An Irish environmental charity was among NGOs urging the European Commission to ‘break free from plastic’ in Brussels.
Only 40% of the three billion tonnes of waste generated across the EU each year is reused or recycled with Ireland producing the most waste packaging per person.
The EC is revising its Packaging & Packaging Waste Directive.
Read more: Ireland still biggest producer of plastic packaging per head of population in EU
VOICE Ireland, alongside their European partners, want the EC to adopt legislation that supports reuse systems and a circular economy.
They were among 100,875 individuals, 165 NGOs, 295 businesses and 34 municipalities who signed the Break Free From Plastic campaign’s #WeChooseToReuse pledge which was delivered to EC Vice President Frans Timmermans and MEP Fréderique Riesas on Wednesday ahead of the PPWD review.
VOICE Chief Executive Mindy O’Brien: “This is a major moment in the fight against single-use packaging... we are handing over one hundred thousand signatures to our European leaders.
“European decision-makers have an opportunity to make reuse the norm by setting effective reuse targets for packaging and products, together with an overall reduction target for packaging put on the EU market.
“The future is reuse.”
Green Party MEP Grace O'Sullivan told us she has been designated a shadow rapporteur for the revisions of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive, due out on 30 November.
She added: "I fully agree that the priority of this revision must be on reduction and re-use. The EU's focus until now has been on simply increasing the recyclability of packaging, and this has failed to get to the bottom of the problem.
"We must remember we are in a triple planetary crisis of climate breakdown, biodiversity loss, and waste and pollution. These crises are interlinked and mutually reinforcing, and packaging waste - especially plastic packaging - illustrates this perfectly [as] the vast majority of plastic is made from oil or filthy fracked gas so it contributes to climate change, and we all see first-hand how much plastic packaging ends up in our rivers and beaches before making their way to the ocean and cause serious harm to marine life.
"I will be pushing for binding EU packaging prevention measures to slash the amount of unnecessary packaging on the market, as well as binding EU re-use objectives."
Justine Maillot, Policy coordinator of the Rethink Plastic alliance, said: “The devastating impacts of the dependency on single-use plastics and packaging is clear - yet so are the solutions.
“With the upcoming revision of its main legislation on packaging, the EU has an opportunity to end overpackaging and make reuse systems the new norm.
“Effective reuse systems across Europe would greatly reduce resource use, packaging waste and pollution while also contributing to reducing oil and gas consumption.
“Yet such systems can only blossom if the EU and EU governments adopt measures to enable reuse and create the confidence for reuse infrastructure to be built across Europe.”
Packaging production and waste has grown steadily over the past 20 years, and in 2018 Europe saw a record 174 kg of packaging waste per person.
Almost all sectors are dependent on single-use packaging with plastic being one of the main materials.
To counter this growing issue, #WeChooseReuse urges national and EU decision-makers to make reuse the new normal by harmonising packaging types to enable the scale-up of refill and reuse systems such as Deposit Return Schemes and restrict certain single-use packaging especially where reusable products are possible.
Irish Green Party MEP, Ciarán Cuffe said: “Europe is addicted to plastic packaging.
“We need to dramatically decrease our use of single-use packaging and promote higher reuse rates by providing the facilities that allow people to make the sustainable, circular choice.
“In an energy crisis, we also cannot forget that fossil fuels are a key component in the production of plastic, so the less plastic we make, the less fuel needed, and the less emissions we produce.
“The Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive is a golden opportunity to break free from our dependence on this wasteful, damaging product and move towards a sustainable, circular future.”
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