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France - 'Cahier des charges' for household packaging revised - 21 October 2022

• applies the recycling and re-use/re-utilisation targets introduced by the AGEC Law and various implementation regulations. Notably, the 75% overall recycling target for household packaging of the AGEC Law is postponed by one year to 2023;
• sets a target of EUR 842 million for the support the PROs are to pay municipalities for collection and sorting of packaging waste from households in 2023;
• increases the PROs’ financial exposure in case material-specific recycling targets are not met by requiring the ‘saving’ resulting from the shortfall to be invested in municipal collection infrastructure (in addition to the penalties due on the shortfall);
• requires PROs to invest at least EUR 62 million by end 2024 in collection infrastructure for household packaging waste arising from away-from-home consumption (i.e. in public places, malls and schools) and collect at least 60,000 tonnes of such packaging p.a.;
• requires PROs to finance municipalities’ litter clean-up activities with a fixed amount per capita per year on request.

• a 75% overall recycling target for household packaging in 2023 (I.2.b.). [This postpones the national overall target by one year. In 2021 the French overall recycling rate was 72%. The EU’s 2025 overall target is 65% by 2025 and 70% by 2030].
• the EU Packaging Directive’s 2025 material-specific packaging targets (report section), except for the target for wood [In 2021, the EU’s 2025 targets were already achieved except for the 50% plastic packaging target, with the French rate being 30% in 2021]. In line with the Directive, the targets are to be calculated taking into account “the mass of packaging entering a recycling facility after sorting and other preliminary operations necessary to remove [non-packaging] waste ...”.

• ‘contribute’ to meeting the packaging reduction target of 20% by 2025, of which half must be met by re-use or ‘re-utilisation’ (Art. I.2a) as stipulated by the Apr-21 3R Decree;
• spend 5% of their recycling fee revenue on developing reuse and re-utilisation solutions (Art. I.2d) and
• “implement the actions necessary” to ensure that reused packaging contributes 10% of total POM by 2027 by packaging sales units or equivalents, as required by the Apr-22 Decree on the minimum proportion of reused packaging.

• issue calls for tender totalling at least EUR 62 million by the end of 2024 to support investments in collection infrastructure in spaces open to the public to ensure that away-from-home packaging collection is widely available by Jan-25 (V. 5.d revising IV.3.c);
• technically and/or financially support the collection of at least 60,000 tonnes or about 20% of the total* of such packaging (VIII.1. revising VII.2. 3-5)

• Rural communities with under 5K population: EUR 0.90
• Urban communities with over 5K population: EUR 3.20
• Dense urban communities with over 50K population: EUR 4.50
• Touristic communities: EUR 3.50

News from Industry

• Coffey returns to DEFRA as Secretary of State; Coffey had been a minister in the department until September 2019, when she took up a cabinet role at the Department for Work and Pensions. Most recently, she was Secretary of State for Health during Liz Truss’ brief spell as Prime Minister.
• Beverage carton industry publishes design for recycling guidelines; Through the industry’s 2030 Roadmap, ACE (The Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment) says its members have adopted an ambitious vision for 2030 and beyond: to deliver the most sustainable packaging for resilient food supply systems, which is renewable, climate positive and circular. As part of the Roadmap, ACE says the packaging industry is committed to developing and annually reviewing the Design for Recycling (DfR) Guidelines that will provide producers of beverage cartons with technical guidance to identify the materials needed in the packaging composition that are compatible with existing recycling processes and how the recyclability of beverage cartons can be optimised.
• Average Brit throws away 72 items of clothing a year, British Wool report says; A new study by British Wool shows 63% of respondents admitted to chucking clothes away which could have either been mended easily or taken to a charity shop. According to the study, the average number of binned clothes amounted to six a month, or 72 a year, ending up in a landfill.
• The Pack Hub links up with Emitwise to report and measure carbon; According to The Pack Hub, the Emitwise platform uses machine learning to process data at the scale needed for complex packaging operations. The Pack Hub members include Coca-Cola, Kraft Heinz, Mars Wrigley and Kellogg’s.
• Greenpeace report claims “most plastic” in the US is unrecyclable; New Greenpeace USA report, Circular Claims Fall Flat Again, claims that most plastic in the US “simply cannot be recycled”. The report says that US households only recycled 2.4 million tonnes of plastic waste out of 51 million tonnes generated. According to the report, no type of plastic packaging in the US meets the definition of recyclable used by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastic Economy (EMF NPE) Initiative.
• The Renew Hub hits milestone of 50,000 preloved items repaired and resold; The Renew Hub, which the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) says is the biggest reuse and repair facility, has renovated and resold more than 50,000 items in its first year – diverting over 500 tonnes of material from going to landfill.
• FCA proposes new rules to tackle greenwashing; In a bid to clamp down on greenwashing, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is proposing a package of new measures.
  Amongst the measures proposed by the FCA are an investment in product sustainability labels and restrictions on how terms like “ESG”, “green” or “sustainable” can be used.
• United Caps and Mimica partner to produce ‘intelligent’ cap; Mimica was able to calibrate a gel that never comes into contact with the product yet enables a specialised label to change from smooth to bumpy based on storage conditions and food profile. The United Caps and Mimica teams were able to develop a fully recyclable cap that does not affect bottle recyclability yet offers a fast, easy way for a consumer to ensure food quality is still good.
• Global paper recyclers highlight an 80-90% drop in prices; During discussions at the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) World Recycling Convention in Dubai, the Division President reported an 80-90% drop in prices for old corrugated cardboard (OCC) in recent months.
  In his opening address, Division President Francisco Donoso, of Dolaf Servicios Verdes S.L. of Spain cited “extremely low demand” all around the world with high stocks at paper mills and the high cost of energy as reasons for the price drop. He continued that producers cannot pass on this cost in their sales prices because demand for their products is also low, owing to the financial crisis, and neither can they reduce their energy costs. “Therefore, the only cost they can manage is what they pay for their raw material.”
• DS Smith releases blueprint for packaging made from self-healing “skin”; DS Smith has revealed a futuristic blueprint for boxes which shows how the packaging could be made from organic, programmable fibres with the ability to self-heal – like our skin – when damaged. DS Smith describes itself as a “leading provider” of sustainable fibre-based packaging worldwide, which is supported by recycling and papermaking operations. The company says it has released the blueprint to coincide with the 150th year of the cardboard box and shows how how the packaging may evolve over the next 50 years.
• Zara launches resale platform as “commitment” to circularity; The clothing retailer’s new platform, Zara Pre-Owned, will allow customers to resell items, request repairs, and arrange for clothes to be collected from their homes and donated to charity. On November 3rd, Zara will launch “Zara Pre-Owned” in the UK – a “pioneering” integrated platform available through Zara stores, Zara.com and its mobile app.
• “Record” government funding uplift for battery research and development; The battery industry could support 100,000 jobs by 2040 and is central to the growth of key industries, such as electric vehicles and renewables, the Government says. The Government says the record funding uplift will be delivered through the Faraday Battery Challenge, which began in 2017 and supports “world-class” scientific technology development and manufacturing scale-up capability for batteries in the UK.
• StormBrands behind refreshed design for Morrisons’ organic range; The brief for Storm was to rejuvenate Morrisons organic offering across the entire range of SKUs in line with a refreshed brand positioning and changing consumer behaviour around consumption of organically produced products.  The agency was also asked to help educate consumers on what organic stood for by defining a distinctive and disruptive identity.
• Renault Group launches entity to create automotive circular economy; Renault Group is creating The Future Is NEUTRAL, which it says is the first company operating across the entire automotive circular economy value chain to move the automotive industry towards resource neutrality. The car manufacturer says that by bringing together all the existing expertise of the group and its partners in this activity, this new entity offers closed-loop recycling solutions at each stage of a vehicle’s life. Renault Group says this entity will develop more technological and industrial solutions thanks to the expertise of its subsidiaries and its network of partners already operating.
• Lidl GB announces permanent removal of green coloured milk caps following successful trial; In a bid to further improve the recyclability of its products, Lidl has announced it will be replacing green semi-skimmed milk caps with clear caps. The permanent change follows a successful trial earlier this year and will roll out across stores from 31 October.
• News Analysis | Xampla banks on plant protein material; Xampla is banking on the success of protein based packaging materials replacing chemically modified materials as the public and governments continue to look for alternatives to standard plastics.
• RECOUP launches flagship ‘recyclability by design’ guide for 2023; RECOUP has launched its latest version of the ‘Recyclability By Design’ publication, a guide for developers and designers of plastic packaging. The 2023 issue, launched at the RECOUP Annual Conference includes essential practical information and recommendations that plastic packaging designers and buyers require to ensure they are maximising recyclability of plastic packaging and meeting recycling.
• Brits waste £245 worth of fruit a year, new research finds; Brits throw out £245 worth of fruit a year because they didn’t eat it in time, according to research. According to the findings by Discarded Spirits, over half of Brits (56%) throw out fruit, with a further third (35%) admitting they chuck out fruit “all the time”. In fact, fruit is the number one food item which is left to rot in fridges and bowls across the UK, according to a whopping 36% of the nation, with bananas (57%) and punnets of strawberries (42%) the most likely candidates to be binned. Other fruits that get wasted are apples (30%), boxes of raspberries (19%), bags of oranges (19%) and pears (18%).
• EU countries recycled 38% of its plastic packaging waste in 2020; 38% of plastic packaging waste generated in the EU in 2020 was sent for recycling, according to new figures release by the European Commission. During this year, each person living in the EU generated 34.6 kg of plastic packaging waste on average, according the figures, and of this, 13.0kg was recycled. This information comes from data on packaging waste published by Eurostat this week.
• Report: Waste incineration “too Inconsequential” to reduce EU dependence on Russian gas; A new study published by Zero Waste Europe (ZWE) claims that waste incineration is “too Inconsequential” to reduce the European Union countries’ (EU27) dependence on Russian gas. The report “Incineration: What’s the Effect on Gas Consumption?”, commissioned to Equanimator, suggests that energy generated by energy recovery plants by way of waste incineration displaces around 1.1% of EU27 consumption of Russian gas.
• Recycle Week | UK’s best and worst cities for recycling revealed; Newport has been named as the best city for recycling in the UK and Birmingham as the area most in need of improvement, according to new research by not-for-profit Every Can Counts.
• Recycle Week: 80% of UK households “still unclear” on how to recycle effectively; As many as eight in 10 households are still failing to recycle simple items like cardboard, plastic and food, according to research. A study of 2,000 adults, conducted by Robinsons, suggests that up to 25% of Brits don’t feel educated enough about what they can and can’t throw away – and the impact this could have on the environment.
• Macsa ID UK launches laser marking on metal packaging for olives market; Its first modular and scalable laser coding system, Macsa ID’s high performance SPA 2 CB3O units are applying alphanumeric codes onto the printed metal containers now widely being chosen by producers and processors to package their innovative product ranges such as olives that are whole, pitted, stuffed, sliced and flavoured.
• Report: UK “veering off course” as climate change no longer ranks as public’s top concern; The UK public no longer ranks climate change as the top concern, placing the cost of living as their primary worry, as revealed in a landmark report on environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) issues from communications consultancy SEC Newgate.
• Plastics value chain calls for free movement of waste in the EU; Plastics Europe is calling for the Waste Shipment Regulation to be revised to support the EU’s 2050 circularity and net-zero targets. Current waste shipment rules hinder recycling plastic waste, resulting in too much waste being sent to landfill and incineration.
• UK must ‘fundamentally rethink’ future of cities to meet net zero targets; Britain’s cities need “urgent transformation” in the next decade and beyond if the country is to meet its 2050 net zero targets and create cleaner, safer spaces for citizens, according to a major study from E.ON and the UK Green Building Council.
• Duo invests £3m on new Leeds recycling company; Manchester-headquartered packaging manufacturer Duo has invested £3m in establishing a new recycling business in Leeds.
• Encirc trials cut to plastic wrap for Britvic drinks pallets; Glass manufacturer Encirc is working with beverages giant Britvic to trial the removal of plastic shroud packaging on its drinks pallets set for the retail sector. 
• Over 5 billion smartphones will become waste in 2022; Experts expect roughly 5.3 billion smartphones will drop out of use this year, according to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Forum. Stacked flat atop one another at an average depth of 9 mm that many disused phones would rise roughly 50,000 km – 120 times higher than the International Space Station; one-eighth of the way to the moon.
• Lidl becomes first UK supermarket to trial on-shelf smart refills; Lidl GB has become the first supermarket in the UK to give customers access to an on-shelf smart refill machine with ‘smart’ pouches for their laundry detergent. The compact machines, designed by Chilean sustainability start-up Algramo, will be located on-shelf in the store’s laundry detergent section. They will take up space equivalent to 66 standard Formil single-use bottles but have the potential of filling over 245 individual pouches, increasing capacity by nearly 300%  Through the machine’s automated, touchscreen experience, customers can simply pick up the pouch, choose their favourite detergent and follow the simple on-screen instructions. Innovative ‘closed-fill’ technology incorporated into the pouch cap allows customers to fill up with the cap still on, enabling faster filling while eliminating the chance of mess and spills.
• First Mile unveils low cost Return & Recycle scheme for businesses; Return & Recycle is a recycling service for businesses and workplaces of all types and sizes. Customers order a pack of prepaid-return boxes. Each box holds 15kg and converts into a recycling point for one of six categories of material. Collected boxes are returned to First Mile’s Returns Service Centre (RSC) where their contents are separated by material type before being processed and sent onto waste partners.
• Smokers “blind” to devastating impact of butts on the environment – Hubbub; New research from environmental charity Hubbub reveals just over 1 in 4 smokers (28%) are aware that cigarette butts are made from plastic. Of the 1,500 smokers surveyed by Censuswide, over a third (36%) mistakenly think cigarette butts contain cotton wool when in fact the white fluffy material is made from a type of plastic (cellulose acetate) which once smoked, can release “thousands of chemicals”.
• Almost 15,000 nappies avoid landfill as part of recycling trial; Eco-friendly baby care company Pura says its “first-of-its-kind” recycling trial in England collected almost 3000kg of nappy and hygiene product waste from Bristol households and businesses to be repurposed. Pura says this is the equivalent of around 14,400 nappies turned into useful materials such as road surfaces notice boards, panelling, insulation under laminate flooring and other insulation.
• Test Valley Packaging unveils materials made from agricultural waste; RAW Packaging is made from the agricultural waste from sugar cane farms across India. Card and paper will be available in a number of different formats for a wide range of packaging products including cartons, printing paper and mailing bags, with room for innovation to expand to void-fill and paper bubble-wrap.
• Sidel aims to innovate with hub dedicated to PET recycling; The site, in Octeville, is designed to develop Sidel’s understanding of PET recycling. A unique small-scale PET recycling line will allow Sidel to develop advanced knowledge about the recycling of food-contact PET bottles. The line will also enable Sidel to further develop its own knowledge, ideas and innovations.
• Project to develop large-scale fishing net recycling in the UK; Environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy (KBT) has teamed up with plastic processing experts Milspeed on a project to develop the large-scale recycling of fishing nets in the UK. Each year, it’s estimated that 640,000 tonnes of fishing nets end up as plastic waste in our oceans, according to Keep Britain Tidy. The charity says that in addition to being “hazardous for boats”, these nets can continue to “ghost fish” for up to 600 years, with countless fish, dolphins and seals killed after getting trapped in them.
• WasteAid programme to improve waste management in low-income communities in Cameroon; WasteAid has announced a new partnership that will build on learnings taken from previous work in Cameroon and will expand its current programme. Its new partner, Partners Group Impact (Verein) (“PG Impact”), supports entrepreneurial projects and organisations that create positive, high-impact and measurable social and/or environmental benefits. PG Impact is managed entirely by Partners Group employees, who contribute their time and expertise to identify, evaluate and invest in high-impact projects.
• New Hubbub toolkit and funding available to local authorities; Environmental charity Hubbub has launched its ‘In The Loop’ toolkit, an in-depth guide for local authorities on how to roll out a successful recycling on-the-go campaign, designed to help increase recycling rates.
• Nation’s wardrobes hold 1.6 billion items of unworn clothes – WRAP; Many people are already buying and selling pre-loved clothing, but WRAP’s study suggests there is a “huge” financial and environmental opportunity that is unworn in all our wardrobes. The largest study into clothing habits ever undertaken by climate action NGO WRAP shows changes over the last 8 years around how long we retain our clothes, and how our openness to new ways of clothes ‘shopping’ could significantly reduce the environmental cost of clothing the nation – and save shoppers millions of pounds.
• Diversey launches new pouches to streamline recycling; The SafePack pouch allows users to refill reusable spray bottles and minimise waste. Diversey said the SafePack pouches provide an robust and drip-free design now meet the new criteria for eco-certification, United Nation-approved pouches for ADR (classified) liquids, 1.5L pouches upgraded to 2L; larger in size makes for less waste.
• ALUPRO calls for PRN reforms as prices remain volatile; The UK is tracing ahead of its annual business recycling target and is again on course to surpass its current obligated business tonnage, but increasingly volatile prices are continuing to prompt calls for PRN reforms.
• Chase Plastics invests in recycling line following huge growth; Chase Plastics has installed a new recycling line partially funded by government and awarded by WRAP, following huge growth in 2021. The major UK manufacturer of recycled polyethylene raw materials (rPE), has announced it grew by 72% in 2021 and is targeting sustained growth in 2022 backed by investment.
• South West councils trial kerbside collections of flexible plastic packaging; Cheltenham and South Gloucestershire have become the first local authorities to agree to trial kerbside collections of flexible plastic packaging under the Flexible Plastic Fund (FPF) FlexCollect project.
• PhD student group formed to find solution to global plastic crisis; Five PhD students, each funded for four years, will soon start exploring the complex problem of marine pollution from plastic packaging, the University of Portsmouth says. The “innovative” research programme at the University of Portsmouth is being supported by UK based material technologies company Aquapak and aims to deliver actions that can be taken to solve the “growing problem” of marine plastic pollution.
• Antalis launches sustainable foam profiles exempt from packaging tax; Foam profiles are an essential material when packaging delicate or sharp goods, and the new product is available in a wide range of profiles to provide corner and edge protection. Ian Whitcombe, packaging product manager at Antalis, said: “We’re continually working with our suppliers to source and develop new products that will help our customers meet their sustainability goals. We’re delighted to add this great range of sustainable foam profiles to our portfolio – and it’s another product that is Plastic Packaging Tax-exempt, so it offers cost-saving benefits to customers, too.”
• New Domino coder launched for recyclable food packaging film; The U510 laser coder can also work on flexible food packaging films in horizontal and vertical form-fill-seal (HFFS and VFFS) applications. The U510 is designed for ease of integration, with an all-in-one printhead and controller unit that integrates seamlessly into existing production lines and an adjustable laser head that can be mounted horizontally or vertically for extra flexibility.
• Robinson ramps up Paperbox production with SATE investment; The new box making equipment – based at Robinson’s Chesterfield site – can manage sheets with a minimum weight of 70 g/m2. The firm said that the machine “offers huge advantages in terms of production and quality of the finished product with savings on fixed production costs, consistency and reliability”.
• Hubbub & Starbucks unveil winners of fund tackling single-use packaging; The Bring It Back Fund has increased to £1.4 million to fund six reuse pilots across the UK with the first project launching in the next few months. The fund is supported by Starbucks pioneering 5p cup charge which is applied when a customer chooses to use a single-use paper cup. Introduced voluntarily in 2018, Starbucks has donated all funds to Hubbub to support sustainability efforts and waste reduction.
• Sealed Air launches new recycled content inflatable films; Sealed Air has developed a range of new Bubble Wrap protective packaging that use 30% or 50% recycled plastic waste.
• “Pioneering” Materials Passports to “kickstart” circular economy in construction sector; Designed by Fletcher Priest Architects and now under construction in the City of London, the 94,000 sq ft Edenica office development at 100 Fetter Lane is on track to set a “significant” sustainability precedent for UK commercial buildings, Waterman says. Sustainability consultancy company, Waterman says this scheme for BauMont Real Estate Capital and YardNine is harnessing the latest design techniques to optimise operational energy efficiency and slash embodied carbon.
• Cauli launches reusable and recyclable coffee cup scheme; CauliCups are injection moulded and made from 100% polypropylene. According to Cauli they can e reused 400 times before being returned to manufacturers to be recycled into new products. The company added that the cups are available in 10oz and 12oz size, with 16oz cups in the pipeline for the future. Initial orders have come from Barts Health NHS Trust and a number of banks in Canary Wharf.
• New research “major step” toward perpetually recyclable plastic; New research from CU Boulder, published in Nature Chemistry, details how a class of durable plastics widely used in the aerospace and microelectronics industries can be chemically broken down into their most basic building blocks and then formed once again into the same material.
• DS Smith and Krones launch fibre-based shrink-wrap for bottles; DS Smith has announced a partnership with packaging machinery and systems provider Krones to create a fibre-based alternative to shrink-wrap for PET multipack bottles.
• John Lewis Partnership unveils new pledges to “protect and restore nature”; The John Lewis Partnership has “doubled down” on its commitment to “protect and restore” nature, including pledging to achieve net zero on its Leckford farm by 2024. The Partnership has pledged zero deforestation in the sourcing of all key commodities across all own brand products, as well as outlined plans to end fossil fuels, eradicate waste, and enhance nature in retail spaces. A stand-out pledge is to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural processes on John Lewis’ farm at Leckford to reach net zero by 2024. This will be combined with encouraging species regeneration on the Estate, the Partnership says. John Lewis also revealed its WWF partnership to fund biodiversity and nature conservation in “key sourcing” regions.
• New bespoke bottles from Beatson Clark for BOL Foods; BOL Foods has switched to new bespoke glass bottles from Beatson Clark for its range of Power Shakes. The shakes have been on the market for 18 months and consumer research was used to help guide Beatson Clark and Touch Design.
• Buxton and Biffa to provide recycling bins at London Marathon; Buxton water will be placing recycling bins at the start and end of the London Marathon, taking place on 2 October, in partnership with Biffa.This is in addition to drop zones placed along the course, aimed at helping runners recycle their water bottles. Buxton insists it is the largest British mineral water brand to have all of its bottles made from other bottles (excluding the caps and labels) and the bins could stop up to 700,000 bottles from ending up in landfill.