At the beginning of this year, the European Commission published its EU Roadmap for a Strategy on Plastics in a Circular Economy. Consultations and discussions around some of the most important issues to be covered by the Strategy on Plastics have already started, showing the complexity of the initiative as well as the need to incorporate the entire value chain from feedstock to waste management.

EUBP welcomes the priority the Commission has given to assess how to decarbonise the plastics economy in the Roadmap, and hopes that this will remain a main pillar of the upcoming Strategy on Plastics in order to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time, namely climate change. Replacing a significant proportion of the conventional fossil feedstock by plant-based or waste-based alternatives would reduce GHG emissions. Both market push and pull measures could drive this transition, as would a level-playing-field regarding access to bio-based feedstock in the EU. This approach needs to be underpinned by smart sustainability criteria in order to ensure responsible sourcing and food security.

While prevention and reduction are paramount to reduce plastic waste and leakage into the environment, the consultations on the EU Plastics Strategy will also assess the diverse end-of-life options for plastics. When discussing biodegradation of plastics and the circular economy today, considerations should focus on organic recycling (industrial composting and anaerobic digestion) as an existing and proven concept. Harmonised and accepted standards, certification schemes, and labels for industrial compostable plastics already exist. Such materials combined with accurate information for consumers on how to dispose of the waste correctly, have proven to help collect more bio-waste for organic recycling and, that way, divert it from landfills and reduce contamination with biodegradable waste in mechanical recycling streams.

Benefits of compostable plastic packaging © European Bioplastics

Organic recycling is a well-established industrial process ensuring the circular use for biodegradable plastics while creating a strong secondary raw material market and opportunity for renewable energy generation. Biodegradability in other environments (other than industrial composting or anaerobic digestion), however