EP report ties in with provisions for feedstock differentiation and use of biodegradable and compostable plastics recently adopted in Waste Directive and Packaging Directive

Berlin, 13 September 2018 – The European Parliament’s report on the European Strategy for Plastics adopted today by the plenary testifies to the increasing acknowledgement and endorsement of the value propositions of bioplastics. Rapporteur Mark Demesmaeker highlights the potential role of bio-based plastics and of biodegradable plastics in establishing a strong circular EU bioeconomy.

‘We welcome the emphasis on the potential of bio-based plastics for feedstock differentiation in plastics production as well as the acknowledgment of the transformative role of innovative bio-based plastics already in the market’, comments Hasso von Pogrell, Managing Director of European Bioplastics (EUBP). ‘Equally important to us is the express call of the Parliament for defining clear criteria for the use of biodegradable and compostable plastics. With regard to food packaging applications, this will boost organic recycling and thus help realise a circular economy across Europe. In this context, it is also very encouraging that the Parliament is taking a clear position against oxo-degradable plastics’, von Pogrell states further.

Bioplastics offer two paradigmatic developments at opposite ends of products’ life cycles. On the one hand, bio-based plastics enable feedstock diversification and the gradual transition away from fossil and towards renewable feedstocks. This is an essential value proposition in the EU’s bid to gain independence from fossil resource imports and to significantly reduce CO2 emissions.

The other key innovation proposed by the bioplastics industry is biodegradability and compostability according to existing harmonized standard on industrial composting (EN 13432), that is, the conversion of plastic materials to water, biomass, and CO2 through microbial metabolisation. Applied to food contact applications such as biowaste collection bags or food packagin