Sustainability
European Industry Associations Endorse EU’s Circular Economy Proposal
The European Union’s (EU) objectives for a circular economy have received considerable backing from the European Apparel and Textile Confederation (EURATEX) and several other European industry organizations.
A step towards achieving that is the EU Commission’s proposal to convert the Directive 94/62/EC on Packaging and Packaging Waste (PPWD) into a Regulation and the decision to keep the internal market’s legal foundation (Article 114 TFEU).
Although the associations see this as a positive development, they have voiced their worries about the co-decision process’ potential to weaken or fracture the legal foundation of the Regulation.
According to a news statement issued jointly by EURATEX and the other business groups, the volume of investment and implementation needed for circular economy solutions will ensure that the transformation is quick, affordable, and best serves society.
To address the disparities between the various national regulations on the management of packaging and packaging waste and the ensuing internal market barriers, the internal market legal basis was introduced in the 1994 PPWD. This was done while maintaining a high level of environmental protection.
Yet, the packaging value chain has seen a growth of unilateral and varying national packaging rules in recent years (e.g., packaging bans, reuse, and recycled content targets, and labeling requirements). Internal market obstacles, environmental trade-offs, losses in scale economies, and redirected investments and R&D are the results of these.
Recent national law on packaging and packaging waste has also been implemented in several EU member states, preempting the introduction of sectoral legislation for the entire EU, regardless of Article 6 (3) of Directive (EU) 2015/1535 on Technical Regulations Information Systems (TRIS).
Recent national law on packaging and packaging waste has also been implemented in several EU member states, preempting the introduction of sectoral legislation for the entire EU, regardless of Article 6 (3) of Directive (EU) 2015/1535 on Technical Regulations Information Systems (TRIS).