EU: New draft decision on recycled plastic content in single-use plastic beverage bottles 

 

The EU Commission has published Commission Implementing Decision laying down rules for the application of Directive (EU) 2019/904 (Single-Use Plastics Directive) as regards the calculation, verification and reporting of data on recycled plastic content in single-use plastic beverage bottles.  

Products in scope of the Decision are: Single-use plastic beverage bottles that are made of polyethylene terephthalate as the major component, including caps, lids, labels and sleeves, with a volume of up to 3 litres (hereafter referred to as “PET bottles”) and intermediate materials of the supply chain of recycled plastic that is used in such bottles. 

The implementing decision lays down rules for the calculation, verification and reporting of recycled content in PET bottles. EU Member States will have to apply these rules to demonstrate compliance with the recycled plastic content targets set in Article 6(5) of the Single-Use Plastics Directive (EU) 2019/904.  

The rules depend on the applied recycling technologies: For the mechanical recycling of PET, they are based on the system that is already established by EU food contact legislation (Regulation (EU) 2022/1616 on the use of recycled plastic materials in articles intended to come into contact with food). For chemical recycling, mass balance accounting has to be applied, and chemical recyclers are subject to additional third-party certification. 

The geographical scope for the recycling (including sorting) to take place in order to allow the output to count as recycled content is part of the definition of “recycled plastic” in Article 1(1). 

Background: Global plastic pollution negatively affects animal and plant life as well as human health. The Single-Use Plastics Directive (EU) 2019/904 introduced measures to reduce the negative effects caused by the littering of certain plastic products on the environment and human health and to increase the circularity of the plastics industry.  

These measures include targets for the minimum recycled content in single-use plastic beverage bottles on EU Member State level. The notified measure ensures that recycled plastic contributing to these targets has been recycled in an environmentally sound manner. This is necessary to preserve the environmental added value of promoting recycled content and to avoid situations in which inadequate waste collection and management practices as well as pollutant emissions undermine the sustainability benefits of substituting virgin with recycled materials. 

To find out more about environmental compliance and regulation for single-use plastics, do not hesitate to contact the Product Compliance Institute directly.