As of: March 7, 2024, 9:29 a.m
By: Lars-Eric Nievelstein
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The European Parliament and the Council of Europe have reached a provisional agreement on the packaging regulation.
However, an election round is still to come.
Countries and companies are worried about the “German vote”.
Brussels – On Monday, negotiators from the EU Parliament and the EU countries reached a preliminary agreement on the packaging regulation in Brussels.
However, there is still one last election left: the Council and Parliament must agree to the result.
The decision could now depend on Germany.
What is the packaging regulation?
The Packaging Ordinance originated in 2022. The primary aim of this proposed law is to “reduce the negative environmental impacts of packaging and packaging waste”.
To this end, the EU had set several individual goals, for example reducing the amount of packaging waste.
The regulation should also promote the circular economy for packaging “in a cost-effective manner” and also the use of recycled materials.
Plastic cups of different colors.
The European Parliament and the Council of Europe have reached a provisional agreement on the packaging regulation.
However, an election round is still to come.
© IMAGO / Jochen Tack
The law also specifies sustainability requirements for packaging and stipulates that from January 1, 2030, there must be a certain minimum amount of recycled materials per plastic packaging unit.
Certain disposable packaging should even be banned from this point onwards.
By 2030, the amount of waste caused by plastic packaging should shrink by five percent, by 2035 it should be ten percent and by 2040 around 15 percent.
In short, the European Commission had presented a regulation to combat the harmful effects of packaging on the environment throughout its entire life cycle.
“However, the level of requirements falls short of expectations in some places,” complained the Federal Environment Agency in a report on the subject.
The details are available from the European Commission.
Can Germany stop the packaging regulations?
Now the only thing that stands between the new law and its implementation is approval by the Council of Europe and the European Parliament.
There is currently still concern that Germany will block the regulation with its veto.
Most recently, Germany blocked the EU supply chain directive, which caused a lot of anger.
The reason: Germany had previously actively campaigned for the directive.
Such a change could now also happen with the packaging regulations.
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According to the
Handelsblatt
, rumors are currently circulating that Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) has agreed with his Italian colleague Giancarlo Giorgetti.
The deal should look like this: Italy should vote against the supply chain directive so that Germany opposes the packaging regulation.
The FDP has already denied this.
Packaging regulation is intended to support circular economy
The consumer industry had already spoken out and emphasized the importance of the packaging regulation.
Several large manufacturers warned that the regulation would fail.
“The economy as a whole agrees that we need this packaging regulation,”
WirtschaftsWoche
quoted Andreas Bruckschen, managing director of the Federal Association of the German Waste Management, Water and Circulation Management (BDE) as saying.
“Enormous quantities” of packaging are produced in this country.
“Everyone is convinced that we actually have to advance this process towards a more circular economy.”
One problem: The demand for reusable plastic waste, so-called recyclates, has fallen significantly in the last few months.
Hundreds of companies that specialize in recycling are said to be in danger at the moment.
“Some companies are significantly driving forward the circular economy with ecological packaging.
But not all companies are that committed.” From 2025, the plastic tax should create an additional incentive to avoid plastic consumption.