How big industry 'diluted' the EU's triumphant deal on packaging waste
An EU deal to ban single-use plastics in the hotel, restaurant and catering sector from 2030 – and to achieve a 5 percent reduction before then – will see items such as condiment sachets, miniature toiletries and plastic wrapping around fresh fruit and vegetables disappear. However, what campaigners are calling a "reckless loophole" has seen cardboard packaging survive the cut.
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The ban was extended to so-called “forever chemicals” (PFAS) in packaging that has contact with food, while all packaging in the EU will have to be recyclable by 2030.
"This is clearly an historic agreement," said Frédérique Ries, the Belgian MEP who pushed the text through parliament on Monday.
"For the first time in an environmental law, the EU is setting targets to reduce packaging consumption, regardless of the material used."
However, the new rules – which took a year of negotiations before a deal was finally struck between MEPs and the European Council – stop short of banning disposable cardboard items such as cartons and coffee cups used by fast food outlets.
Paper manufacturers and fast food giants sucessfully argued that cardboard packaging – whether recyclable or from sustainable forests – was more environmentally friendly than plastics.
The most recent Eurostat data shows that Europeans generated 189kg of packaging waste per person in 2021 – an increase of almost 11kg more than the year before.
This waste has a significant environmental impact, contributing to 40 percent of plastic and 50 percent of paper use, along with carbon emissions equal to the yearly emissions of Hungary, the data shows.
'Win' for industry lobbyists
While the agreement has been widely praised as a crucial step towards the EU's commitments to environmental sustainability and waste reduction, critics say it’s also a win for big industry.
The NGO Zero Waste France warned the final EU deal risked a "major shift" towards increased usage of paper and cardboard – two materials that require the use of large quantities of water and wood.
"The good news about PFAS (forever chemicals) hides a mountain of exemptions and exceptions – especially on reuse – and reflects a vision still focused on recycling," Zero Waste France spokesperson Charlotte Soulary told Le Monde.
Meanwhile environmental campaign Rethink Plastics Alliance said the European Commission’s original proposal had been watered down by "reckless loopholes" and exemptions "adopted under the pressure of throwaway lobbies".
Sectors affected by the proposed rules – wine, beer and soft drink makers, cosmetics companies, hotels and fast food chains and paper producers – rushed to influence policymakers in an effort to protect their interests.
Dystopian 'manipulation'
In an opinion piece published by leftwing French daily Libération, Pascal Canfin – who chairs the parliament's environment committee – said the "manipulation of language" by fast food giants was worthy of George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984.
"Companies like KFC, Pizza Hut and Dunkin Donuts have come together as a coalition whose slogan is the opposite of their ambition: 'Together for sustainable packaging'," he wrote.
France has already banned disposable containers, plates, cups and tableware for customers dining in at fast food restaurants.
The government’s policy is to reduce the amount of new single-use packaging by 20 percent by 2025.
Fresh targets are to be set every five years until single-use plastic has been removed altogether through a combination of the "3Rs": reduce, reuse, recycle.
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