Page 48 - FINAT Yearbook 2019

Public affairs
A PUSH TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY
With the political turmoil over the last year, you might have expected legislative developments to come to a standstill. As it turns out, the Commission has been eager to progress a number of topics before the changing of the guard, with the Single-Use Plastics Directive in particular moving from legislative proposal to entry into force in record time. FINAT’s Public Affairs manager Mark Macaré has been reporting through his monthly PA Blog on the FINAT website, and summarises the main issues at stake.
SINGLE-USE PLASTICS DIRECTIVE
The Directive, which was published on 12 June 2019 an entered into force on 3 July, will introduce a ban on selected single-use products made of plastics for which alternatives exist on the market. In addition, it will lay out measures to reduce consumption of plastic food containers and beverage cups and Extended Producer Responsibility schemes for the cost to clean-up litter. Finally, it introduces a 90% separate collection target for plastic bottles by 2029, as well as targets to incorporate 25% of recycled plastic in PET bottles as from 2025, and 30% in all plastic bottles as from 2030. The Directive includes differentiated dates for transposition concerning different measures.
It is important to note that a review of the legislation is foreseen in 2027, where the scope can be extended to other single use products. As a next step, EU guidance on single use plastic products will be published by 3 July 2020 and an EU methodology for calculation of reduction targets will be published by 3 July 2021.
Through CITPA (paper and board converting industry), FINAT has closely followed discussions on the Directive.
THE IMPACT OF THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY PACKAGE
As part of the Circular Economy Package published in 2015, an amended packaging and packaging waste Directive entered into force in 2018,
laying out more stringent packaging recycling targets for different waste streams. For paper and board packaging, the target is 75% by 2025 and 85% by 2030, whereas for plastic, this target is 50% by 2025 an 55% by 2030.
To clarify the way of calculating the recycling rate, the Commission has published new calculation rules in 2019, which for example stipulate that separate reporting per material is needed if a material exceeds 5% of the total mass. As a next step, Mandatory Extended Producers Responsibility for all packaging will enter into force by 31 December 2024, and a review of the Essential Requirements and how these have contributed to more sustainable
48 | FINAT YEARBOOK 2019