European Green Deal

The European Green Deal is the European Union’s new agenda for sustainable growth. The aim is to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. One of the main blocks of the Green Deal is the new Circular Economy Action Plan, which announces initiatives along the entire lifecycle of products. The plan targets product design, circular economy processes, sustainable consumption, and aims to ensure that the resources used are kept in the EU economy for as long as possible.

Waste Framework Directive (WFD)

WFD is an environmental protection measure that establishes how waste should be managed within the EU. It aims to reduce the environmental impact of waste and to encourage efficient use of resources through reuse, recycling, and other forms of recovery.

Single-Use Plastics (SUP) Directive

In May 2018, the European Commission adopted new EU-wide rules to target the 10 single-use plastic products most often found on Europe’s beaches and seas. The directive includes significant national consumption reduction of plastic food containers, plastic packets and wrappers, and beverage containers. It includes new product design requirements, such as attached caps and lids for beverage containers, and creates a 90% collection target for plastic bottles. Producers are required to contribute to raising awareness, cleanup, collection, and waste treatment.

Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (PPWD)

PPWD is an EU harmonization measure that establishes common rules to enable free trade of packaging and packaged goods throughout the EU. The objective is to help prevent obstacles to trade and to reduce the environmental impact of packaging. The directive defines essential requirements on design that packaging must meet to benefit from the free movement guarantee. And it sets targets for the amount of used packaging that must be recycled or otherwise recovered in all EU member states. National differences in transposition have led to different ways of implementing the PPWD. As a result, there is wide variation in packaging waste management performance in the EU-28.