Member News

Legislation Updates

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UK - England's SUP bans to be further aligned with those of the SUPC  - 18 Jan 2023

• Plates, trays, bowls and cutlery - except for plates, trays or bowls that are packaging under Art. 3 of the 2015 Packaging Regulations (e.g. used as packaging for shelf-ready pre-packaged food items);
• Balloon sticks;
• EPS food and EPS beverage containers, including cups.

• England and Scotland’s prohibitions diverge from those of the SUPD only in not prohibiting oxo-degradable plastic products.
• Wales’ Sep-22 Draft Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Wales) Bill – whose prohibitions are harmonised with the EU SUPD and extend to certain SUP carrier bags – passed through Parliament on 6-Dec-22. The Bill has since been approved by the Secretary of State and the Counsel General, who have indicated they will not be forwarding it to the Supreme Court.
• Northern Ireland – which has a legal duty to transpose parts of the SUPD* – has made the least progress having launched a public consultation in Oct-21 on food and beverage packaging with no further advance.

Spain - Packaging Decree transposes EU legislation with some additional provisions - 13 Jan 2023

• obligating multiple parties enshrined under the definition of ‘distance sellers’;
• introducing collection targets for waste packaging, in addition to the recycling targets;
• subjecting reusable packaging to mandatory DRSs while extending the DRS obligation to SUP beverage containers if industry fails to meet the collection targets;
• enforcing various informational requirements to ensure better consumer information; and
• imposing national non-statutory prevention, re-use and recycled content objectives.

• the full costs for the management (collection, transport and the treatment) of separately collected household waste packaging;
• 50% of the costs of managing household waste packaging arising outside of the separate collection network given the separate collection target(s) are met, or 100% of these costs in the event the separate collection target(s) are not reached.

• prevention and awareness measures/campaigns;
• monitoring/data collection incurred by the municipalities/autonomous communities; and
• litter clean-up of SUP products (listed in Sec. 1 part F of Annex IV of the Waste Law 7/2022).

• Commercial packaging is defined as packaging used in wholesale and retail, restaurant services and bars, offices and markets.
• Industrial packaging is defined as packaging used in industry, farming, etc.

• the overall 'separate collection' targets must be achieved separately for household packaging and industrial/commercial packaging [unlike the overall recycling targets], whereby the 'separate collection' targets for industrial/commercial packaging are 10% higher than those for household packaging.
• the material-specific 'separate collection' targets are applied to household packaging only (incl. for beverage cartons) and are set equal to, or 5% higher than the corresponding EU recycling targets [set 20% lower for ferrous metals and aluminium] in 2025, and between 5-10% higher in 2030 [10% lower for ferrous metals and aluminium]

• online marketplaces (e-commerce platforms) supplying packaged products are held responsible for packaging POM by 3rd party sellers from outside of Spain – unless these have appointed an AR;
• courier/parcel companies are newly considered producers and required to manage the packaging they supply;
• distributors owning a brand (distribution brand) is considered ‘packer’ of branded goods when the packer cannot be identified;
• stores and entities that supply service packaging to end-users are considered packers.

• to show registration numbers on ‘invoices and any other documentation that accompanies the commercial transactions’ of packaged products for all packaging types from POM ‘up to the point of sale to consumers/end-users’;
• complying through a PRO to show recycling fees separately on invoices – the fee is to be shown and ‘clearly differentiated from the rest of the [elements] that make up the invoice’ and may not be included in the product price.

• household packaging must be marked to indicate the waste fraction with which it should be disposed of, indicated for each separable component [Note: A specific sorting label is not mentioned];
• reusable packaging must be marked with the logo of the relevant DRS;
• compostable packaging must be marked
  • informing end-users that it is certified according to the European standard UNE EN 13432:2001;
  • with the phrase 'do not leave in the environment'.

• All packaging is to be '100% recyclable and whenever possible, reusable' by 2030;
• PET and other plastic containers to include 25% and 20% recycled content by 2025 (respectively), calculated as an average of POM;
• All plastic packaging is to include 30% PCR, calculated as the average of all plastic packaging POM by 2030 (extending beyond the SUPD);
• Packaging waste generation is to be reduced by 13% in 2025 and 15% in 2030, compared with volumes generated in 2010
• Re-use quota objectives apply to
  • household beverage containers: 10% by 2030 (by volume);
  • household packaging: 5% in 2030 and 10% in 2035 (by weight POM);
  • commercial/industrial packaging: 20% in 2030 and 30% in 2035 (by weight POM);
  • the HORECA sector.

News from Industry

• Pow addresses MP’s questions over EPR and DRS; Resource and waste minister Rebecca Pow has answered MP’s questions on the government’s upcoming Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation, as well as its recently announced Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) scheme.
• Dragons’ Den win for eco packaging seed kits; A gardening start-up won £80,000 of investment from BBC show Dragons’ Den investor Sara Davies, founder of hobby supplier Crafter’s Companion, after impressing judges with seed kits encased in compostable moulded fibre pods.
• Glass packaging preserves flavour of milk more effectively than paperboard cartons, according to study; A new study has sought to discover whether the material used to package fluid milk has an impact on its flavour, suggesting that glass is the ideal barrier for flavour preservation and paperboard cartons can impact taste throughout the product’s shelf life.
• UK startup launches oat milk powder which cuts packaging by 90%; UK brand Overherd is launching oat milk powder, which uses 90 percent less packaging than store-bought plant milks.The Yorkshire-based startup’s innovative product comes in a ‘super lightweight recyclable pouch’ – with one unit capable of producing eight litres of oat milk at home.
• Sirane announces ‘world first’ ovenable packaging printed with water-based inks; Said to be compliant with EU and FDA packaging regulations, the materials have been printed and laminated with water-based inks and adhesives, and have reportedly been tested by Smithers for ovenable food safety performance at up to 220°C (430°F).
• 2023 and packaging: What have we seen so far?; Although we’re still at the very start of 2023, numerous European countries have already introduced significant packaging-focused legislation this year. Elena Rotzokou, global EPR researcher at environmental compliance data consultancy Ecoveritas, talks us through the changes that you need to know about.
• OPRL welcomes government plans on recycling labels; The government plans to adopt the recycling ‘swoosh’ and from 2026, brand owners and importers will be required to label the majority of packaging products with a label instructing consumers to ‘Recycle’ or ‘Do Not Recycle’, and an accompanying logo.
• Waitrose reduces Easter packaging to save 1 tonne of plastic waste; Waitrose has launched its 2023 Easter food range, with reduced packaging to save nearly one tonne of plastic from going to landfill.
• MPs criticise government after plastic waste recommendations rejected; The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee has expressed “surprise and disappointment” after the government disagreed with key recommendations in its report on dealing with plastic waste. The cross-party MPs’ parliamentary scrutiny body conducted an “extensive inquiry” beginning in July 2021. The headline recommendation of its report, “The price of plastic: ending the toll of plastic waste”, published in November 2022, called for a ban on the export of all plastic waste by the end of 2027.
• Smurfit Kappa invests €6m in solar panels at Spanish mill; The corrugated packaging giant said that the panels would reduce C02 emissions by over 3200 tonnes annually.
• Over 6,500 homes to be part of flexible plastic collection pilot; Maldon District Council is the third local authority, alongside Cheltenham and South Gloucestershire, to participate in the FPF FlexCollect project to pilot the collection of “flexible” plastics from approximately 6,500 households, as part of normal fortnightly recycling collections, Ecosurety says.
• Winner announced of WasteAid’s Waste to Use Challenge in The Gambia; The Waste to Use Challenge’s judges unanimously decided to award the investment to Plastic Recycling Gambia. The judges said they chose Plastic Recycling Gambia due to the strength of the business case presented, the environmental impact of the organisation in saving a large amount of plastic from waterways and dump sites and the income-generating potential for informal waste collectors who are part of the collection network.
• Maspex opts for DomeTwist closure with tethered cap for SIG’s packs; The retail launch by Maspex comes ahead of the EU’s Single-Use Plastics Directive, which states that all single-use beverage containers must come with caps that stay attached to the pack by July 2024, so they can be easily disposed of and recycled with the rest of the pack.
• 40% of consumers willing to pay more for sustainable products; A survey reveals 40% of consumers would be happy to pay more for cutlery if it was sustainably sourced or reusable, with 59% stating that single-use items such as containers and cutlery should incur a charge now.
• Britvic adopts SIG’s PAC.TRUST digital solution in Brazil; Britvic will adopt the Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS) and Digitalisation modules of the PAC.TRUST solution, enabling traceability of internal processes in minutes.
• Study: EU consumers “export” environment damage to Eastern Europe; European Union (EU) consumers are “exporting” negative environmental impacts to their Eastern European neighbours, whilst keeping the bulk of economic benefits linked to consuming goods and services, a new study reveals.
• Government “stalling” on UK EPR delays, says Lindhquist; In an interview with Ecoveritas, Swedish economist and engineer Thomas Lindhquist labelled the UK government’s intended approach to EPR “curious” and stressed the need for progress on the environmental policy. Speaking to Ecoveritas, Lindhquist said: “There are undoubtedly elements of stalling to this, especially when you make things complicated and want to solve them in a strictly legislative or society-orientated approach.
• Amcor unveils recycle-ready forming films for meat, fish and cheese; Amcor has announced the European launch of its new PrimeSeal and DairySeal Recycle-Ready Thermoforming Films for meat and dairy.
• European packaging field ‘transforming rapidly’ as governments turn to EPR; The European packaging field is transforming rapidly as more and more governments are recognising the long-term benefits of EPR, according to Ecoveritas.
• Report: brands urged to change labelling to boost recycling rates; According to the latest research, attention is too often focused on just the container when the right choice of label could be a game changer. As part of the key takeaways in the report, Planet Tracker says brands and consumer companies could adopt a self-help approach by thinking about both their containers and labelling.
• Poll finds ‘three-quarters of Brits’ want glass included in DRS; Whitehall sparked concern amongst environmental campaigners last year when it revealed glass bottles would be excluded from the scheme in England and Northern Ireland. In contrast schemes planned for Wales and Scotland are set to include glass. Polling conducted by Yonder for Nature 2030 poll found that three quarters of Britons want glass included in a future DRS in all four nations of the UK.
• Report calls for EU authorities to punish “greenwashing” offenders; A group of environmental, social and governance (ESG) sector experts have issued a report aimed at tackling EU companies that “greenwash.” The report, Joint Response to ESA Call for Evidence on Greenwashing, puts forward five key recommendations for the European Supervisory Authorities “ESA” to consider, along with the wider EU apparatus.
• Loophole in UK’s plastics ban could cause it to fail, warns NLWA; An apparent flaw in the UK government’s forthcoming ban on some single-use plastics could make it ineffective, North London Waste Authority (NLWA) warns. NLWA says it is seeking clarification from the government on contradictions in the draft legislation, which it says could cause a glaring loophole. NLWA says it is concerned that the draft states that it will be an offence to supply a single-use plastic plate, tray or bowl before then expressing that this “does not apply to the supply of a single-use plastic plate, tray or bowl that is packaging.”
• Roberts Mart supplies bags derived from sugarcane; The bio-based materials are I’m green, Braskem’s brand for its green polythene. After being refined, sugarcane produces a co-product that is converted into ethanol, which is then used to produce the green polythene.
• BEIS commits £32.5m to support British industry cut fossil fuels; The UK government has committed to a £32.5 million funding package for British industrial sectors, including construction, mining and quarrying, to cut reliance on fossil fuels and boost energy resilience. The UK government says the funding, announced on Friday 20 January, will help these industries move away from using red diesel, also known as gas oil, which is a type of fossil fuel commonly used for off-road, heavy-duty vehicles and machinery, such as bulldozers and cranes.
• Extend carbon tax to clothing and electricals to reach net zero, No 10 told; Behavioural Insights Team’s (BIT) new report calls on the government to extend the UK carbon tax to incorporate consumables, such as clothing, electricals and household goods, to achieve net zero.
• TerraCycle sets up UK free recycling programme for skincare brand; Global personal care brand, Paula’s Choice Skincare and international recycling company TerraCycle have launched the Paula’s Choice Skincare Free Recycling Programme in the UK.
• RDF industry group criticises calls for blanket waste exports ban; 2022 saw various calls for waste exports to be banned, including from the Environment Agency’s (EA) Chief Executive who said a ban was a potential measure against waste crime. The RDF Industry Group has published a statement which says that most of these calls “miss the point” of environmental protection and enforcement. The RDF Industry Group (RDFIG) says an export ban would contradict Defra’s mission statement to protect the environment and contribute to economic growth, and would not enable stronger enforcement from the EA.
• Study aims to prevent leakages of fishery waste; A team of researchers, led by Dr Falk Schneider from National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), Taiwan, have conducted a material flow analysis of several types of fishing gear, which aims to improve fishery management and prevent leakages of fishery waste.
  In Taiwan, an average of 12.7 m3 of marine litter accumulates per kilometre along the coastline, 70% of which is caused by fishing gear, the Global Research Group Asia SDGs says.
• Environmental impact of single-use vapes review commissioned; The Scottish government has commissioned an “urgent review” of the environmental impacts and management of single-use vapes. The review, which the Scottish government says comes in response to emerging concerns around the negative consequences of the disposable devices, will inform potential policy responses, which could include “a ban of the products.”
• Waitrose launches own brand home compostable tea bags; Waitrose has announced it is the “first UK supermarket” to sell certified own-brand home compostable tea bags.
• Deposit return scheme for England, Wales and NI set for 2025; The DRS aims to ensure 85% fewer drinks containers are discarded as litter after three years following its launch.
• TIPA implores government to address Britain’s ‘hotch-potch’ composting infrastructure; Later this month the government will publish a plan to reach net zero by 2050 and halve the amount of waste per person sent to residual treatment. Daphna Nissenbaum, chief executive and co-founder of compostable packaging developer TIPA, said the achievements will not be met without a huge increase in composting.
• UOW project uses plastic waste to 3D print furnished homes; The project is titled “Designing for Circular Economics: Creating Impact from Local Plastic Waste Using Off-Grid Containerized 3D Printers and Practice-Based Learning.” As part of the project, the University of Wollongong (UOW) says its teams will focus on the net zero aspect in the design of a scalable and accessible, net-zero-footprint 3D printing-based manufacturing system that is comfortable to work in, can be moved easily between construction sites and enables lay users to design and manufacture goods from plastic waste onsite.
• UK generated 2nd largest amount of e-waste as a country in 2022; A new study has revealed the countries that produce the most e-waste, with the UK ranking second to Norway. 
• Vape recycling service launched in South West by DCW; South West independent waste management firm DCW has launched a new disposable vape recycling service in a bid to divert potentially hazardous waste away from landfill. After expanding its existing Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) recycling service, DCW says it can now provide businesses with two 23-litre caddies so that disposable vape users can recycle the casing and batteries of vapes responsibly.
• Blue Ocean Closures obtains further investment; The investment should increase the possibilities to grow its sustainable operations and activities in the field of fully biobased, biodegradable and recyclable caps and lids.
• The Future Food Movement creates “first-of-its-kind” UK Youth Advisory Board; The FFM describes its Youth Advisory Board as the “first-of-its-kind” in the UK that focuses specifically on the food industry’s impact on the planet. VotesforSchools was launched in 2016 with the intention of working to reduce voter apathy and promote the youth voice. The FFM says it is a climate-first industry network on a mission to accelerate climate action in the food industry from observation to meaningful action.
• Zero Waste Europe sets essential criteria for zero waste fashion business models; ZWE’s four essential criteria are design for physical and emotional durability, demand-driven production to phase out “unsolds” and discounts, full supply chain transparency and traceability post-sale and extending the use-phase after first ownership.
• UK Government urged to keep glass out of its Deposit Return Scheme; Of UK adults polled, those asked would prefer to continue recycling their glass bottles through existing household collections, rather than through a deposit return scheme (DRS).
• Spinnova and adidas “sustainable textile solution” produces 65% fewer CO2; Sustainable material company Spinnova and adidas have introduced the new hoodie, TERREX HS, the first adidas product made with the sustainable SPINNOVA® material.
• International NGOs coordinate efforts to tackle plastic pollution; The World Economic Forum’s Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP), the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Plastics Initiative and international climate action NGO WRAP have joined forces to “drive forward global action” on plastics by improving knowledge exchange. The three organisations, which share a common vision for a circular economy for plastics, have each been running national-level initiatives since 2018, which now span more than twenty countries, WRAP says.
• Government must do more than “ban plastic plates”, says NLWA; Bananas in plastic bags, onions in plastic nets and cucumbers wrapped in plastic are three examples of plastic waste that NLWA is calling on the UK Government to ban.
• Waitrose to save “320 tonnes of packaging” by replacing small wine bottles with cans; Waitrose has announced plans to move small wine formats from bottles into aluminium cans in a move it says will save 320 tonnes of packaging in the first year and marks a “significant step” towards reducing its carbon footprint.