In recent years, the packaging value chain has been under pressure due to an increase of divergent national packaging requirements. In line with the EU Green Deal and the EU Circular Economy Action Plan, creating a circular economy for packaging is one of the key objectives of the EU Commission through its aim to ensure that “all packaging in the EU is reusable or recyclable in an economically viable way by 2030”.
Increasing fragmentation of the Union market undermines the objective of creating one circular economy to the detriment of consumer safety, environmental protection and European competitiveness. On 17th April more than 120 packaging industry associations issued a joint letter urging co-legislators to preserve in its entirety the internal market legal basis of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, as the best way to achieve the environmental and economic objectives of the proposal.
The letter can be read in full here.