American Chemistry Council (ACC) proposes principles for applying mass balance approach in plastics recycling; includes traceability across supply chain and third-party auditing to verify product claims
March 26, 2020
Dutch Plastic Pact publishes baseline data
Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) releases first progress report towards 2025 goals; provides data from 27 signatories on recycling potential and use of recycled plastics to serve as baseline; data still lacking on reuse, sorting, and quantity of hazardous substances in plastics
March 23, 2020
EASAC report on plastic packaging and circular economy
European Academies’ Science Advisory Council provides seven recommendations to EU policymakers for transitioning to circular economy; include banning plastic waste exports, extending producer responsibility, ‘end misleading about bio-based alternatives’, limiting additives and resins
March 23, 2020
European Plastics Pact launched
Public-private partnership sets targets for signatories by 2025; includes designing all packaging to be re-useable or at least recyclable, reducing virgin plastics by 20%, increasing recycling by 25%, having 30% recycled content
March 13, 2020
Green Alliance finds plastic-only strategies ‘not working’
Report cautions current regulatory approaches focused on plastics, instead encourages improving careful management of all materials; calls for urgent review of food contact materials, implementation of fiscal measures to reduce use across material types
March 13, 2020
UK moves ahead with plastic packaging tax
Government announces tax on plastic packaging with less than 30% recycled content beginning April 2022; £200 per metric ton set to be charged, exemptions will exist for small quantities
March 4, 2020
Quantifying the clean-up costs of ocean plastics
Ellen MacArthur Foundation estimates $150 billion investment needed to address ocean plastic pollution, says solutions are in redesigning products upstream; Pew Charitable Trust to release report detailing cost estimates, launches initiative to find effective strategies
March 2, 2020
EFSA working group updates in January and February 2020
Minutes from recent meetings of the EFSA CEP panel and working groups on BPA, FCMs, and recycling plastics published
February 27, 2020
EC meeting discusses future FCM regulation
European Commission (EC) holds meeting reviewing draft regulatory texts for 15th and 16th amendment of plastics regulation 10/2011 and for plastic food contact materials (FCMs) recycling regulation; contemplates regulatory options for novel FCMs including plastics with bamboo fibers; presents specific updates and timelines for future work
February 27, 2020
Concerns over recycled ocean-bound plastic packaging
UK branch of supermarket chain Lidl announces new packaging for fish made from at least 30% recycled ocean-bound plastic from March 2020; stakeholders raise concerns over safety of chemicals that could be present
