European Bioplastics welcomes revised EU waste legislation

The report, produced by Italian MEP Simona Bonafè, set out the legal measures needed for a shift from a linear to a circular economy where waste was considered a valuable resource, and moves to a low-carbon bioeconomy, which used resources more efficiently.

European Bioplastics chairman François de Bie, said: “We welcome the strong and ambitious position of Ms Bonafè on encouraging better market conditions for renewable raw materials and promoting the use of bio-based materials in packaging because it sends the right signals to our industry and investors in the bioeconomy.”

The report on the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive also asked the Commission to assess the feasibility of gradually replacing food packaging with biobased and/or biodegradable and compostable packaging solutions.

“We hope that this will encourage [European Union] member states to recognise the benefits of, and create a level-playing field for, bio-based and/or biodegradable products,” de Bie added.

The report supported the inclusion of organic recycling in the form of composting and anaerobic digestion of organic waste in the definition of ‘recycling’ and a new definition of bio-waste which would take into account ‘other materials with similar biodegradability and compostability properties’.

It also called for a mandatory collection of bio-waste by 2020 supported by measures to increase the organic recycling of bio-waste to 65% by 2025. The proposed amendments also foresee limiting the amount of residual municipal waste landfilled to 25% by 2025 and to 5% by 2030.

source: PNE