The Parliament of the European Union has approved a corrigendum to the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) text. The final text was approved yesterday during the Parliament’s plenary session.
The EU Parliament approved a preliminary version of the legislation on April 24, 2024, with 476 votes in favour, 129 against, and 24 abstentions. That version of the text only included a version in English and hadn’t undergone the required legal-linguistic review.
Given that a new Parliament was to be elected in June during the European elections, legislators voted on the preliminary version and set a date for the new Parliament to vote on the finalised text.
Now, a corrigendum to the preliminary text has been approved and the final version of the PPWR can be accessed in all EU languages.
In December, the European Council, which represents the 27 member states, is expected to finally formally adopt the regulation. The legislation will then be published in the EU Official Journal and enter into force in 2025.
The PPWR includes packaging reduction targets (5% by 2030, 10% by 2035 and 15% by 2040) and require EU countries to reduce, in particular, the amount of plastic packaging waste.
Under the new rules, all packaging, except for lightweight wood, cork, textile, rubber, ceramic, porcelain and wax, will have to be recyclable by fulfilling strict criteria. It introduces, as of 2030, a recyclability performance grade scale from A to C stating the extent to which packaging is considered recyclable, being 95% grade A, 80% grade B, and 70% grade C.
The legislation includes provisions on recycling targets of 50% for plastic packaging by 2025 and 55% by 2030 and foresees recycled content targets for all types of plastic packaging, with the most demanding ones set for 2040 – including 65% recycled content for SUP beverage bottles, 50% for PET contact-sensitive packaging, and 65% for other packaging.
By 2029, 90% of single use plastic and metal beverage containers up to three litres will have to be collected separately, via deposit-return systems or other solutions that ensure the collection target is met.
In the two long years after the first draft PPWR was introduced, the text has generated a lot of controversy. Some industry groups claim the legislation lacks ‘material neutrality’ by singling-out plastics, whilst others argue that secondary legislation will be required to make it work.