Right-wing coalition and fast-food lobby aim to further sabotage new EU packaging law

Brussels, 20 October 2023
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On Tuesday, the European Parliament’s Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) will vote on its report on the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation.

The latest official Eurostat data revealed that Europe’s packaging waste crisis had reached a new record of 188.7kg of packaging waste per capita in 2021. A 10.8kg per capita increase in waste compared to 2020.

In the shadows of this trash mountain, a coalition of Italian MEPs, and lobbyists from the fast-food and single-use packaging industry have pressured parliament to significantly water down measures aiming to curtail the record levels of waste.

Earlier, a coalition of NGOs working together against plastic pollution and deforestation had warned policy makers of both the risks of growing levels of single-use plastic and paper packaging waste, as well as promoted the economic and environmental opportunity of reusable packaging.

Yet, during negotiations, policy makers across political groups were alarmed at never-seen-before levels of lobbying from the packaging industry. Environment Committee Chair MEP Pascal Canfin publicly condemned the misleading lobbying strategy from companies like McDonalds.

Under intense pressure, the Rapporteur MEP Frederique Ries and other shadow MEPs working on the file gave in and weakened key measures on prevention and reuse.

On Tuesday, Members of the Parliament’s ENVI committee will be presented with two main options: a severely watered-down set of compromises offered by the Rapporteur, or an even less ambitious text championed by Italian MEPs from ECR and EPP and mirroring demands from the packaging industry. The latter would remove almost all obligations on the packaging sector to reduce waste levels beyond promoting recycling – a set of measures entirely insufficient to solve Europe’s waste crisis.