Delivering on the Circular Economy Act: Step 2
As anticipated, the European Commission has launched a public consultation and Call for Evidence on the upcoming Circular Economy Act (CEA) in the course of the summer 2025. The consultations will remain open until 6 November 2025 and address general questions to stakeholders on the circular economy, on Single Market barriers to circularity, on the demand and supply of secondary raw materials, as well as ways to improve waste management and circular processes.
Although little is known about the European Commission’s planned measures, the packaging value chain has high expectations that the new CEA will address the role and functioning of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes for packaging to leverage their full potential. Article 8a of the Waste Framework Directive (WFD) outlines the EU-wide general requirements for EPR, aiming to foster the harmonisation of EPR governing principles, including their transparency and cost-efficiency. However, the picture of today’s EPR schemes for packaging looks very different in practice than in theory. National disparities, increasing complexity, and the emergence of state-run schemes risk creating barriers to compliance, innovation, and competitiveness. These shortcomings must be tackled head-on in order to achieve a truly circular economy in Europe, establish a robust EU market for secondary raw materials and create the enabling conditions needed to meet the sustainability requirements set forth at EU level, for instance as part of the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR).
In a joint statement co-signed by around 50 organisations, the packaging value chain is calling for the New CEA to:
1) Ensure the effective enforcement of Article 8a of the WFD, and explore the potential of creating a horizontal, directly applicable EU EPR Regulation to reconcile the diverse EPR requirements currently found across various pieces of EU legislation in a legislative instrument establishing underlying harmonised governing principles applicable to all waste streams.
2) Enshrine the earmarking principle into EU law to finance the net cost of collection, sorting and recycling infrastructure of the packaging type it is paid for, ensuring that EPR fees are effectively reinvested in managing the end of life of packaging that are designed to be recycled in line with upcoming Design for Recycling criteria.
3) Establish EU-wide End of Waste Criteria, to clearly define when waste ceases to be waste and becomes a product, except for waste streams where existing recycling systems already operate efficiently.
4) Create Trans-Regional Circularity Hubs, as a complementary measure to the development of national sorting and recycling infrastructure, to maximise the potential of the Union market and promote economies of scale in recycling.
5) Explore the establishment of a 28th legal regime to streamline and fast-track registration or authorisation procedures under different EU waste-related legislations.
6) Review the WFD to limit the opportunity for Member States to divert from their obligations on separate collection under Article 10(3) of the WFD.
Putting an end to State-run PROs
The New CEA should also ensure that all references to State-run systems are removed from EU legislation and that such models cease to exist. A basic principle of EPR is that the payment of a fee is linked to the delivery of a service, shifting responsibility for waste management away from the public sector to the producers. Contrary to this, State-run models might entail that the fees collected from different producers will be used to finance the general State budget, rather than being reinvested in waste management operations for different waste streams.
While such models only exist in a couple of Member States currently, more countries are watching this trend and Poland is notably working on a draft Packaging and Packaging Waste bill aiming to repeal the current bills in application and adapting the existing EPR system to transform it into a State-run system.
WHAT DID YOU MISS?
01 August – 6 November 2025: Public consultation and call for evidence on the upcoming Circular Economy Act (CEA)
13 August - 03 September 2025: Draft Polish Bill on Packaging and Packaging Waste submitted to national public consultation
WHAT"S NEXT?
12 November 2025: EUROPEN workshop, ‘Transforming EPR: The Future of Circular Packaging in Europe’
By Q4 2026: Publication of the New Circular Economy Act