IK: Plastic packaging bans slow down innovation

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In an interview in Die Welt the new EU Commissioner for Environment, Virginijus Sinkevicius, discussed a general ban on plastic packaging in Europe. The Industrievereinigung Kunststoffverpackungen (IK) considers this idea counterproductive and calls on the EU Commissioner to do more to ensure that plastic packaging in Europe does not end up in landfills, but is recycled.

After the EU banned single-use plastic articles and packaging last year, Sinkevicius considers it appropriate to impose further bans. In his view, it is important to generally ban plastic packaging. The IK considers such statements to be dangerous because they question the future of plastic packaging in a circular economy.

IK Managing Director Dr Martin Engelmann said: "The Commissioner should ask himself how his statement will be received by those who are about to decide on investments in recyclable packaging or recycling plants. If politicians exclude plastic packaging from the circular economy, these urgently needed investments will certainly not be made."

While a strict landfill ban has been in force in Germany since 2005, household waste may still be landfilled to a large extent throughout the EU until 2030. We see a faster end to landfill as the most important lever for the circular economy.

Moreover, the IK criticises the effect of such prohibitions on consumers, as Engelmann added: "Some politicians are currently suggesting to consumers and voters that blanket bans can be used to overcome the major challenges in environmental and climate protection. Unfortunately, they forgot to mention the contribution plastic packaging makes, for example, to CO2 savings and food safety."

If plastic is replaced by other materials in packaging, this can result in increased energy consumption and significantly higher CO2 emissions.

The IK and the companies it represents expect the new EU Commission to make decisions based on facts and not on trends of the zeitgeist.

Editor’s comment – When politicians base their position on what appeals to current popular opinion, and thereby fail to look at a problem from multiple viewpoints, they’re showing that it is their position that is fragile, and not that of the content of the discussion.

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