PRESS RELEASE

European Parliament sends mixed signals to the bioplastics sector

European Bioplastics reacts to European Parliament's vote on the proposal for a Regulation on Packaging and Packaging Waste

Brussels, 22 November 2023 – European Bioplastics (EUBP) commends the European Parliament for recognising the role of compostable plastics in achieving packaging waste prevention and reaching recycling targets.

EUBP welcomes a less prescriptive approach, such as the one adopted by the European Parliament in plenary session today, for the packaging formats where biobased and compostable plastics play an important role and will continue to do so.

“Today's vote can be seen as a first step in allowing the EU to reach the goal of generating, at least, 20 % of the carbon used in chemicals and plastics from non-fossil sources by 2030”, says Roberto Ferrigno, Head of EU Affairs at EUBP. “However, the full potential is still not reached. We regret that the role of biobased plastics in achieving the targets of recycled content was not supported. EUBP believes biobased plastics can and will, if enabled, contribute to the transition towards a circular economy, by storing and repurposing carbon dioxide”, he elaborates. 

In an increasingly competitive market, the persistent over-regulatory approach towards bioplastics puts at risk the further development of sustainable innovative packaging applications by slowing down necessary investments.

“EUBP calls on EU co-legislators to design and adopt a Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation that allows for the further development of net-zero, biobased polymers production technologies as enablers to achieve the European Green Deal transformation”, concludes Hasso von Pogrell, Managing Director at EUBP.

European Bioplastics represents the interests of the European bioplastics industry. Its members include companies from the entire value chain. The members produce, process and distribute plastics that are made from renewable raw materials, are biodegradable or combine both properties. Further information can be found at: www.european-bioplastics.org.

Press contact:

Marion Thérage, Communications Manager European Bioplastics, Avenue Palmerston 3, 1000 Brussels, phone: +49 160 94 45 02 33, fax: +49 (0)30 284 82 359, email: press@european-bioplastics.org

Downloads

• Press release (pdf file)
• Press release (online)

Disclaimer

The information transmitted by this email is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed. This email may contain proprietary, business-confidential, and/or privileged material. If you are not the intended recipient of this message, be aware that any use, review, retransmission, distribution, reproduction, or any action taken in reliance upon this message is strictly prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from all computers.