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Programme: Food Contact Materials

Ensuring safe recycled content in food packaging: ambition vs reality

When it comes to Food Contact Materials (FCMs), the use of recycled content potentially creates new pathways through which humans can be exposed to hazardous chemicals in contaminated recycled material flows. 

Today, recycling technologies have not proved to be able to remove all toxic chemicals already present in plastic in the first place and current regulations shift this responsibility away from plastic producers to recyclers, who struggle to process many unrecyclable or difficult-to-manage plastics,

Regulatory framework must be ambitious enough to urgently phase out the most hazardous chemicals to ensure food packaging and other food contact articles are truly safe for use, reuse and recycling.

The full report is available in English. The Executive Summary is available in French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch and German.

Marrying safety with sustainability in food packaging – Briefing for businesses

‘Safety’ and ‘sustainability’ concepts are directly interlinked: in order for food packaging to be truly sustainable, it needs to be safe for both human and environmental health. Within this briefing we aim to provide businesses with a better understanding of the issues linked to hazardous chemicals in food contact materials and highlight the opportunity for businesses to adopt circular economy practices using non-toxic and reusable materials that protects human health.

Full report available in English. Executive summary available in English, French, Spanish, Dutch and German.

NGO letter to Ursula von der Leyen on REACH and CLP reform

This NGO letter, spearheaded by the European Environmental Bureau (EBB) and co-signed by Zero Waste Europe, pleads with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to see an opportunity for change in current crises. It highlights the importance of continuing to pursue the achievement of the zero pollution vision by implementing the detoxification and decarbonisation agenda of the EU’s Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability without further delays.

Available in English.

Zero Waste Europe Strategic Framework 2022-24

Europe is in the midst of a transition and zero waste is part of it.

Ten years ago, the concept of zero waste was laughed at. Today, zero waste is mainstream, from being considered a practical approach to implementing a circular economy to a trending lifestyle globally. The efforts from civil society groups in Europe and around the world pushed the debate higher in the waste hierarchy. If at any time over the last twenty years reuse and prevention had a chance, it is now. And ZWE is committed to bringing that change forward.
From a content perspective, for the next 3 years, we will focus on bringing IN incentives and funding for the transition, phasing OUT toxics, lifting UP reuse, pushing for BETTER recycling and bringing waste disposal DOWN.

Our Strategic Framework for 2022-24 outlines the ZWE roadmap and goals for the coming years, with the ultimate aim of helping us achieve a zero waste future for Europe (and for the world, while we’re at it).

 

Available in English.

Open letter on Hazardous Chemicals and Food Safety – recycled plastic in food packaging (updated rules)

Zero Waste Europe and 27 other civil society organisations across Europe have sent an open letter to the EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Stella Kyriakides, stating their concerns about some of the proposals in the draft new Regulation concerning the placing on the market of plastic materials and articles with recycled/secondary plastic content intended for use in contact with food. The signatories also urge the EU Commission to delay this proposal on the grounds of safety assurance.

Joint NGO letter to the REACH Committee

Zero Waste Europe joined the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) and 12 other organisations to request a restriction on all forms of lead-contained in PVC by setting equal-stringent thresholds for lead in virgin and recycled PVC.

 

Available in English.

Ireland’s plan on single-use and plastic packaging

In September 2020, the Irish government adopted its national waste action plan for 2020-2025. The plan – which will have to be enacted through the adoption of a circular economy bill – has the ambition to tackle waste generation and move towards a circular economy through prevention measures. The plan contains several ambitious provisions on single-use plastic and packaging which go beyond the requirements of EU Single-Use Plastics Directive,bsuch as extended bans on certain single-use plastic products or a levy on single-use coffee cups.

France’s law promoting bulk and reusable packaging

In December 2019, France adopted an ambitious law on waste prevention and circular economy. The law touches upon a variety of topics such as plastic packaging, awareness-raising actions, or extended producer responsibility (EPR). Although not all measures in this law are ambitious, the document contains pioneering measures to support the development of bulk selling activities and the uptake of reusable packaging.

Harmful chemicals in food packaging hamper the circular economy

The Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL), Zero Waste Europe, CHEM Trust and ClientEarth have joined forces to illustrate how harmful chemicals in food packaging can hamper the circular economy and put our health at risk.

Recycling food packaging can be an important part of achieving a circular economy in the European Union. But recycled materials can still contain chemicals that may contribute to cancer, reproductive disorders and hormone disruption. The infographic launched today visualizes why we need more preventive EU regulations to ensure food contact materials are safe to use, reuse and recycle, in order to achieve a toxic-free circular economy. 

Available in English

Harmful chemicals in food packaging are putting our health at risk

The Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL), Zero Waste Europe, the European Consumer Organisation BEUC, CHEM Trust and ClientEarth have joined hands to bust some of the most popular myths surrounding chemicals used in food contact materials. Our latest infographic illustrates how the chemicals used in the production, processing, preparation, and packaging of food may put our health at risk.

Available in English

The UNWRAPPED Project’s toolkit. Exposing the health risk of food packaging chemicals

As part of the UNWRAPPED Project, we have developed a toolkit to throw a spotlight on the human health risks posed by plastics and other food packaging materials. The 9 factsheets present facts and figures about how disposable food packaging can be harmful to human health and call for corporate and decision-makers to put an end to single-use packaging and take a precautionary approach to use harmful chemicals that are known to migrate out of packaging and cause human health impacts.

 

Available in English (other languages are coming soon)!

10 Priorities to transform EU Waste Policy

Almost 90% of material resources used in the EU are lost after their first use (1). A lot more effort is needed to accelerate a systemic transition to a circular economy, to drastically reduce the EU’s absolute natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions, respecting the planetary boundaries and striving towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

To achieve this, the Prevent Waste coalition of European civil society organisations advocate for the improvement and enforcement of EU policies on waste prevention and product design.

 

Available in English

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