The Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment (ACE) has called for a 90% mandatory collection target for beverage cartons.
The organisation claims the industry needs enabling conditions to ensure beverage cartons are recycled at scale by 2035.
According to ACE members, a mandatory collection target for packaging formats would provide predictable packaging waste flows that would incentivise investments in recycling infrastructure and technologies.
The alliance made the proposal after the recent appointment of Frédérique Ries MEP as rapporteur for the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation revision.
Calls For More To Be Done
The ACE says that while the beverage carton industry supports the European Commission’s vision, more needs to be done.
It has recommended other measures such as exemption from reuse targets for microbiological sensitive products and a feasibility assessment of the recycled content targets for contact sensitive packaging.
According to the ACE, microbiological sensitive products that cannot maintain their qualities through the addition of preservatives (i.e. 2011 juice directive) need to be packed in aseptic packaging to maintain the hygiene and nutritional value of the product.
The ACE say this is especially important for products with a long shelf life. It believes mandatory reuse targets should exempt sensitive beverages with these specific needs.
Development Of Guidelines
Furthermore, the ACE says that to ensure Design for Recycling (DfR) Guidelines duly reflect in-depth technical knowledge and latest innovation, it is important to include experts from the industry and technical institutes in the development of the guidelines.
The ACE has called for The European Commission to mandate CEN (The European Committee for Standardization) to develop the DfR Guidelines.
As an alternative, the alliance recommends the creation of a stakeholder or industry advisory body to help with the development of the delegated acts.
© 2023 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest packaging news. Article by Robert McHugh. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
