European governments, companies sign European Plastics Pact

The European Plastics Pact is the first regional pact to join the U.K.-based Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s global Plastic Pact network. Launched Friday, March 6, in Brussels, the pact brings together governments and businesses within the European Economic Area to work toward a common vision for a circular economy for plastics, according to a news release from the Ellen Macarthur Foundation. 

The pact has been initiated by the French Ministry of the Ecological and Solidarity Transition, the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management and the Danish Ministry of Environment and Food. In total, 81 members of the European Plastics Pact have committed to a set of 2025 targets:

• 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; 
• move toward more responsible use of plastic packaging and single-use plastic products by aiming to reduce virgin plastic products and packaging by at least 20 percent by weight, with half of this reduction coming from an absolute reduction in plastics; 
• increase collection, sorting and recycling capacity by at least 25 percent, reaching a level that corresponds to market demand for recycled plastics; and
• increase the use of recycled plastics in new products and packaging, with companies that use plastics achieving an average of at least 30 percent recycled plastic by weight in their product and packaging range.

Some of the companies that signed include Paris-based Carbios, Vevey, Switzerland-based Nestlé and France-based Veolia.

“Collaboration with other businesses with regard to innovation is facilitated when regulations set common objectives,” says Patrick Labat, senior executive vice president of northern Europe operations for Veolia. “Eco-design will improve profitability of the entire value chain by involving brands, producers, recyclers and citizens from the outset. In order to continue along this track, which we consider to be sustainable, we naturally support all voluntary commitments. This is why we are signing this pact. We believe that regulation is sometimes the key to moving faster. Solutions exist today and it is possible to set targets for minimum recycled content in plastic products, as is the case for PET bottles, for example, by 2025 and 2030.”

“This European Pact marks a new step towards the deployment of a real circular economy based on innovation and collaboration between the most committed market players and the member states to sustainable development,” says Jean-Claude Lumaret, CEO of Carbios. “We are proud to contribute to its implementation and share this collective ambition to achieve a better management of the life cycle of plastic.”

A full list of signatories of the European Plastics Pact can be found here.

According to the European Plastics Pact website, progress will be monitored and reported each year by all signatories and a secretariat will keep track of the results. In addition, the first working groups will start to set up monitoring and reporting and discuss reduction and reuse models, design for circularity, waste shipment, food-contact applications and steering the supply chain.

“The European Plastics Pact is a major step towards creating a circular economy for plastic and the first supranational initiative to join the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s global network of Plastics Pacts,” says Sander Defruyt, New Plastics Economy lead at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. “We applaud the leadership shown by the Dutch, French and Danish governments to develop this ambitious plan, joining forces with governments and businesses across Europe to eliminate the plastics we don’t need and innovate, so the plastics we need can be circulated in the economy and kept out of the environment.”