GO!PHA responds to EU’s draft proposal on PPWR

The Working Group Advocacy at GO!PHA responded to the European Commission's public consultation on packaging and packaging waste, amending Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 and Directive (EU) 2019/904 and repealing Directive 94/62/EC.

Our position is as follows:

Overall, we support the Commission's draft proposal as it highlights waste reduction measures and targets to improve packaging circularity goals complementing the new circular economy action plan.

However, we see the potential for achieving a higher impact on circularity by addressing missing elements integral to packaging and packaging waste collection, recycling, and reuse. We recommended the following:

1. Even though recycling is emphasized in the PPWR, the concept should be broadened to be more holistic to achieve circularity.
2. Protect the mandatory positive list for composting and expand it based on the concept of “composting.”
3. Composting is carbon recycling that must be acknowledged in the PPWR.
4. Renewable carbon-based packaging materials should be exempted from mandatory recycled content requirements.

With this response, we hope to highlight the science-based facts and benefits of biobased materials like PHA and create a supportive regulatory environment that encourages their use.