The German Industrial Association for Plastic Packaging (IK) is calling Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, to delete reuse quotas from the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR).
The PPWR establishes that by Jan. 1, 2030, 40% of most transport packaging used within the EU – including e-commerce – will need to be reusable and ‘within a system of reuse’. This includes pallets, foldable-plastic boxes, boxes, trays, plastic crates, intermediate bulk containers, pails, drums and canisters of all sizes and materials, including flexible formats or pallet wrappings or straps for stabilisation and protection of products put on pallets during transport. From 2040, the target increases to 70%. Cardboard is excluded from all reuse targets.
Alongside another 19 associations in Germany, including the VDMA and the association of plastic converts, IK has written to the European Commission to argue that reuse quotas introduced by the PPWR would jeopardise supply chains.
“Such a ban on many types of single-use packaging jeopardises all supply chains in Europe, as there are no reusable solutions for many packaging formats in the transport sector or these are neither ecologically nor economically viable,” the signatories wrote. “Furthermore, the changes are not compatible with transport safety requirements and there are considerable doubts about the legality of the new rules.”
A legal assessment by Germany-based law firm Dentos, commissioned by European Plastics Converters, IK, and French trade association Elipso, has found that the draft PPWR’s special rules for plastic and exemptions for other materials ‘are very likely not compatible with EU law’.
The signatories further argued that reusing pallet wrappings and straps is ‘not technically possible’ and that transport safety cannot be guaranteed without them.
The associations are calling on the Commission to instead present a new proposal on the basis of a scientific analysis and impact assessment, whereby special quotas for trade between companies within a Member State should be waived.