The European soft drinks industry, for which packaging circularity is a priority, has high expectations for the new PPWD. We have indeed always seen it as an opportunity to create the supportive policy enablers that will help us accelerate the transition to fully circular beverage packaging.

However, the truth is that many in the packaging value chain have deep concerns about several aspects that the European Commission is currently considering. In particular, we are worried about ideas that would force the beverage sector to shift almost entirely towards reusable beverage packaging. Such a disproportionate approach will have huge consequences and doubtful environmental benefits.

1. What do we need to make our packaging fully circular? Policy coherence and supportive measures

The EU has ambitious goals to prevent packaging waste and our sector is fully supportive of those ambitions. We are committed to improving the sustainability of our beverage packaging and we have made far-reaching commitments to make our packaging fully circular by 2030. Nevertheless, those commitments are only attainable with the right policy enablers and the revision of the EU PPWD is the perfect opportunity to create a supportive legislative framework.

Let’s talk about reuse, a major point of concern for us in the proposal for a revised EU PPWD.

We aim to achieve fully recyclable beverage packaging by 2025, to reach at least 90% collection of all our beverage packaging and to use PET bottles made of 100% recycled and/or renewable material by 2030. We have already made huge investments in recyclability, recycling and the incorporation of recycled content in our packaging: we have established Deposit Refund Systems (DRSs) in several EU countries to get our bottles back and promote closed-loop recycling, and many UNESDA members are already using 100% recycled PET (rPET).

These ongoing actions and investments will ensure that by 2030 our beverage packaging will no longer be waste but a resource: it will be fully recyclable, highly collected and will use high levels of recycled content. With these efforts, we are responding to the direction of travel that the European Commission has set in the Single Use Plastics Directive (SUPD) and the revision of the EU PPWD, with the introduction of mandatory collection and recycled content targets for beverage packaging.

But we will not stop there and we also aim at increasing our offer of reusable beverage systems because we believe that reducing, recycling and reusing go hand-in-hand when you want to reach full packaging circularity.

This is why setting disproportionately high reuse targets on our sector lacks policy coherence. It would force us to give up fully circular packaging to shift almost all investments to a completely different model.

It is also incomprehensible that indications from the proposals from the European Commission may only focus on setting reuse targets for some segments of the beverage industry, including the soft drinks sector, and not for a wider group of sectors. This is discriminatory and disregards all circularity efforts already made in beverage packaging. To ensure a level playing field and truly maximise the potential of reuse, targets should apply to all packaging that is not fully recyclable, not properly collected and does not use recycled content.

2. What’s wrong with over-ambitious reuse targets for beverage packaging

Disproportionately high reuse targets are unnecessary to achieve our goal of reducing waste. They will freeze investments in recycling and dismantle a number of highly effective, existing recycling systems at a time when our highly circular packaging is already playing a critical role towards improving resource efficiency and accelerating the transition to a circular economy in Europe. Why should we disregard this successful circularity path and move towards a completely new business model (reuse) that will have huge economic impact and doubtful environmental outcomes?

Definitely, reuse should be part of the solution to reduce packaging waste but we question the proposals to make reuse the only solution. We should look at reducing, recycling and reusing packaging as the three complementary pillars of circularity for beverage packaging because they are not mutually exclusive.

Furthermore, over-ambitious reuse targets may also result in a negative environmental impact if not introduced under the right conditions. According to a PwC report commissioned  by our sector, focusing on a market share of 20% reusable PET bottles by 2030 at EU level, reusable beverage packaging has additional environmental costs compared to single-use recyclable packaging. This is due to increased utility consumption from operating additional machinery and washing bottles, and higher fuel consumption from increased logistical complexity: a complete new set-up is required for returning empty bottles and crates from the retailer back to the original bottler, rather than collecting shredded plastic for recycling. Reasonable and flexible targets are needed to ensure reusable systems are only set up when and where it makes more sense for our environment than their recyclable counterpart.

Together w/@AIJNassociation @brewersofeurope & @NMWE_Europe, we call on the @EU_Commission to rethink its intention to propose to set discriminatory #reuse targets for our #BeveragePackaging at 20% by 2030 & as high as 75% by 2040 in the revised #PPWD

https://t.co/Ebs7NpdQZl pic.twitter.com/XhivhrGpB6

— Soft Drinks Europe (@UNESDA) October 26, 2022

Last but not least, switching to reusable beverage systems will result in huge costs for the beverage industry and its packaging value chain. It indeed requires significant investments in new bottling lines, new machinery, new crates, more storage space, return logistics, etc. The same PwC report demonstrates that moving towards a market share of 20% reusable PET bottles by 2030 at EU level would equal a cost of almost €19bn – and this only concerns the soft drinks sector.

3. Don’t compromise the future of circular beverage packaging

It is crucial to do the revision of the EU PPWD right. We cannot afford wasting this opportunity to create an enabling legal framework that will accelerate the transition to a circular economy for beverage packaging.

We therefore propose a more realistic and manageable integration of reuse when and where it makes sense:

• Any reuse target should be based on a thorough environmental and cost impact assessment to ensure that reusable beverage systems are only put in place where they make the most sense for our environment and are cost-efficient.

• The reuse measures should be set at the European level and through a sectoral approach rather than being set on each individual economic operator. Such an approach will allow each sector with the greatest potential for reuse to direct the investments where they make the most sense. It will also avoid a patchwork of national reuse measures, creating a fragmented market.

• All sectors, and not just the beverage industry, where the increased use of reusable packaging is feasible and would bring net environmental benefits, should be treated equally. They should be encouraged and incentivized to increase their use of reusable packaging in order to shift consumer collective behaviour and increase the positive effects of the measures taken.

• The reuse measures should take into account the full scope of reusable beverage solutions, including refill at home solutions, and promote innovation in the field of waste reduction by adopting a wide definition of reusable beverage systems.

We stand ready to continuing our cooperation with EU regulators to ensure that we build the right future for circular beverage packaging.

L’article Target packaging waste, not packaging circularity est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

That’s the world that we, UNESDA, the voice of Europe’s soft drinks producers, are already building today. With our Circular Packaging Vision 2030, launched in February 2021, we aim to support the European Commission in making circularity work to create a more circular economy for beverage packaging. 

Packaging is a resource that should never become waste

It is our firm belief that beverage packaging has value and should be recyclable, collected and used as recycled content. With our Circular Packaging Vision 2030, we underline the pivotal role that beverage packaging plays in moving circularity forward. We are determined to give a new life to our packaging in order to move away from using fossil-fuel sources and accelerate the transition to a more sustainable and circular Europe, in line with the goals of the EU Green Deal. How will we achieve it?

Our journey towards full circularity is structured around three key pillars

1. Collection 

We are striving for well-designed closed-loop collection systems to achieve our 90% collection target for plastic, aluminium and glass beverage packaging. This is going beyond the EU requirements of 90% collection for plastic bottles only by 2030. We favour the implementation of well-designed collection schemes, such as Deposit Return Systems (DRS), in markets where they don’t exist yet. We are actively working around Europe to implement such collection schemes, but are also calling for the European Commission to introduce minimum requirements for new DRS. This is the first step to boost recycling.

2. Recycling 

Higher collection leads to higher recycling. Therefore, we pledge to use only 100% recyclable packaging in aluminium cans, glass bottles and PET bottles and to also use a minimum average of 50% rPET in our plastic bottles by 2025. With this commitment, we surpass the EU target of using 25% rPET. Then, we ambition to move towards 100% recycled and/or renewable material in our PET packaging by 2030, where technically and economically feasible. In doing so, once again we go well beyond the requirements of the Single Use Plastics Directive (30% recycled plastic content in PET bottles) and are creating bottle-to-bottle closed loops. The definition itself of full circularity.

3. Reducing and Reusing 

To reduce our packaging footprint, we aim to also use more refillable packaging by 2030 compared with today. For this reason, we are studying the best environmental and economic pathways to increase the use of refillable models. 

A supportive regulatory framework will enable us to achieve full circularity for our beverage packaging by 2030

To help us deliver on our circular packaging commitments, we need coherence and clarity from both EU and national governments.

Firstly, we call for long-term perspective and legal certainty within the single market to allow us to make the investments needed to deliver our Circular Packaging Vision 2030. Secondly, we need a well-functioning secondary raw materials market that gives our industry priority access to sufficient high-quality food-grade rPET without compromising on safety standards and avoiding downcycling. We are encouraged to see more sectors using recycled content, but our packaging needs food-grade quality rPET and therefore it should not find its way in other products such as car bumpers. 

Additionally, increased investment in waste management and recycling infrastructure is required. Our packaging has to be part of a complete system that allows it to be widely collected, recycled and/or reused. We ask for EU minimum requirements for new Deposit Return Schemes and clear definitions of recyclability. Finally, we urge for an EU framework that enables innovative recycling technologies such as enhanced recycling.

If the necessary regulatory conditions are created, in nine years’ time our industry will achieve full circularity for beverage packaging in Europe. With our Circular Packaging Vision 2030, we are strongly engaged in helping to reduce Europe’s environmental footprint and creating a more sustainable food system in Europe, as potentially our contribution to the EU Code of Conduct on responsible business and marketing practices that will be launched in the coming weeks, under the EU Farm to Fork Strategy. 

L’article Soft Drinks 2030: Discover the world of fully circular beverage packaging est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.

But the situation remains very challenging in some of the most important channels for our sector which remain closed due to lockdown measures, e.g. restaurants, cafés and hotels. The health of our sector’s workers and as well as of our clients remains the highest priority for our industry. We continue to call for reasonable and proportionate measures to be taken to enable economic exchanges and a phased re-opening of the economy while ensuring safety of all parties involved. 

Our sector strongly believes that recovery and green growth should go hand in hand. We call for the creation of a supportive framework for industry to continue long-term investments in sustainability and nutrition, together with a strong EU industrial and growth strategy. In addition, we call on governments to help create a “new normal” for the food and drink sector by in particular supporting the Horeca sector go back to normal as soon as possible. 

We also anticipate governments will examine a wide range of measures towards paying for the significant funds currently being mobilized to fight the Covid-19 pandemic – but additional financial burdens on companies and consumers in the mid-term will only delay the recovery. Any new or additional taxation applied to food and drinks need to be carefully considered.

1. Supporting sustainability ambitions and green transitioning

Europe after Covid-19 will not be the same, but the European ambitions around climate neutrality and sustainable growth should not change. To continue being competitive and sustainable, our industry needs support from policy-makers and long-term legal certainty that our investments into packaging circularity will be recognised under the EU circular economy objectives.

To achieve full circularity and deliver on the commitments we made in our Circular Packaging Vision 2030, we need a clear pan-European policy framework that avoids sending contradictory signals which could lead to bans of products which are recyclable, collected, recycled, or using high levels of recycled content.

EU Recovery Funds have to support the green transition while we are recovering from the Covid-19 economic fallout, by funding investments in collection schemes, recycling innovation, and green infrastructures. 

2. Putting better regulation into action

Europe’s Green Deal targets in the Circular Economy Action Plan and Farm-to-Fork do not have to be changed, but the right framework needs to be created to support industry in achieving these. The situation created by the pandemic requires both consistency and adaptation from EU policy-makers: consistency for the green and growth agenda to be maintained and stimulated to the highest possible level; adaptation because we must protect EU businesses that have been hit by the crisis, by ensuring ambitious legislation is developed and adopted in the right way to support innovation and growth by reducing unnecessary burdens for economic operators. This can be delivered by following better regulation principles and in particular by conducting thorough impact assessments at all stages of the legislative process. It is important to take into consideration the consequences of the pandemic as well as the implications of legislation for all businesses model and long-term investments of the food industry, for example in the case of the review of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive or of the actions deriving from the Farm-to-Fork strategy.

3. Helping the Horeca sector to recover

Regarding the Horeca sector, we urge for a gradual, safe, intelligent and controlled re-opening of the Horeca sector in Europe. Such a re-opening needs to respect various health, hygiene and practical requirements to ensure that the health of Horeca workers and their clients are always ensured. Expansionary fiscal policy (e.g. temporary reduction in VAT rates) for a sustained period to stimulate household consumption and restore demand, especially in the service sector, should be explored. Since the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak, we have remained a steadfast advocate of effective measures for the hospitality sector in particular. Very recently, on 27 April 2021, we joined 11 other associations and trade unions representing the European hospitality industry in calling on the European institutions to put a stronger focus on supporting the recovery of the sector. We have no doubt that a smoother and safe recovery will ensure a better future for all.

L’article How the soft drinks industry’s recovery should taste est apparu en premier sur Travel Tomorrow.