EUROPEN welcomes the European Commission’s holistic approach towards a competitive and resource efficient Circular Economy
3 December 2015
EUROPEN welcomes the European Commission's holistic approach towards a competitive and resource efficient Circular Economy
Yesterday , The European Commission published its Circular Economy package and EUROPEN is pleased that the proposal recognises the enabling contribution packaging makes in a Circular Economy. Over the last 20 years, the packaging supply chain has demonstrated considerable progress towards efficient use of resources of packaged goods along their value chains, whilst preserving and extending the value of products and materials in the economy.
The package includes legislative proposals on packaging and packaging waste. In a first reaction to the publication, Martin Reynolds, Chairman of EUROPEN, stated "EUROPEN members are committed to continuously improving the environmental performance of packaged products in a sustainable manner. Being able to take advantage of the scale of the EU Internal Market has been crucial to unlocking the packaging supply chain's investment in resource efficient innovations. Therefore, we strongly support the retention of the Internal Market safeguard, which remains vital to achieving a competitive and resource efficient Circular Economy for our industry."
Virginia Janssens, Managing Director of EUROPEN, added: "We welcome the proposal's intention to improve the transparency of and rule enforcement for existing Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes, as well as the accountability of different actors in EPR implementation. In line with this shared responsibility, we will now assess the implications of some of the proposed wording in particular related to producers' financial contributions to these EPR schemes."
EUROPEN is supportive of an EU policy framework that drives the right investments for all packaging value chains and all sectors towards a resource efficient and competitive Circular Economy in a strong EU Internal Market. We look forward to continuing our constructive dialogue with the European institutions and stakeholders
