“Confusing” PPWR plenary vote results spur uncertainty and threaten bioplastics investments, says EUBP

28 Nov 2023 --- European Bioplastics (EUBP) is disappointed at the results of last week’s plenary vote on the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), in which bioplastics were “not supported,” according to the association, and causes confusion and uncertainty for industry stakeholders. This puts the prospect of needed investments at risk.

The vote, in which MEPs cast ballots on a mandate of waste prevention targets and mechanisms, was approved by MEPs with 426 votes in favor, 125 against and 74 abstentions.

Roberto Ferrigno, head of EU Affairs at EUBP, tells Packaging Insights the vote was “rather confusing.” The plenary adopted two amendments. The first asked the European Commission (EC) to publish a report by December 2025 assessing the possibility of laying down targets for biobased plastic feedstock in packaging.

The report would acknowledge the contribution bioplastics could make to overall recycled content targets, to which biobased feedstocks could contribute up to 50%, according to the EUBP. The second amendment asks the EC to publish a report by December 2025 to lay down targets for using biobased feedstock in plastic packaging.

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

Biobased feedstocks are essential in reaching the PPWR goals, says EUBP.Recycled content targets
The second amendment adopted by the EC is much less ambitious and incentivizing than the first, says Ferrigno, which gives greater acknowledgment of the importance of biobased feedstocks in reaching the already established recycled content targets.

“Biobased materials can contribute to reducing the use of virgin fossil carbon. Increasing recycled content in packaging is a very important step in this direction, and biobased materials are an opportunity, provided the equivalence among recycled fossil feedstock and biobased feedstock is set in legislation,” says Ferrigno.

“We therefore wonder which of the two amendments will ultimately be discussed in the trilogue. This will set the future direction of the biobased packaging sector.”

PPWR failures
The PPWR fails to address the full end-of-life cycle of plastic waste, asserts Ferrigno. The mandate does not consider pre-consumer plastic waste among the sources that the industry can use to achieve the recycled content targets.

Doing so “would allow reaching higher targets and, more importantly, will reduce waste and reduce virgin material consumption. Including pre-consumer waste in the recycled content target will incentivize efforts to close the carbon loop and achieve all the objectives of the circular economy,” he says.

“The PPWR also fails to promote innovation strongly. The regulation relies on excessive use of delegated acts, constituting a factor of legislative uncertainty and fragmentation for industrial players, especially innovators.”

Ferrigno says he also believes the packaging sector as a whole has not invested enough in promoting future sustainable packaging applications, “focusing mainly on defending what already exists.”

Currently, bioplastics still represent less than 1% of the more than 390 million tons of plastic produced annually. However, according to market data by EUBP in cooperation with the nova-Institute, global bioplastics production capacities are set to increase from around 2.2 million tons in 2022 to approximately 6.3 million tons in 2027.

Packaging industry stakeholders have a duty to stimulate biomaterials production with greater investments since this aspect of the circular economy “appears to be a difficult concept for the EU institutions to grasp,” says Ferrigno.

“We are working to ensure that the Net Zero Industry Act, as well as the EC’s next initiative on biotechnology and biomanufacturing, fully recognize the role of biobased plastics as an enabler to achieve the goals of the Green Deal.”

By Louis Gore-Langton

To contact our editorial team please email us at editorial@cnsmedia.com