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.
With this paper, the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), Zero Waste Europe, 17 other health and environmental NGOs provide a position on key priorities and recommendations in the context of the REACH revision. This revision must focus on accelerating, simplifying, and making regulatory processes for chemicals of concern less burdensome for the authorities.
Available in English.
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.
Zero Waste Europe joined 14 other organisations in calling the European Commission to properly and collectively scrutinise the ins and outs of the changes proposed (as well as those that have not been considered) to the definition of “nanomaterial”.
Available in English.
Zero Waste Europe provided a response to the European Commission’s consultation to the draft regulation concerning the placing on the market of plastic materials and articles with recycled/secondary plastic content intended for use in contact with food.
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.
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.
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.
In the wine industry, single-use glass is heavily used for packaging. On the one hand, glass has the greatest environmental impacts compared to other packaging materials (i.e. PET, aluminium, and beverage carton). On the other hand, glass is 100% reusable and 100% recyclable at the end of its life cycle, and is an inert material, which makes it more suitable as a food contact material.
The reWINE project proves that a circular and more sustainable way of consuming wine is possible.
Let’s start the tasting tour!
Available in Catalan, English, French, Hungarian, Italian, Lithuanian, Portuguese, Slovenian, and Spanish.
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
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
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)!
Declaration of Concern and call to action led by Zero Waste Europe, GAIA Asia-Pacific, GAIA US, and Upstream – signed by 160+ organisations worldwide demanding that lawmakers protect us from hazardous chemicals in food packaging.
Available in English.
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
