Bioeconomy: Com­mis­sion launches pub­lic con­sulta­tion on bio-based feed­stock in plastic packaging

The European Com­mis­sion is launch­ing an open pub­lic con­sulta­tion today (21 Oct) to gath­er views and evid­ence on the role of bio-based plastics in pack­aging policy. The con­sulta­tion will remain open until 13 Janu­ary 2027. 

The con­sulta­tion is part of the review under Art­icle 8 of the Pack­aging and Pack­aging Waste Reg­u­la­tion (PPWR) and the Stra­tegic Frame­work on a Com­pet­it­ive and Sus­tain­able EU Bioeconomy. The res­ults will sup­port the Commission’s assess­ment of the tech­no­lo­gic­al devel­op­ment and envir­on­ment­al per­form­ance of bio-based plastic pack­aging to sup­port the bioeconomy. 

The PPWR estab­lishes a har­mon­ised EU frame­work for pack­aging and pack­aging waste, with the object­ives of redu­cing pack­aging waste, improv­ing recyc­lab­il­ity and pro­mot­ing more cir­cu­lar use of resources.

In this con­text, the con­sulta­tion will help assess pos­sible mar­ket demand meas­ures and tar­gets to increase the use of bio-based feed­stock in plastic pack­aging, which could be linked with pos­sible sus­tain­ab­il­ity require­ments for bio-based feedstock. 

Why stake­hold­er input matters 

Increas­ing the use of sus­tain­able altern­at­ives to vir­gin fossil feed­stocks could reduce the EU’s depend­ence on impor­ted fossil resources, strengthen stra­tegic autonomy and help lower the pack­aging sec­tor’s car­bon foot­print — key object­ives of the EU Bioeconomy agenda. 

The Com­mis­sion is there­fore invit­ing stake­hold­ers across the pack­aging value chain to share evid­ence and prac­tic­al exper­i­ence on the avail­ab­il­ity and per­form­ance of bio-based feed­stocks, their envir­on­ment­al impacts, the sus­tain­ab­il­ity of their sourcing and pro­duc­tion, and the poten­tial implic­a­tions of dif­fer­ent reg­u­lat­ory approaches.

The con­sulta­tion is open to all inter­ested parties, includ­ing cit­izens, con­sumer organ­isa­tions, envir­on­ment­al NGOs, pub­lic author­it­ies, pack­aging man­u­fac­tur­ers and con­vert­ers, raw-mater­i­al sup­pli­ers, bio-based plastics pro­du­cers, recyclers, food-con­tact pack­aging busi­nesses, brand own­ers, retail­ers, research organ­isa­tions, and oth­er inter­ested stakeholders. 

This input will help the Com­mis­sion assess the oppor­tun­it­ies, lim­it­a­tions and trade-offs asso­ci­ated with bio-based plastic pack­aging, includ­ing suit­able recyc­ling technologies. 

Based on this feed­back, the Com­mis­sion may devel­op a legis­lat­ive pro­pos­al estab­lish­ing a frame­work to drive the use of bio-based feed­stock in plastic packaging. 

Have Your Say 

Stake­hold­ers are encour­aged to par­ti­cip­ate in the pub­lic con­sulta­tion and provide evid­ence-based feed­back to help inform the Commission’s review and the pos­sible devel­op­ment of future meas­ures under Art­icle 8 PPWR. 

This con­sulta­tion is ini­tially avail­able in Eng­lish, with trans­la­tions into all EU offi­cial lan­guages to fol­low shortly. 

Back­ground 

The European Com­mis­sion sup­ports the devel­op­ment of bioeconomy lead mar­kets and spe­cific­ally refers to oppor­tun­it­ies in the pack­aging field.

The PPWR requires the Com­mis­sion to review the tech­no­lo­gic­al devel­op­ment and envir­on­ment­al per­form­ance of bio-based plastic pack­aging under Art­icle 8 and assess wheth­er fur­ther meas­ures are needed in this area.