Representatives from the European container glass industry have welcomed the European Parliament’s Environment (ENVI) Committee vote amending the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) to promote full packaging circularity.
However, FEVE, the Federation of European manufacturers of glass containers for food and beverages, noted that the industry remains concerned that Intellectual Property Rights for packaging are not protected, with the risk being that packaged products will start to look the same. Creative designs and iconic shapes could gradually disappear, and commercial value will be squandered because brands can no longer stand out from each other on the shelves.
FEVE stated that while the industry appreciates the Environment Committee’s recognition of proprietary packaging designs to some extent, it falls well short of its expectations. The Federation welcomed the acknowledgement of packed products with geographical indications and design rights but regretted that Intellectual Property Rights as a whole are not protected.
Adeline Farrelly, Secretary General of FEVE, commented: “We fear this will result in standardised packaging and the gradual demise of brand differentiation. We are committed to ensuring that glass packaging solutions, agreed with our customers, are designed with the minimal necessary weight and volume. However, we believe this measure restricts creative designs and iconic shapes of bottles often reflecting cultural heritage products to be placed on the market in future. This will massively dent the economic value these products bring to Europe and beyond.”
FEVE stated that the most effective approach to reducing packaging waste is to switch as much as possible to materials that can be reused and infinitely recycled in a closed loop. “We are glad to see that the ENVI Committee adopted ambitious packaging waste reduction targets to mitigate against the risk that heavier but circular materials like glass are replaced by lighter packaging materials that are harder to recycle or reuse”, said Farrelly.
The vote acknowledged that materials such as glass are highly recyclable, with recyclability performance grades a big step forward to a truly EU Circular Economy. These grades, a first of their kind, will reward packaging that can be recycled multiple times and that can feed into a closed material loop scheme. Farrelly concluded: “Separate collection and sorting are the prerequisites to guaranteeing high-quality recycling processes and to the fulfilling of the recyclability criteria. We therefore support the introduction of a mandatory 90% collection for recycling target”.
