Industry associations including the European Organisation for Packaging and the Environment (EUROPEN), Metal Packaging Europe, FINAT and Cepi have signed a statement expressing support for the European Union’s circularity ambitions and calling for the upcoming New Circular Economy Act (CEA) to be grounded in an internal market legal basis.
The associations argue that the EU’s circular economy goals can only be met through harmonized rules driving a step-change in waste management across all of the EU. Today’s waste management landscape across the EU is ‘fragmented’, with uneven performance and divergent national regulatory frameworks.
The statement cites data from the European Environment Agency that indicates nearly half of all EU countries still landfill more than 30% of their municipal waste, with four peaking between 60% and 80%. It adds that when it comes to recycling, only nine Member States are expected to meet the 2025 recycling target.
The signatories say that the recent revision of the Waste Framework Directive (WFD) ultimately fell short in resolving the ‘deep-rooted structural shortcomings’ that hinder the efficiency of European waste management systems. The new CEA represents an opportunity to address these structural deficiencies by putting forward common rules to ensure that all Member States deliver against their respective circular economy goals.
The associations claim that the lack of harmonized waste management rules undermines Europe’s ability to collectively meet these goals and prevents it from creating a Single Market for secondary raw materials. The statement mentions the European Commission’s acknowledgement in the Single Market Horizontal Strategy (Section 6) that divergent waste rules are among the most reported Single Market barriers, with environmental, economic and geopolitical implications, resulting in increased external dependencies.
Apparently, the end goal should ensure that all Member States do their part in achieving the circular economy goals, and that those lagging behind can catch up with the front runners. Any calls for the introduction of Article 192 TFEU (environmental protection) as a legal basis should be rejected as this will further exacerbate the current situation, create legal uncertainty about the residual responsibilities of Member States and adversely impact efforts to support the EU’s transition to a circular and climate-neutral economy.
Last July, EUROPEN issued a statement opposing the use of text and colour for waste sorting labels on packaging, as proposed in the Joint Research Centre (JSC)’s latest draft guidelines on EU waste sorting labels. It expressed ‘strong concern’ over the latest draft guidelines, arguing that it would reintroduce national barriers to the free movement of packaged goods in the Union and directly contradict the recent Single Market Strategy.
At the end of last year, editor-at-large Elisabeth Skoda spoke with Trayak’s Mitja Brgant as part of our Sustainability Perspectives podcast series, discussing legislative challenges such as the PPWR, exploring the connection between data and legislation and the wider packaging landscape and how it has been shaped by the Circular Economy Action Plan.
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