for single-use plastic bottles in 2022: Estonia, Poland, Finland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Lithuania, Croatia, Iceland, Slovakia, and Belgium.
Ten of these countries had already enforced deposit return schemes for single-use plastic beverage bottles, the Commission notes.
Moreover, seven were thought to surpass the 90% mark set for 2029: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Finland, Poland, and Estonia.
In terms of separate collection, the Commission calculates a total rate of 71% (1.8 million tonnes) in 2022 – just 6% short of the 77% target by weight for 2025. It considers ‘many’ countries to be ‘well-placed’ to meet this goal.
The EU also enforces a 90% collection target for 2029.
What comes next?
In line with the Single-Use Plastics Directive, this initial round of reporting is set to establish a baseline to measure single-use plastic consumption in the coming years. More data is set to be collected next year, which the Commission will use to monitor trends and establish whether consumption is actually decreasing.
The data will identify which consumption-reduction measures are still in force, and whether any new measures have been added. It is expected to highlight any progress that Member States make towards their quantitative reduction targets, and how far the outcome aligns with the requirements of the Single-Use Plastics Directive.
Future findings are also anticipated to improve the Commission’s understanding of the strengths and challenges of up-and-coming EPR systems, and to contribute to the evaluation of the Single-Use Plastics Directive in July 2027.
However, the report states that the current reporting formats do not provide enough information to assess the links between consumption trends and associated measures, with more detailed analysis required in future instalments.
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