INCPEN Member News

Legislation Updates

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France - TRIMAN mandatory from Jan-22 despite fears of a fragmentation of the Single Market - 8 August 2021

• requires that the TRIMAN logo is shown on all products and packaging* subject to EPR that ends up in households, except glass beverage packaging from 1-Jan-22. Producers, whether or not complying through a PRO, may apply the provisions of this decree before Jan-22;
• does not exempt EEE and batteries from the Triman labelling requirement but allows the Triman logo to be ‘replaced … by another common signage regulated by the European Union …, in accordance with the principle of mutual recognition …, provided that this other symbol … is mandatory.  The same replacement principle applies to the ‘accompanying information specifying the methods of sorting …’.
• requires PROs to submit a proposal for the ‘accompanying information specifying the methods of sorting’ [‘sorting instructions’] to the Authorities for approval;
• adds that individual compliers must also apply signage, in addition to specifying the methods of sorting and take back as part of their approval request [the Jun-20 omitted the signage requirement].

Greece - New framework legislation reforms waste sector - 5 August 2021

• The minimum requirements on PROs are transposed as per EU Directive 2018/851. In addition,
  • new transparency requirements are imposed on PROs, who now must publish their “administrative costs” (payroll, board compensation, rents and utilities, the cost of consumables, contracted services, and all expenses) on their websites;
  • PROs’ financial contributions are to be modulated where possible [Note: Some PROs had already been obligated to modulate their fees as per the requirements of their approvals].
• The restrictions on ownership of PROs are revised to allow entities which were established by producers to aid with the setup of PROs. In addition, the administrative obligations on PROs are relaxed.
• PROs face higher accountability for non-compliance with their objectives. Fines for underachievement of the collection targets will be issued and set as percentages of annual revenues from financial contributions) increasing every consecutive year the targets are missed. In addition, PROs will be required to re-formulate their compliance plans in the event of underachievement of the targets.
• PROs are required to submit either a) a financial guarantee to the Deposits and Loans Fund, b) a letter of guarantee, or c) a blocked bank account (accessible to EOAN) at a value of 5% of total annual revenues from financial contributions, or EUR 30k for those that do not charge recycling fees.
• Approval fees for individual compliers is decreased from EUR 9,000 and 19,500 to EUR 6,000 and 18,000. The approval fees for collective PROs remain unchanged.

• prohibited from being marked with a recyclability label (such as the 'möbius loop');
• subject to a recycling fee of EUR 0.08 per piece at the POS chargeable to the consumer (public revenue payable to the tax authority quarterly).

• are to be labelled/marked with the place and date of manufacture and the producer’s National Producer Register (NTUA) number;
• of all thickness are subject to a recycling fee of EUR 0.07 per piece (public revenue payable to the tax authority quarterly) – to be shown on sales documents [Note: Fees of EUR 0.07 are already applicable to non-compostable / non-biodegradable lightweight (Jan-18) and very light-weight (Jan-21) plastic carrier bags];
• are, from 2025, required to contain at least 30% recycled content, with the exception of ultra-thin carrier bags and biodegradable or biodegradable / compostable plastic carrier bags.

• pack goods or outsource the packaging of goods on their behalf or import packaged goods, regardless of the sales technique used, including the distance contract, for the purpose of placing them on the Greek market, and
• manufacture or import packaging intended for filling at a point of sale, including transport bags.

• from 5-Jan-22, facilities/establishments with public access (cinemas, sports stadiums, concert halls, conference centers, educational facilities, universities, airports, hospitals etc.) are to separately collect waste paper, glass, plastics, metals.
• from 1-Sep-22, this requirement is extended to schools, who must also separately collect waste batteries, food and biowaste.

• 100,000 inhabitants from 1-Jan-23, and
• 20,000 inhabitants from 1-Jan-28.

• Products that are not suitable for sale (defective etc.) are to be either donated or recycled.
• Material labelling as per Commission Decision 97/129/EC remains voluntary.
• EOANs role and responsibilities are strengthened, and the approval procedures for PROs streamlined and subject to deadlines to prevent approval delays [Note: Packaging PRO H.E.R.R.CO’s approval had been pending for a number of years prior to its last approval in May-20 due to irregularities with its finances].
• The sanctions for non-compliance have increased.

France - Draft rules implementing minimum share of reusable packaging released for comment - 4 August 2021

• requiring companies responsible for POM of at least 10K units of packaged goods per annum to individually or collectively place a target percentage of their products on the market in reused packaging;
• setting annually increasing rates for the target percentage (reuse quota): from 1.5% in 2022 to 10% in 2015;
• requiring packaging PROs to support meeting the quota by eco-modulating recycling fees to encourage reuse and by financially supporting packaging reuse and reutilisation solutions with at least 2% of their revenues.

• applies to household and non-household packaging of any material, except for a) packaging whose reuse is prohibited for health or safety reasons and b) - until Jan-24 only - packaging of certain rural and fishery products.
• clarifies that packaging qualifies as “reused” if it is re-used at least once for an identical purpose and that the reuse is a) organised by or on behalf of the producer or b) pertains to the refill of a bulk service packaging at POS or c) a refill at the end-users home.
• introduces an annually increasing target share for reused packaging as % of total POM by packaging sales units or sales unit equivalents:  1.5% in 2022; 5 % in 2023; 6 % in 2024; 7 % in 2025; 8 % in 2026 and 10 % in 2027. 
• notes that the target share applies to primary, secondary, or tertiary packaging, and that a study on the implementation of the quota by various sectors and for product categories – to be completed by 1-Dec-22 - may lead to a revision of the targets for certain sectors and products.
• requires companies responsible for POM to meet the reuse quota for their own products individually or collectively if they place least 10,000 units of packaged goods on the market. The obligation will be phased in: Until end 2024 it will apply only to companies with a turnover above EUR 50 million. During 2025, the threshold is EUR 20 million, and from 2026 only the unit threshold applies.
• requires approved packaging PROs that implement this obligation to:-
  • add a re-use target share corresponding to at least the targets mentioned above to their operating approvals (cahiers des charges);
  • eco-modulate recycling fees (to encourage reuse);
  • develop and financially support (by open tender and with at least at least 2% of revenues) packaging reuse and reutilisation* solutions on the basis of Art. L. 541-10-18(V).

• Reuse (Réemploi): substances, materials or products that are not waste are used again for an identical use for which they were designed. 
• Reutilisation (Réutilisation): substances, materials or products that have become waste are used again. Ademe clarifies that ‘réutilisation’ involves no processes other than control, cleaning and repair. Still, disassembly maybe involved as a widely used example of ‘réutilisation’ are wooden pallets whose planks are being ‘réutilised’ as furniture.  

UK - Consultations on key terms determining the scope of the plastic packaging tax - 24 July 2021

• Plastic Packaging Tax (Descriptions of Products) Regulations 2021
• Plastic Packaging Tax (General [Substantial modification]) Regulations 2021

1. is 'finished', meaning it has 'undergone ... its last substantial modification'; 
2. contains 'more plastic [by weight] than any other single substance', and
3. contains less than 30% of plastics recycled 'by means of a chemical or manufacturing process'. 

• removing three product categories from the scope of ‘packaging components’:
  • Filled packaging with a primary storage function: Such packaging 
    • is designed to be filled at the time of sale to consumers or
    • has primarily a storage and only secondarily a packaging function, i.e. cases for glasses, power tool boxes.
  • Packaging that is an integral part of the goods, necessary to contain or preserve the goods, i.e. printer cartridges or inhalers.
  • Packaging designed for re-use in the presentation of goods i.e. sales display shelves and poster display stands.
• adding to the scope any product 'designed for
  • single-use in a ‘packaging type’ function', even if they are capable of being used more than once, i.e. party cups.
  • use by a user or consumer to contain, protect, handle, deliver or present a commodity or waste, i.e. bin bags

• Business A extrudes a sheet of plastic. Business B laminates this and forms it into trays:  Both businesses preform substantial modification but the packaging component becomes chargeable only after business B forms the trays.
• Business A extrudes film, prints on it and then cuts it into labels. Business B buys these labels and affixes them to bottles: The packaging component is taxable after business A cuts the labels. Extrusion and printing are substantial modification processes. Cutting is not considered to be a substantial modification but as it is completed in this example by the same person, the tax becomes chargeable when all the processes are complete. Business B only carries out a process that does not substantially modify the packaging.

News from Industry

• £10 million partnership to remove chewing gum litter from high streets; Major chewing gum producers, brought together by the UK government, have signed up to a new £10 million partnership to remove gum litter from high streets, Environment Minister Rebecca Pow has announced. The scheme, including Mars Wrigley, GlaxoSmithKline and Perfetti Van Melle and managed by independent charity Keep Britain Tidy, will see gum firms invest up to £10 million over the next five years to help reduce gum litter. Chewing gum litter costs millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money every year, according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the annual clean-up cost is estimated at £7 million. Around 87% of England’s streets are stained with gum, according to research by Keep Britain Tidy.
• England to consider banning single-use plastic plates, cutlery and polystyrene cups; The UK government will consult on banning a range of single-use plastics on England this Autumn, including plates, cutlery and polystyrene cups. Single-use plastic plates, cutlery and polystyrene cups are among a raft of items that could be banned in England as part of a new public consultation being launched in the Autumn.
• Morrisons reports early success for reusable glass milk bottles trail; The bottles are delivered directly to Morrisons supermarkets by local dairy farms and once returned are collected and sanitised and can be reused for at least 10 year. The introduction of traditional glass milk bottles is expected to remove 40,000 plastic bottles from these Morrisons stores per year as well as reduce CO2 emissions – as delivery from local suppliers means milk covers shorter distances.
• Britvic drinks brands move to 100% recycled plastic bottles; This summer, Robinsons, Lipton Ice Tea and drench 500ml bottles are moving to 100% recycled plastic (rPET). The 500ml on-the-go bottles are the first to use recycled plastic from a new rPET manufacturing facility in North Yorkshire. The facility, built by Esterform Packaging Limited, following Britvic’s £5m investment support in 2019, is powered by 100% renewable energy and provides Britvic with a secure supply of quality food-grade rPET in the UK, the company says.
• Heinz baby food pouches set for kerbside recycling collections; The move will roll out in 2022 across six of its fruit pouch varieties. Its pouches are made from polypropylene and Heinz said that the format is fully recyclable. It has been assessed by the On-Pack Recycling Label (OPRL) and the packs will be disposed in regular recycling collections.
• Lidl to help shoppers go greener with Eco-Score labelling system; Lidl will apply Eco-Score labelling to over 50 of its own-label products including teas, coffees and hot chocolate and supporting this with wider communication in its stores. Eco-Score uses open-source data to independently grade products on their sustainability credentials and assigns a colour code ranging from green ‘A’ (low impact) to red ‘E’ (high impact). The new labelling system will give shoppers a better understanding of the environmental consequences, at a glance.
• Allotments used as waste transfer station shut down by Environment Agency; Environment Agency officers have ordered the closure and clearance of an illegal waste site operating out of allotments on Parnell Street in Houghton-le-Spring. The Environment Agency was contacted by Sunderland City Council following complaints from the surrounding community after the owners of two allotments were found to be operating a rudimentary waste transfer station, sorting waste illegally collected from local house clearances.
• Surfers Against Sewage and the FPA debate litter on TV; Around 50,000 volunteers from Surfers Against Sewage have this year covered some 350,000 miles helping to keep beaches clean. The campaigners say 65% of the litter can be traced back to just 12 companies.
• New recyclable PET pharmaceutical blister film launched; Global manufacturer of high barrier protective packaging solutions, Klöckner Pentaplast (kp), has launched kpNext, a recyclable PET blister film.  Klöckner Pentaplast says kpNext is the ‘only’ PET recyclable blister that is completely compatible on pharmaceutical manufacturing form, fill and seal equipment.
  It says that pharmaceutical companies and converters can utilise kpNext on their existing form, fill and seal lines with no loss of line speed or a need to retool.
• £4 million funding to boost UK biomass production; Farming seaweed and growing algae from the by-products of whisky manufacturing are among 24 projects today (25 August) awarded £4 million UK government funding to boost biomass production.
  The 24 innovative projects, from start-ups and family-run businesses to research institutes and universities, will receive funding of up to £200,000 from the government’s Biomass Feedstocks Innovation Programme to produce low-carbon energy using organic materials.
• Ellen MacArthur joins Scottish Environment Council; Dame Ellen MacArthur will join a new group of environmental experts tasked with advising the Scottish Government on environmental issues.
  The Council will draw on global best practice to advise Scotland in tackling the ‘climate emergency and ecological decline’, the Scottish Government announced.
• Premier Foods strengthens sustainability team with new ESG hire; Former CCEP head of sustainability Nick Brown has been appointed Director of ESG at Premier Foods, one of Britain’s biggest ambient food producers. Reporting into Hannah Collyer, Corporate Affairs and ESG director, Brown will oversee the company’s growing environmental, social and governance agenda and will be responsible for delivering against the company’s ambitious sustainability targets. This includes reaching 100% recyclable, reusable or compostable plastic packaging by 2025.
• DS Smith exploring plans for seaweed paper and packaging; Packaging company DS Smith is exploring how seaweed fibres can be used as a raw material in paper and packaging products amid increasing demand for sustainable goods from customers and consumers alike. In an industry first, the move could see DS Smith use seaweed across its packaging network as an alternative fibre source to wood. Following initial testing, the company is also exploring the potential of seaweed to play a significant role in the purge on plastics by acting as a barrier coating to replace petroleum-based packaging used to protect many foodstuffs.
• Household food waste rising as restrictions relaxed – WRAP; The latest UK Food Trends Survey shows that self-reported food waste has ‘rebounded’ to pre-lockdown levels as restrictions lift, and more food is potentially going to waste in UK homes as life returns to normal.
• AR Packaging launches recyclable mono-material polyethylene film; The Ecoflex provides a sustainable alternative to PA-based materials, whilst fully meeting OPRL guidelines, insists AR Packaging. Designed primarily as a thermoforming base web, Ecoflex is formulated with ‘premium’ PE polymers, offering good puncture resistance, improved tear resistance and it can be used for MAP (modified atmosphere packaging) or vacuum.
• Dixons Carphone launches polystyrene take back recycling scheme; Dixons Carphone has launched a recycling scheme enabling customers to return expanded polystyrene (EPS) packaging to stores for recycling. After a successful trial in 14 stores over a six weeks period this summer, Currys PC World is rolling out the customer EPS drop-off service to all UK stores.
• RECOUP highlights need for plastics films and flexibles recycling solutions; The challenge of recycling plastics films and flexibles has long been debated, with collection, material sorting and end markets all needing development, investment, and energy to transform the circular outcomes for this plastic format, according to RECOUP.
• Plans submitted for plastic to hydrogen facility in Glasgow; Peel NRE – part of Peel L&P – has submitted a planning application to West Dunbartonshire Council for the UK’s second waste plastic to hydrogen facility. Based at Rothesay Dock on the north bank of the River Clyde the £20m facility will take plastics which are destined for landfill, incineration or export overseas, and use them to create a local source of sustainable hydrogen.
• Veolia survey: 83% of businesses unaware of impending plastic tax; With less than a year to go until the Plastic Packaging Tax is introduced in the UK, a study by Veolia suggests that 83% of businesses asked were not aware of the tax. Sitting alongside the Government’s Resources and Waste Strategy, in 2018 the Treasury first announced the tax on plastics and in April 2022 the Plastic Packaging Tax will be introduced in the UK.
• UK government launches plan for a ‘world-leading hydrogen economy;’ Tens of thousands of jobs, billions of pounds in investment and new export opportunities will be unlocked through UK government plans to create a ‘thriving low carbon hydrogen sector’ in the UK over the next decade and beyond, the Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has set out this week.
• easyJet introduces new cabin crew and pilot uniforms made from recycled plastic bottles; easyJet has announced that it is introducing a new uniform for cabin crew and pilots, each made from around 45 recycled plastic bottles as part of its commitment to for innovative change beyond carbon reduction. Manufactured by Northern-Ireland based Tailored Image and created with ‘unique high-tech material’, the new uniform will be introduced into cabin crew circulation this month. The roll-out across the airline is estimated to prevent around half a million plastic bottles from ending up as plastic waste each year.
• Climate change ‘widespread, rapid, and intensifying’ – IPCC; Scientists are observing changes in the Earth’s climate in every region and across the whole climate system, according to the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report, released today (9 August). Many of the changes observed in the climate are ‘unprecedented’ in thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of years, and some of the changes already set in motion—such as continued sea level rise—are irreversible over hundreds to thousands of years, the report finds. However, strong and sustained reductions in emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases would limit climate change, it says.
• Co-op’s smallest store partners with entire village to change UK’s plastic recycling habits; The Co-op’s smallest store has launched a scientific study in partnership with all 1,000 residents of Pilton Village in Somerset. In a UK first, the experiment in Pilton will set out to create the ‘ultimate environment’ for optimum soft-plastic recycling, the retailer says, engaging and educating the population of one village on what, how and why to collect all their soft plastic. Supporting the move is a unique “Recycling Behaviour Change Board”, including famous faces, scientists, behaviour specialists and consumers designed to bring together a ‘collective understanding on how to support positive behaviour change with a mission to understand how it can help to establish long-term plastic recycling habits in the heart of every community’.
• BPF, PlasticsEurope and RECOUP launch online recycling education kit; Tied to the national curriculum and featuring a simple but informative ‘sink-float’ experiment, the new resource aims to turn students into ‘recycling champions’. The resource can be found on the Times Educational Supplement (TES) website as well as on the BPF’s PolymerZone.co.uk
• Biffa fined £1.5 million for waste export breach; UK waste management firm, Biffa, has been found guilty of exporting household waste labelled as paper to Asia. The company was fined £1.5 million late last week (30 July) for the export breach, in what the judge called “reckless, bordering on deliberate.” An investigation by the Environment Agency (EA) prevented sixteen 25-tonne containers from onward export between Southampton and India and Indonesia in 2018 and 2019. Biffa was also convicted of exporting a further 26 containers that sailed before they could be stopped. Wood Green crown court heard Biffa logged various items as paper at its depot in north London.
• Waste sector sends letter to Priti Patel over HGV driver shortages; A letter has been sent to the Secretary of State, Priti Patel, regarding the Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) driver shortages facing the recycling and waste management sector. The letter is co-signed by organisations and companies from across the waste and resource sector, which expresses their concerns about a ‘structural deficit’ of trained HGV drivers emerging across the recycling and waste management sector.
• Loop and Lyreco trial re-usable soap packaging for office use; The service will be trialled across a select group of businesses including Murphy, and Legal & General. Customers will order through Lyreco’s webshop, and the product delivered, along with a reusable tote bag, in which the empty containers will go back in after use.
• Lidl announces removal of over one billion pieces of plastic;This includes more than 24 million plastic trays and punnets being removed from its fruit and vegetable ranges, and up to 25 million plastic lids from dairy and yoghurt ranges. In addition, the discounter said it has cut nearly 19 million plastic tags from its fruit and vegetable lines, and 3.5 million pieces of plastic packaging on fresh flowers.