EU negotiators reach provisional agreement on PPWR

The second and final political trilogue on PPWR took place in Brussels on Monday 4 March and the co-legislators have reached a provisional political agreement on the text in the evening.

Francesca Stevens, EUROPEN's Secretary General, commented:

“We commend efforts by EU co-legislators to strike a balance between ambitious environmental goals and the practical realities of implementation within the packaging sector. While we wait to see the details of today’s agreement, and see if it can concretely lay a solid foundation for advancing towards a circular economy that invests in green innovations, we remain concerned about the potential for further market fragmentation, which could jeopardise the seamless operation of the Single Market and impeding our collective progress towards circularity”.

What is in the provisional agreement?

From the information that can already be gathered, the following provisions have been included as part of the provisional agreement (non-exhaustive):

• Article 5 – Substances in packaging
  • Introduction of restriction on the placing on the market of food contact packaging containing per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFASs) above certain thresholds
  • Commission to assess the need to amend that restriction within 4 years of the date of application of the Regulation to avoid overlap with other EU laws
• Article 7 – Recycled content
  • 2030 and 2040 targets for minimum recycled content in plastic packaging
  • Exemption from targets for compostable plastic packaging, and packaging whose plastic component represents less than 5% of the packaging’s total weight
  • Inclusion of clause for Commission to review the implementation of the 2030 targets and assess the feasibility of the 2040 targets
  • Commission to assess, 3 years following the entry into force of the Regulation, the state of technological development of bio-based plastic packaging and, on the basis of that assessment, to lay down sustainability requirements for bio-based content in plastic packaging
• Articles 9 and 21 – Packaging minimization and empty space
  • Maximum empty space ratio of 50% in grouped, transport and e-commerce packaging
  • Manufacturers and importers to ensure that the weight and volume of packaging are minimised, except for protected packaging designs (provided that this protection was already in force by the date of entry into force of the Regulation)
• Article 22 and Annex V – Packaging restrictions
  • Introduction of bans from 1^st January 2030
  • Bans of single-use plastic packaging for fruit and vegetables, of SUP packaging for food and beverages + condiments/sauces in the HORECA sector, of accommodation miniature packaging for toiletry products, of shrink-wrap for suitcases in airports, and of very lightweight plastic bags.
• Article 26 – Reuse & refill targets
  • Binding targets for 2030 and indicative targets for 2040
  • Alcoholic and non‑alcoholic beverages targets exclude wine and aromatised wines, milk and other highly perishable beverages
  • Transport and sales packaging targets exclude packaging used for dangerous goods or large-scale equipment, and flexible packaging in direct contact with food
  • Inclusion of a general renewable 5-year derogation from the attainment of the reuse targets under specific conditions, including that:
    • the exempting Member State exceeds by 5% the recycling targets to be achieved by 2025 and is expected to exceed by 5% the 2030 recycling targets;
    • the exempting Member State is on track to achieve its waste prevention targets;
    • the operators have adopted a corporate waste prevention and recycling plan that contribute to achieving the waste prevention and recycling objectives set out in the Regulation.
  • Possibility for economic operators to form a pooling system of up to 5 final distributors to meet the reuse targets on beverages.
  • Obligation for take-away businesses to offer customers the possibility of bringing their own containers to be filled with cold or hot beverages or ready-prepared food, at no additional charge.
  • By 2030, take-away activities must offer 10% of products in packaging formats suitable for reuse.

Next steps

• The Belgian Presidency will present the outcome of the trilogue to EU Ambassadors at the upcoming Coreper I meeting on Friday 8 March.
• The provisional agreement will then be submitted to the European Parliament’s Environment Committee and to the European Council for endorsement (tentatively on 11th and 25th March, respectively).
• Provided that the provisional agreement is validated by all three institutions, the outgoing Parliament will adopt the text in first reading, approved and translated (tentatively on 22nd April).
• Following the EU elections in June, the newly elected Parliament would need to approve the provisional agreement by means of a “corrigendum” to the text drawn up by the lawyer-linguists. The Regulation would then be formally adopted by Council (at the end of 2024, tbc), and enter into force 20 days following its publication in the Official Journal.
• The Regulation would apply from 18 months after the date of its entry into force.

More information on the outcome of the agreement will be shared on our website soon, stay tuned!