Circular Economy
At a glance
By putting the accent on the combined goal of increasing sustainability and economic growth, the Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP 2.0), presented in 2020, set the basis for an innovation-driven policy agenda, which must encourage both ambitious and economically viable solutions to scale up the circularity of the EU economy.
Recent developments such as the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), underscore the EU’s commitment to reducing waste and promoting sustainable practices across all sectors of the EU economy. This commitment has been further reinforced by Ursula Von der Leyen’s political guidelines in July 2024, calling for a new Circular Economy Act, slated for adoption by the end of 2026, to create market demand for secondary materials and a single market for waste.
Packaging and the Circular Economy
Packaging is an integral and essential part of product supply chains, from the production to the consumption stage. The packaging supply chain, represented by EUROPEN, plays a central role in contributing to a resource efficient and circular economy by protecting products all along the value chains to avoid resource and product waste.
Our members are continuously innovating to deliver on their sustainability commitments, while preserving the integrity and safety of the products for citizens and businesses.
They are developing optimal packaging solutions preventing resource depletion, product and food waste and packaging entering the environment. They are also driving the uptake of innovative packaging design for increased reuse and recycling and contributing to the development of new sorting, collection and recycling technologies.
Our position
The announced New Circular Economy Act represents a unique opportunity to address the structural deficiencies currently present in (packaging) waste management across Europe[1]. The recent targeted revision of the Waste Framework Directive (WFD) ultimately fell short in resolving the deep-rooted structural shortcomings that continue to hinder the efficiency of the European (packaging) waste management systems[2]. 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)[3].
[1] In 2024, the EU Commission issued Early Warning Reports to 2/3 of EU Member States highlighting that 10 out of 27 EU Member States are at risk of missing the target of 65% recycling of packaging waste by 2025. Most Member States also failed to meet the specific minimum levels for different packaging materials. See COM/2023/304 final and the Infringement Package from July 2024, here.
[2] This targeted revision exclusively focused on food waste reduction targets and EPR for textile waste.
[3] Article 6 of the PPWR establishes that, from 1st January 2035, all packaging placed on the EU market will have to be recycled at scale. This means that the annual quantity of separately collected, sorted and recycled material under each PPWR packaging category will need to be greater than 30% for wood and 55% for all other materials (calculated at Union level). Recyclability at scale is a market access condition.