No compromises in Europe on the packaging regulation: the Italian stance

The PPWR risks undermining the core success of a decade of measures aimed at limiting plastic in the EU and flooding the market with plastic packaging.

No compromises in Europe on the packaging regulation: the Italian stance. The European packaging proposal presents numerous shortcomings, regarding which the Italian stance is clear, as highlighted by the opinion approved by the Chamber's Environment and Productive Activities Committees. Let's find out all the details in the rest of the article. Read also: “Reducing the environmental impact of packaging: what Europe mandates”

What Europe states regarding packaging management

The current draft of the European regulation imposes packaging management rules horizontally across all member states, without considering the history and current functioning of their respective systems. The Federation's position is clear: “It is a short-sighted choice that overlooks, in Italy's case, the excellence of paper recycling and beyond. All of this is done without a credible impact assessment on individual materials and their respective supply chains”. The Federation therefore appeals to all decision-makers “not to give in, under pressure dictated by the approaching end of the European legislative term, to the rush of closing such a significant dossier without reflecting on all the possible implications for the smooth operation of the circular economy”.

The Italian stance on the packaging regulation

The amendments recently presented to the PPWR risk undermining the core success of a decade of measures aimed at limiting plastic in the EU and flooding the market with plastic packaging. If implemented, they would completely contradict the goals of the Green Deal, the Circular Economy Action Plan, and the ongoing negotiations for an international plastics treaty:

• mandatory reuse targets for transport packaging will benefit plastic packaging and penalize the most recycled of all packaging materials: paper;
• mandatory reuse targets would ruin the European corrugated cardboard industry;
• mandatory reuse targets offer no guarantee of environmental benefits: reuse and recycling are complementary.

A market of plastic packaging

Italy supports the goals of the PPWR, but mandatory reuse targets for all packaging materials will inevitably authorize the creation of a massive amount of plastic trays at the expense of other more sustainable packaging materials. Cardboard and plastic cannot compete fairly when it comes to mandatory reuse. Plastic is a lightweight, durable material, yet difficult to recycle and hazardous to health and ecosystems, whereas cardboard is a fully renewable material, highly recycled, and biodegradable, making it less suited for continuous reuse. Including cardboard in all reuse targets completely contradicts EU efforts to restrict plastic waste, would increase the volume of circulating plastic packaging, and establish a “plastic monopoly” over certain market segments.

A threat to the Green Deal

This stands in total contradiction to the objectives of the Green Deal, the Circular Economy Action Plan, and the ongoing negotiations for an international plastics treaty. A resurgence of plastic would represent a threat to the Green Deal. It contradicts the EU Circular Economy Action Plan, which states that all packaging in the EU should be reused or recycled in an economically sustainable manner by 2030. It would jeopardize recent successes in reducing plastic waste, such as the Single-Use Plastics Directive. Boosting plastic packaging makes no sense at a time when the global community is negotiating a historic agreement to reduce plastic pollution.

Paper will be penalized

Mandatory reuse targets will favor plastic packaging and penalize the most recycled packaging material: paper. With a recycling rate exceeding 80%, corrugated cardboard is the most recycled packaging material, and the industry is committed to an ambitious decarbonization roadmap. The paper recycling market is effective and represents the model that the EU should encourage others to follow. Highly recycled and renewable materials like paper-based packaging are inherently unsuited for multi-rotation reuse. There would be a shift from the most recycled packaging material to plastic alternatives capable of meeting the rotation demands of reuse systems, with no overall environmental benefit.

Thousands of fewer jobs

Mandatory reuse targets would ruin the European cardboard industry. Replacing cardboard with plastic packaging through reuse systems would lead to the loss of thousands of jobs in local communities across Europe where cardboard manufacturers are based. We employ 100,000 people directly, create another 270,000 jobs indirectly, and generate 25 billion euros a year in sales to the benefit of local communities where most of our factories are located, often in underdeveloped areas.

No guarantee for the environment

Mandatory reuse targets offer no guarantee of environmental benefits: reuse and recycling are complementary. Recycling and reuse both have a role to play in packaging circularity and should complement each other. Reuse systems should be deployed where they benefit the environment, economy, and society. Corrugated cardboard packaging systems outperform reusable plastic crates in 10 out of 15 environmental impact categories, including CO2 emissions and water consumption (peer-reviewed LCA). Reusable plastic crates must be reused at least 63 times to be environmentally sustainable (peer-reviewed LCA).

Corrugated cardboard is the most recycled in Europe

With a recycling rate higher than 80%, corrugated cardboard is the most recycled packaging material in Europe. Forcing us to reuse our boxes instead of pulping them and making new ones will drive us out of the market despite our huge economic and social contribution. The ambitious commitments of the corrugated cardboard industry's decarbonization roadmap render such reuse mandates unnecessary:

• The gap will be filled by plastic, which is easier to reuse, though at a heavy cost to the planet due to the increased use of fuel, transport, and detergents. Plastic does not decompose easily, so when bottles, wraps, or crates reach the end of their lifecycle, they remain in our environment virtually forever;
• We all look forward to less waste. But among all packaging materials, cardboard is the model that the EU should make others follow.

We want steps forward, not backward

Over 80% of our cardboard is recycled, the highest figure among all packaging materials. We back the PPWR, but to sustain this level and go further, we need rules that do not force us to reuse our packaging instead of recycling it. Reuse and recycling are complementary for packaging circularity, and mandatory reuse targets make no sense for corrugated cardboard and cartonboard. The PPWR must respect these differences if it wishes to bring real improvements to the environment. Forcing us to apply mandatory reuse targets to cardboard instead of recycling it is like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. It will not work and would turn back the clock on Europe's environmental goals. It also contradicts the EU Circular Economy Action Plan, which requires packaging to be reusable or recyclable in an economically sustainable way by 2030. The PPWR's goals are laudable and we share them, but their unintended consequences could ruin our business. Mandatory reuse targets would inevitably benefit plastic packaging and wipe out the impressive strides we have made in cardboard recycling. This would result in a greater release of CO2 into the atmosphere, not the opposite. See also: “Recycled paper and recyclable paper: the differences between the two processes”