4. EU Legislation related to EPR

The EU Action Plan for a circular economy was established in 2015, and recycling and reuse of plastics were deemed a top priority. A European Strategy for Plastic in a Circular Economy was also later approved with the goals of boosting plastic avoidance and recycling, setting a target for making all plastic packaging sold in the EU recyclable by 2030, and reducing the use of single-use plastics. The overall goal of the EU strategy on this subject is to address a variety of measures that span the whole plastics supply chain, from product design and production through usage and end-of-life management. (Filho, ., 2019)

The Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC), adopted in 2008 and amended in 2018, is a key component of the EU circular economy action plan. It addresses the adverse environmental and health impacts of waste generation and management while promoting resource efficiency. The Directive grants EU Member States the authority to allocate waste management expenses to the producer responsible for generating the waste, which includes implementing measures such as the acceptance of returned products, the management of post-use waste, and financial responsibilities related to this. Additionally, the directive may impose an obligation to disclose publicly accessible information concerning a product's reusability and recyclability (Pouikli, 2020) (European Chemicals Agency, n.d.). 

In the amended Waste Framework Directive of 2018, an extended producer responsibility scheme is explicitly defined as "a set of measures taken by Member States to ensure that producers of products bear financial responsibility or financial and organizational responsibility for the management of the waste stage of a product's life cycle." (Article 14) General minimum operating requirements for EPR schemes were also introduced in the amendment (Article 8a) and become effective in January 2023. These requirements may include organizational accountability and obligations to support waste prevention, potentially improving product reusability and recyclability. The directive also allows for differentiated fees, that may incur lower costs for easily recyclable products.

A new revision of the Directive is currently in progress, specifically targeting textile waste and food waste. The proposal was published on July 5^th, 2023. (European Commission, 2023b)

The EU has introduced extended producer responsibility through several specific waste legislations that are subordinate to the general waste regulations, of which the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (PPWD 94/62/EC) and recent Single-Use Plastics Directive (2019/904) are most relevant to this report as the focus is on plastic waste. As mentioned in the limitations, this report will not examine the other waste regulations under the EU Waste Framework Directive, such as End-of-Life Vehicles (ELV) Directive (2000/53/EC) and Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive (2012/19/EU).

It's worth noting the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive doesn't make EPR mandatory, but it is required in the legislation governing plastic waste. However, none of these directives specify specific recycling targets for plastics. (Hennlock, 2014)

EU rules on packaging and packaging waste cover both packaging design and packaging waste management. They aim to deal with the increasing quantities of packaging waste, which cause environmental problems. Member states are granted some flexibility in meeting the requirements outlined in the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (PPWD). (Hennlock, 2014) However, the directive requires systems for return and collection to be set up for consumers to drop off their used packaging so that it can be recycled and reused once again. The producer is also responsible for what happens to a product’s packaging after a consumer has discarded it, including collection and recycling.

The PPWD (94/62/EC) establishes guidelines for reducing packaging waste generation, promoting packaging reuse, recycling, and other methods of recovering packaging waste. Additionally, it puts forth standards that all packaging sold in the EU must adhere to. These rules are intended to reduce the amount of packaging waste disposed of and to encourage a more circular economy. (EPRS, 2023) EU members have time until the end of 2024 to comply with the EPR requirements set by the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive. This means that, in some countries EPR obligations are yet to be implemented.

In 2022, there was a new initiative proposed by the EU Commission with the aim of turning the Directive into regulation, which would imply less flexibility for member states and consequently more harmonization between them. The initiative's objective is for all packaging to achieve economically viable recyclability or reusability by 2030. To encourage reuse and recycling, boost the use of recycled materials, and improve the efficacy of these requirements, it also strives to reinforce the essential requirements for packaging and includes measures to deal with excessive packaging and reduce packaging waste. As of 2023, EU legislators are still reviewing the proposal. (EPRS, 2023)

The EU 2019/904 Directive applies to certain single use plastic products (SUPs), i.e., products wholly or partially made of plastic and are intended to be used just once or for a short period of time before being discarded. It also applies to products made from oxo-degradable plastic and fishing gear containing plastic. The overall aim of the SUP Directive is to prevent and reduce the drastic impact of these plastic products on the environment as well as on human health. For example, the SUPs are more likely to end up in the sea than reusable options and the ten most commonly found single-use plastic items on European beaches, alongside fishing gear, represent 70% of all marine litter in the EU.

A combination of measures tailored to the products covered by the directive are to be introduced in line with the goal of reduction and prevention of littering. In addition to packaging, article 8 in the 2019/904 Directive (EUR-Lex, 2019) states that extended producer responsibility schemes must be established for balloons, wet wipes, fishing gear that contains plastic, and tobacco products with filters. The extended producer responsibility means that producers must bear the cost of awareness-raising measures, and the cost for these products that are discarded in public collection system, collection in public systems, and cleaning up of their products.