The European Organization for Packaging and the Environment (Europen, Brussels / Belgium; www.europen-packaging.eu) and 67 other associations have released joint recommendations for the EU proposal on limiting or banning certain disposable plastic products – see Plasteurope.com of 29.05.2018. The organisations represent a range of sectors and packaging materials, including plastics, within the European packaging value chain.

The signatories state they acknowledge the problem of plastics pollution and are committed to finding solutions, but express concerns about the "unprecedented pace" at which the EU proposal has been developed and intends to be adopted. They say this may impact the quality of the adopted directive.

Nine common recommendations are made in the statement for the European Commission. These are to 1) provide legal certainty of packaging policy, 2) safeguard the internal market for packaging, 3) ensure a well-defined and closed product list, 4) ensure a holistic life-cycle approach, 5) clearly define terms in the directive, 6) put packaging design requirements only in the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive, 7) avoid making litter prevention and clean-up the sole responsibility of producers, 8) introduce harmonised boundary conditions to ensure proportionate and non-discriminatory measures and 9) fully assess the implications of proposed measures.

An annex contains suggested text amendments for the EU's proposal on single-use plastics (SUP directive).

e-Service:
"Joint Statement from 68 Packaging Value Chain associations on the Proposal for a Directive on the Reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment" (August 2018) as a PDF file