Member News

Legislation Updates

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France - Information detailing sorting instructions next to TRIMAN logo approved - 16 September 2021

1. Version with the slogan “Sorting made simpler”, to highlight benefits to consumers;
2. Version with “text and symbols”, to be instantly understood;
3. The “symbols only” version, to avoid (mandatory) translations in countries the products may be exported to.

UN - Calls for UN treaty to address global plastic pollution intensify - 14 September 2021

• establish national targets and action plans for plastic reduction, recycling and management that recognise the transboundary nature of plastic pollution;
• establish harmonised definitions and standards to be applied along the plastics value chain;
• implement sufficient monitoring and compliance measures for all stakeholders in the plastics system, supported by a global monitoring and reporting framework;
• establish a global scientific body to lead plastics research; and
• provide for technical and financial implementation support across the globe.

1. help reduce operational complexity and compliance risk across markets;
2. enable businesses to plan investments while managing the costs of compliance scanning;
3. simplify reporting across the plastic value chain, bringing greater transparency to more effectively measure progress and manage reputational risk; 
4. coordinate actions across the plastic value chain, improving the prospects for meeting ambitious corporate commitments.

Poland - Draft amendment to Packaging Act reveals fund-centric regime for household waste packaging - 07 September 2021

• a ‘packaging fee’ to the Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management (NFEP) that would be used to finance municipalities’ packaging waste management activities;
• recycling fees to a PRO – who would have to take-back packaging waste either collected by municipalities or through their own channels [Note: the precise role of the packaging PROs and their interactions with municipalities remain unclear in the absence of implementing legislation]; and
• any product fees imposed as fines failing to meet the collection targets applicable to household packaging.

• Obligated producers will pay modulated packaging fees monthly to the marshal of the voivodeship (region) in which they have their legal seat. From there 99% of the funds will be remitted to NFEP, 1% is to cover to cover the voivodeship’s administrative costs.
• The NFEP will
  • distribute 80% of its packaging fee revenues to municipalities to finance separate collection and treatment of household packaging waste.  The funds will be allocated based on volumes collected and treated and the number of inhabitants;
  • invest 18% in waste packaging related products/infrastructure;
  • use 2% to fund the Institute of Environmental Protection of the National Research Institute, which oversees the country’s EPR regimes.
• The Ministry will determine and announce the packaging fees and the remuneration rates for municipalities annually.

• hold producers responsible for financing and reaching collection targets without giving them any say in the collection mechanism;
• allow municipalities to also use fees for “tasks related to municipal waste management”, likely creating opacity of monetary flows as well as the potential use of fees for managing waste other than household packaging;
• not foresee industry consultation during the fee setting process and generally lead to a bureaucratization of the packaging waste regime.

• Packers/fillers will be required to place waste sorting instruction markings on their packaging, which must be practical for the visually impaired. This is controversial as most municipalities promote differing sorting instructions.
• Only the 2030 packaging recycling targets of Directive 2018/852 (amending the Packaging Directive) are transposed, while leaving out those to be met in the years prior. Intermittent annual targets will be set in an implementing Ordinance and separated for household and commercial packaging.
• The producer definition now applies to foreign entities distance selling into Poland. Packers/fillers are permitted to appoint ARs, relieving them of their obligations.
• Packaging PROs now require operating permits: Over 20 packaging PROs are operating to date. Although there are some controls on PROs, they are currently not required to obtain authorisation. The draft would change this and require packaging PROs to be authorized by Ministry Decision for a maximum of 4 years.  In addition, PROs would have to
  • increase their paid-up capital from the currently mandated PLN 2.5m (EUR 550k) to PLN 5m (EUR 1.1m), of which 50% must be liquid;
  • allocate 95% of their revenues to waste management activities;
  • remit 10% of their annual profits to the NFEP;
  • modulate their recycling fees;
  • conduct annual audits using ‘independent verifiers’;
  • meet some of the EU CEP’s min. requirements on PROs, namely the requirement to make information publicly available about their financial contributions and the selection procedure for waste management operators. The remaining min. requirements remain to be transposed.
• The Institute of Environmental Protection - National Research Institute (IOŚ-PIB) is tasked with supervising the EPR regimes and acting as a coordination center/clearinghouse, supported by a council established under the Ministry and composed of representatives of the public sector, producers, PROs, collectors, recyclers and NGOs.
• The Ministry is enabled to determine the types of packaging subject to recycled content requirements.
• SUPD: The draft proposes to transpose some of the requirements of the SUPD (2019/904):  Notably, the recycled content requirements for PET beverage bottles under 3L, the requirement for lids to be attached to plastic and composite beverage containers, the recycling targets for plastic beverage containers (77% from 2025; 90% from 2029). A separate draft amendment to the Packaging Act will transpose the remainder of the SUPD (i.e. prohibitions, consumption reduction measures, EPR).

Italy - Revised SUPD transposition draft introduces significant deviations from the SUPD - 31 August 2021

• “where it is not possible to use reusable alternatives to SUPs intended to come into contact with food;
• if their use is foreseen in controlled circuits that transfer waste in a consistent manner to a public collection service, such as canteens, health care [or welfare] facilities and residences”;
• where alternatives … do not adequately provide guarantees in terms of hygiene and safety;
• in consideration of a particular type of food or drink;
• in circumstances involving the presence of a large number of people;
• if the environmental impact of the SUP alternative is worse, based on a life cycle analysis.”

• Art. 5.4. estimates the costs of implementing the prohibitions at EUR 36.5/27.1/22.9/26.9 million in 2022/3/4/5 and at EUR 25.5 million from 2026 annually. It authorises the Minister of Economy and Finance to issue decrees using a fund for the transposition of European legislation established by article 41-bis of Law 234/2012.
• Art 4.7 transposing the consumption reduction (SUPD Art. 4) foresees
  • tax credits of up to 20% of the procurement costs of reusable, biodegradable or compostable cups, food containers and prohibited SUP products (as listed in listed in Part A and B), capped at EUR 10k annually per beneficiary, and at an overall limit of EUR 3 million per annum in 2022-2024. Details are to be provided in a supplementary Ministerial Decree.
  • an EUR 10 million fund per annum in 2022-2024 to incentivise manufacturers of the SUPs in Part A and B of the Annex to modify production facilities for reusable or alternative products.

News from Industry

• New CIWM strategy aims to lead a way to ‘A World beyond Waste’; CIWM says ‘Leading the Way to a World beyond Waste’ sets out to support the UK waste and recycling sector in promoting more sustainable consumption, minimising waste and protecting the world’s environment and resources for future generations. Developed in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the strategy is focused on building upon CIWM’s existing assets and optimising its potential to effect lasting change
• Greiner introduces cup with self-separating materials; An innovative development from Greiner Packaging is aiming to revolutionise the recyclability of cardboard-plastic combinations.
• Pret partners with Too Good To Go to continue fight against food waste; Pret A Manger and surplus food app, Too Good To Go, have announced a joint partnership following a successful trial across 30 shops. The partnership means that every Pret shop that sells hot food is now live on the Too Good To Go app. All Magic Bags purchased through the app will be entirely made up of unsold hot food items, which are not able to be redistributed through The Pret Foundation to local charities and communities. Pret says it is committed to helping those most in need by donating unsold items when shops close each evening. What started as just a handful of sandwiches has now grown to over 7 million food items globally in 2020.
• Report: Harnessing full potential of battery power could unlock net-zero transition opportunities in Scotland; A set of new reports forecasting battery demand in Scotland over the next 25 years has uncovered a ‘golden circular opportunity’ to bring economic advantage and more green jobs to the country as part of its net-zero transition, according to circular economy experts Zero Waste Scotland.
• Cadbury Dairy Milk packs switch to 30% recycled plastic; Packaging for Mondelēz International’s Cadbury Dairy Milk brand will contain up to 30% recycled plastic.
• WRAP: One simple message on pack could drive up recycling rates; Recycle Now, the citizen campaign delivered by environmental charity WRAP, believes trials it conducted with Boots and Radox could drive up plastic recycling in millions of households.
• ‘Wasteland’ applies to the United Nations to become a member state; Oddbox has applied to the United Nations to attain membership status for a ‘newly founded country’ called Wasteland – a move aimed at highlighting that if food waste were a country it would be the third largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Oddbox says the application is designed to make people ‘sit up and understand’ the role that food waste has to play on climate change, bringing to life the ‘ugly truth’ that if food waste were a country it would be the third largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, only after China and the US. If real, the landmass of Wasteland would measure 6.3 million km² in size. It is bigger than the entire European Union, nearly double the size of India and more than twenty-six times the size of the UK.
• OPRL joins UN Global Compact to further sustainable development goals; OPRL joins thousands of other companies globally and in the UK, committed to taking responsible business action to create the world civil society, governments and an increasing number of businesses want. The UN Global Compact is a call to companies everywhere to align their operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment, and anti-corruption, and to take action in support of UN goals and issues embodied in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• Food Waste Reduction Roadmap marks year of business achievement; A world-first initiative launched in September 2018, the Food Waste Reduction Roadmap sets out a route for the UK food industry with an aim of achieving UN Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 and halving food loss and waste by 2030. More than 200 of the UK’s large food businesses, with around 60% of UK food industry turnover, have reported on their actions to prevent food from entering the waste stream. Those businesses with year-on-year data have achieved a 17% average reduction in food waste.
• London small businesses given financial boost to pilot greener products; In an initiative designed to both create and safeguard green jobs in London, ReLondon this week announced that they have awarded grant funds of £390,000 to 33 small businesses from across the capital.
• Calls to ‘massively reduce’ the number of new clothes purchased each year; The British Fashion Council (BFC) this week called for the government, the British fashion industry, and consumers to all work together to ‘massively reduce’ the number of new clothes people purchase every year. The aim is to the tackle the industry’s vast environmental footprint and in particular its contribution to climate change, for which it accounts for 5% of global emissions, more than aviation.
• SEPA launches online registration service for waste carriers and brokers; Scottish waste carriers and brokers are to benefit from a faster, streamlined online registration service launched by Scottish environmental regulator SEPA.
• Magical Mushroom Company appoints new chief operations officer; Allen brings 20 years’ experience to the Magical Mushroom Company and will be responsible for operations and business development, as well as the design and quality of the company’s protective, sustainable packaging.
• Cross-party MPs support Oxfam’s ‘Second-Hand September’; Cross-party MPs and Peers took part in Oxfam’s Second-Hand September campaign calling for people to buy second hand clothes for the month of September and raise awareness about the ‘harmful effects fast fashion’ – clothes that are produced in high volume and at relatively low cost to the consumer – have on the planet. The campaign comes ahead of the UN climate summit COP26, which will be held in Glasgow in November, and is a vital opportunity for global leaders to take decisive action to tackle the climate emergency.
• UK cross industry consortium urges COP26 President to support anaerobic digestion; In a letter to Alok Sharma, President of the UN Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP26), which the UK will be hosting in November, a consortium of 19 organisations urge the minister to become an advocate for improving waste management in the UK in the fight against climate change, and to support the UK economy and job creation around the UK.
  Led by the UK Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association (ADBA), the consortium says this would be achieved by ensuring that all organic wastes are captured and transformed into valuable bioresources through AD technology in order to ‘rapidly decarbonise UK’s key industries such as transport, heat, agriculture and food and drink’.
• First digital tool to tackle household ‘recycling confusion’; Zero Waste Scotland has launched a digital recycling tool to help combat ‘confusion’ and to meet Scottish recycling targets. This Recycle Week (20-26 September 2021), Zero Waste Scotland is launching the first ever ‘Recycling Sorter’. The digital recycling tool will allow Scots to search what items can be recycled, and in which bin, in any Scottish local authority. Almost half of Scots admit that they could increase the amount of recycling they do, and many suffer from recycling confusion at some point during the process, according to Zero Waste Scotland.
• Transcend Packaging makes major push into moulded fibre; Transcend Packaging has announced a strategic partnership with materials technology company BioPaxium Technologies. The deal will aim to deliver a range of advanced moulded fibre products to replace plastic.
• Lidl GB launches compostable fruit and veg bags amid plastic packaging trial; Lidl GB has announced a series of new initiatives as part of its REset Plastic strategy, which sets out to eliminate the supermarket’s plastic waste.
  It has confirmed plans to replace all single use fruit and vegetable plastic bags with compostable bags. This in-store change will result in the removal of 275 tonnes of conventional single use plastic, the supermarket says.
• All Primark clothes to be made using recycled or ‘more sustainably sourced’ materials; Primark’s new commitments will see the company ensure all its clothing is made from recycled or more sustainably sourced materials by 2030 – today this accounts for 25 per cent of all clothes sold. As a next step, all men’s, women’s and kids’ entry price point t-shirts will transition to being made with sustainably sourced cotton over the next year. Primark says it will make changes to its design process as it looks to ensure its clothes can be recycled at the end of their life to help reduce fashion waste. According to Oxfam, 13 million items of clothing are sent to landfill in the UK every week.
• Sweden’s best-selling sausages switch to paper-based pack by Mondi; Mondi has worked with Nordic food manufacturer HKScan to provide renewable paper-based packaging for its best-selling Falukorv sausage.
• Recycling and packaging industries still have “significant doubts” over Defra producer responsibility proposals – ESA; Prominent organisations across the UK’s circular economy value chain have today expressed continued concern about Defra’s proposals for dealing with packaging waste collections from businesses across England under the emerging new extended producer responsibility (EPR) regime. The Environmental Services Association (ESA) and thirteen other national trade bodies and associations representing packaging manufacturers and recyclers, have written to government today (Thursday 16 September) for a second time to voice remaining “significant doubts” about the current proposals to deal with packaging waste from businesses under the new Resources and Waste Strategy, and to urge further engagement between Defra and industry to develop a better solution.
• ASOS announces ambitious new 2030 ESG goals; ASOS is pleased to announce its industry-leading Fashion with Integrity (“FWI”) 2030 programme, laying out a comprehensive plan to achieve a new set of stretching ESG goals by 2030. Under the plan, which includes a commitment to achieve Net Zero across the full value chain by 2030, ASOS will continue its journey towards becoming a truly global retailer in a responsible and sustainable way.
• Research warns plastic pollution is jeopardising sea’s crucial role in fighting climate change; Whales and dolphins are suffocating on the sheer volume of plastic entering our seas, with the picture worse than previously understood, according to latest research by a leading marine charity. The findings put pressure on the government to include the ocean’s critical contributions to climate change mitigation as an integral part of COP26 conversations in Glasgow.
• Reconomy Owned Eurokey announce UK’s first supermarket sorting line; Reconomy owned Eurokey Recycling Ltd has announced plans to invest £15 million in the UK’s first ‘supermarket sorting line’ – an innovation developed specifically to recover and recycle films and flexible plastics arising from the grocery and retail sector. This new 75,000 square foot recycling infrastructure, capable of processing over 70,000 tonnes a year of supermarket films and flexible plastics returned by customers, will be located on a three-and-a-half-acre plot in Kettering, Northamptonshire and is expected to be operational next summer. EA permits are in the process of being confirmed and it is anticipated that the investment will create between 40-50 jobs in the area.
• OLIO raises $43 million to take a bite out of global food waste; OLIO, the community sustainability app, has announced a $43million Series B round to fund its fight against the $1.3trillion of food waste created globally each year. Founded in 2015 by Tessa Clarke and Saasha Celestial-One, OLIO has amassed a user base of five million people. The app is used to give away unwanted food and other household items to neighbours, for free, with the aim of reducing waste in the home and helping people to consume more locally and sustainably.
• Rowse Honey switches to gold caps as it commits to 100% recyclable packaging; It has been phasing out the use of black plastic in its bottle caps over the summer and should have removed up to 100 metric tons (mt) of black plastic from its supply chain this month.
• Orca, the world’s largest direct air capture and CO2 storage plant, starts operations; Unprecedented extreme weather events have dominated the news headlines since early this year. The United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change cautions that the world will see more of this in years to come. The report further confirms that it is crucial to reduce our emissions drastically and remove unavoidable and historic carbon dioxide emissions from the air permanently.
  One month after the report was published, Climeworks launches Orca, the world’s largest direct air capture and storage plant that permanently removes CO2 from the air.
• Viridor food-grade PET gets the green light from European Food Safety Authority; Viridor is celebrating a significant achievement at the company’s new Avonmouth Polymers Reprocessing Facility (PRF), near Bristol, after the plant’s food-grade PET received a positive safety assessment from the European Food Safety Authority. Commissioning of the new plant – which puts polymers recycling and reprocessing under one roof – has begun. Once fully operational, Avonmouth will become the UK’s largest multi-polymer facility. It will produce 18,000 tonnes of food-grade PET annually. In total, Avonmouth will put 60,000 tonnes of recycled plastic from bottles, pots, tubs and trays (PET, HDPE and PP) back in the economy every year as a viable and quality alternative to virgin plastic.
• Government ‘needs to legislate for consistent recycling labelling’ – OPRL; OPRL, the UK’s world-leading resources and recycling not-for-profit, is today (8 September) launching its #MakeItEasy campaign, spearheading a broad coalition of brands, retailers and organisations campaigning to ensure the benefits of its existing world class labelling are not undermined by a free for all in label design, confusing consumers and reducing effective recycling. As the Environment Bill resumes its passage in the House of Lords, OPRL is calling for a single design to be adopted for the Government’s proposed mandatory recycling label.
• FPA calls for industry fairness over litter clean-up costs; The Foodservice Packaging Association (FPA) has called for a level playing field on extended producer responsibility (EPR) in light of chewing gum producers committing money to clean up litter. Chewing gum producers are to invest £10m over the next five years to clean up littered gum, working out at average of £2m per year. However, the FPA argues that the annual cost of cleaning up chewing gum litter is £7m per year and that those producers are paying for 28% of chewing gum litter management costs. The association contrasts this with packaging producers, who will be paying 100% of litter management costs through EPR.
• Swedish investment in ‘largest and most modern plastic recycling plant in the world’; wedish Plastic Recycling (Svensk Plaståtervinning), which is owned by a large part of the Swedish business community, is now investing heavily in building what it calls the ‘world’s largest and most modern facility for plastic recycling’, Site Zero. The facility will be able to recycle all plastic packaging from Swedish households and make plastics circular – completely without any CO2 emissions, it says. Swedish Plastic Recycling is investing a record SEK 1 billion in the state-of-the-art facility that will be completed in 2023.
• The Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM) has appointed LARAC CEO, Lee Marshall, as its new Policy & External Affairs Director; Lee has over 25 years’ experience in the UK waste and recycling sector, holding several senior roles in both the public and private sector. He joins CIWM from LARAC where he spent 7 years transforming the organisation as its Chief Executive Officer.
• Mars Petcare UK to remove 180 tonnes of plastic from multipacks; Mars Petcare has today announced it will replace shrink film with cardboard across all mixed multipack cans of Pedigree, Whiskas, Chappie and Kitekat pet food in the UK.
• Robot sorting will increase the recycling rate of municipal waste; Resource management company Geminor and Norwegian waste company “Renovasjon i Grenland” (RIG) have entered into an agreement for the handling of up to 35 000 tonnes of residual waste over a period of five years. The waste will be sorted into several recyclable fractions in one of Scandinavia’s newest robot sorting plants.
• Welsh Government supports the expansion of The Net Regeneration Scheme; In response to the threat caused by the marine litter crisis Welsh Government has teamed up with the marine waste specialist firm Odyssey Innovation Ltd, creators of the Net Regeneration Scheme, in an unprecedented project for the Welsh fishing communities to offer a sustainable solution for end of life fishing gear such as whelk pots, buoys, ropes, net, floating pontoons and any other recyclable plastics.
• Consumers expect retailers to do more to cut plastic packaging; More than two-thirds of consumers (69%) believe supermarkets and retailers are responsible for reducing the amount of plastic used, and many want to see more progress.
• Kite unveils corrugated alternative to polystyrene with new box liner; This thermal lining is 100% recyclable, low-cost and boasts the same temperature controlling qualities as polystyrene. The company conducted a series of externally verified tests to confirm this, revealing that at room temperature (23°c) the corrugated liners can keep the contents of a box below 0°c for 35 hours while being used in conjunction with our gel packs. 
• New community climate action fund opens; A new £2.5million National Lottery-funded programme to support communities across the UK take action on climate change, opened for applications yesterday (1 September 2021), ahead of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), in Glasgow this November. Building on interest and excitement for COP26, the ‘Together for Our Planet’ funding programme is being launched by The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK. It is offering grants of between £1,000 and £10,000 to support local community projects, covering areas such as food, transport, energy, waste and consumption and the natural environment. It aims to create a legacy of ongoing climate action in hundreds of communities, beyond COP26, supporting the UK to reduce its emissions on its part to Net Zero by 2050.