European Plastics Pact sets ambitious targets

 

Fifteen governments and 66 companies and organizations signed up to join the launch of the European Plastics Pact on 6 March in Belgium. The public-private coalition aims to achieve a truly circular European plastics economy by avoiding plastic waste and bringing all actors in the value chain together. 

 

Participants of the European Plastics Pact commit themselves by 2025 to:

 

• Reusability and recyclability - Design all plastic packaging and single-use plastic products placed on the market to be reusable where possible and in any case recyclable by 2025;

 

• Responsible use of plastics - Move toward a more responsible use of plastic packaging and single-use plastic products, aiming to reduce virgin plastic products and packaging by at least 20% (by weight) by 2025, with half of this reduction coming from an absolute reduction in plastics;

 

• Collection, sorting and recycling - Increase the collection, sorting and recycling capacity by at least 25 percentage points by 2025 and reach a level that corresponds to market demand for recycled plastics;

 

• Use of recycled plastics - Increase the use of recycled plastics in new products and packaging by 2025, with plastics using companies achieving an average of at least 30% recycled plastics (by weight) in their product and packaging range.

 

Participating in the pact is voluntary, but signing is not without obligation Progress will be monitored and reported each year by all signatories. A Secretariat will keep track of the results. Right after the signing of the pact, the first working groups have started to set up monitoring and reporting, and discuss reduce and reuse models, design for circularity, waste shipment, food contact applications and steering the supply chain.