Ecos has reported that the European Standardisation Committee on Plastics approved discussion on a new proposal on reusable plastic tableware on January 22, 2023. The proposal, introduced by the Spanish Standardisation Committee (UNE), puts forward a new standard (UNE 53928:2020) on ‘Plastics – reusable plastic tableware for food use’ which regulates the product label and indicates the number of dishwashing cycles a product must withstand. According to this new proposal, articles that can be washed at least five times would be considered reusable – without considering other factors such as material composition or reparability. Thus, single-use products can be labeled as reusable if they can withstand five washing cycles.
However, Ecos has concerns that the EU’s recent approach to single-use plastics (SUP) does not align with the aim of this new proposal. The EU’s SUP Directive was put in place to further eliminate the use of single-use plastics (FPF reported). They note that the proposal would stand in contradiction with the directive and the previously submitted European Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) proposal.
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Sabela González and Fanny Rateau (February 10, 2023) “Disclaimer: a product is not reusable just because it can be washed.” Ecostandard
European Union (June 12, 2019) “Directive (EU) 2019/904 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 June 2019 on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment.”
Directorate-General for Environment (November 30, 2022) “Proposal for a revision of EU legislation on Packaging and Packaging Waste.”
