News item | 16-03-2023 | 15:58
We need to be even more ambitious when it comes to making packaging more sustainable and reducing packaging waste. State Secretary Vivianne Heijnen (Environment) called on her European colleagues to do so during the Environment Council in Brussels on Thursday.
On Thursday, European ministers discussed the packaging waste regulation proposed by the European Commission for the first time. This proposal can be an important step forward in making the packaging chain more sustainable and the Netherlands is therefore generally positive about the current proposal. State Secretary Heijnen has therefore pledged her support. But she thinks it could go a step further.
With the proposal, the Commission aims to reduce packaging waste by 15 percent by 2040 compared to 2018.
Heijnen: “We need to show more urgency here and go for 2030. The plans for reusing and refilling packaging can also be more ambitious, for example by applying it to more sectors, such as retail and supermarkets. Buying concentrated soap to refill bottles at home should become the new normal. We really need to be smarter with our raw materials and that is possible, I am firmly convinced of that. I can already see that a huge number of smart and sustainable solutions are being devised and I can only applaud that.”
The regulation discussed in Brussels aims to reduce the negative environmental impact of packaging and packaging waste. This concerns measures such as markings on packaging for proper collection, recyclability and reusability of packaging. But also for measures to reduce packaging, to make packaging design more sustainable and to drastically reduce the amount of packaging waste.
Heijnen: “This is about the issue of how we deal with our scarce raw materials and how we will leave the earth behind for future generations. We can all make a positive contribution to this and it is up to Europe to set the ambitious standard for this. Less new plastic packaging, no unnecessary packaging and more reuse. The amount of packaging can and must really be reduced. Both in weight and in absolute numbers. Less is more, that is often the case and certainly also in the case of plastic packaging.”