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MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION (D095662/01 – 2024/2695(RSP))

On the draft Commission implementing decision laying down rules for the application of Directive (EU) 2019/904 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards the calculation, verification and reporting of data on recycled plastic content in single-use plastic beverage bottles, repealing Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2023/2683

B-9-2024-0226

Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety · Rapporteur: Jutta Paulus

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Written by a language model from the full text only; every figure comes from the text. The paragraph links open the paragraph a statement rests on — check the text itself before relying on it.

Parliament's resolution on a draft Commission implementing decision on recycled plastic content in single-use plastic beverage bottles. It finds the draft inconsistent with Directive (EU) 2019/904 and the packaging and packaging waste regulation (PPWR), and calls on the Commission to withdraw it. It says the draft goes beyond the Commission's implementing powers by favouring pyrolysis and gasification through mass balance accounting based on the 'fuel-use excluded' method, which conflicts with the circular economy and high-quality recycling objectives. It asks the Commission to supplement Implementing Decision (EU) 2023/2683 only with a methodology for depolymerisation, which needs no mass balance accounting, and to leave pyrolysis and gasification to the PPWR. It calls for eligibility criteria in implementing acts under Article 6(5) of Directive (EU) 2019/904 and Article 7(7) of the PPWR so that chemical recycling deals only with plastic waste that cannot be mechanically recycled.

Key points

  1. Parliament considers it inappropriate to lay down rules on recycled plastic content under Directive (EU) 2019/904 for chemical recycling technologies not relevant to the 2025 target and of limited relevance to the 2030 target.
  2. It considers it inconsistent to include post-consumer plastic waste from third countries before a PPWR equivalence certification methodology and sustainability criteria for plastic recycling technologies exist.
  3. It considers it inconsistent to adopt the rules before a full assessment of the aspects in Article 7(7), second subparagraph, of the PPWR.
  4. It says adopting the draft now and a different one in two and a half years would create extra administrative burden and regulatory confusion.
  5. It finds the draft exceeds the implementing powers in Directive (EU) 2019/904 by giving an advantage to less circular technologies such as pyrolysis and gasification through fuel-use excluded mass balance accounting.
  6. It finds the draft exceeds those powers because fuel-use excluded mass balance accounting is not consistent with the high-quality recycling objective of Directive 2008/98/EC and the PPWR.
  7. It calls on the Commission to withdraw the draft implementing decision and submit a new draft to the committee.
  8. It calls on the Commission to refrain from adopting an implementing decision on recycled content in beverage bottles under Directive (EU) 2019/904 for pyrolysis and gasification.
  9. It calls on the Commission to modify the draft and supplement Implementing Decision (EU) 2023/2683 only with a methodology for chemical recycling in the form of depolymerisation, which needs no mass balance accounting.
  10. It stresses that accounting provisions for chemical recycling must ensure chemical recycling complements cases where plastic waste cannot be mechanically recycled.
  11. It calls for effective eligibility criteria in implementing acts under Article 6(5) of Directive (EU) 2019/904 and Article 7(7) of the PPWR so chemical recycling deals only with waste that cannot be mechanically recycled.
  12. It calls on the Commission to adopt methodologies for pyrolysis and gasification only under the PPWR, after full assessment of Article 7(7), second subparagraph, and alongside sustainability criteria and an equivalence certification methodology.

Who is affected

  • The Commission, which is asked to withdraw the draft, refrain from adopting rules for pyrolysis and gasification, and modify its approach.
  • Mechanical recycling companies and their 30 000 jobs in 850 companies, which the resolution says would be harmed by diverting waste to chemical recycling.
  • Member states, which report on recycled content and may use national methods in the absence of a harmonised reporting method.
  • The plastics and petrochemical industry, which the resolution says shares the view that mechanical recycling is preferable to chemical recycling.

Figures and deadlines

  • At least 25 % recycled plastic for PET beverage bottles from 2025, and at least 30 % for beverage bottles from 2030.
  • The average content of recycled PET was 24 % for PET bottles in 2022.
  • Mechanical recycling of plastic waste has created 30 000 jobs in 850 companies across Europe.
  • By 2030, beverage bottles covered by Directive (EU) 2019/904 are expected to account for 17 % of plastic packaging placed on the market.
  • Around 80 % of beverage bottles is made of PET; non-PET beverage bottles are estimated at less than 4 % of all packaging.
  • Pyrolysis oil is blended with 80-95 % fossil materials to be fed into a steam cracker.
  • Reattribution can result in a 50 % recycled content rate on paper from a process that received only 10 % recycled feedstock.
  • The recycled content target date is 1 January 2030 for both Directive (EU) 2019/904 and the PPWR.

Legal basis: Article 6(5), Article 13(1), point (e), and Article 13(4) of Directive (EU) 2019/904.