Broad coalition against new guidelines

A broad coalition of 70 European associations from across the packaging value chain, including the European pet food association Fediaf, is calling on the European Commission to rethink the current direction of the Joint Research Centre’s (JRC) guidelines on EU waste sorting labels.

The proposed approach, which promotes colour, text-based sorting instructions on packaging, risks fragmenting the EU Single Market, increasing operational burdens for businesses, and confusing consumers, according to the industry associations. The signatories emphasise that this runs counter to the objectives of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) and undermines the EU’s efforts to safeguard the Single Market. This is as set out in the Single Market Strategy, which identifies divergent packaging labels as one of the top ten barriers to intra-EU trade.