Environment and sustainability – January 2021

EU Regulations
The EC has adopted new rules as of 1 January 2021 on importing and exporting plastic waste. More information can be found here. The publication of SUP guidelines, originally planned by 2 July 2020, is delayed until at least February 2021. If you would like us to keep you up to date and send you the most recent draft, send us e-mail. The EU Parliament has approved the drinking water directive, leading to a reduction in plastic waste from bottled water. The EC has announced that the Circular Plastics Alliance has delivered its first actions. The Council has approved conclusions on making the EU recovery circular and green.

Regulations in the Netherlands
On 2 December 2020, a general consultation (minutes in Dutch, 235 kB) on the circular economy took place. In preparation, the state secretary sent a number of documents to the House of Representatives: a letter (in Dutch) about the SUP and the results (in Dutch, 375 kB) of the SUP internet consultation (in Dutch); a letter (in Dutch) about the results of the internet consultation on a DRS for metal drink packaging; a letter (in Dutch) accompanying the Report Public Value Scan: Circular Economy (in Dutch, 948 kB); answers (in Dutch) to questions about the Implementation Programme Circular Economy and answers (in Dutch) to questions about the sustainability framework for bio-based raw materials. NRK (in Dutch) reports that the Biobased Plastics Action Plan (in Dutch, 1.05 MB) was presented to the State Secretary on 30 November 2020. NVRD (in Dutch) has published the 2019 Household Waste Benchmark (in Dutch, 1.32 MB). VNG (in Dutch) reports the publication of a report (in Dutch, 1.27 MB) about improving the quality of PMD. RVO has published the Environment List 2021 (in Dutch) with investments for which you can apply for fiscal advantage (MIA/Vamil).

Regulations in the rest of the world
Australia: The government reports that the Parliament has passed the Recycling and Waste Reduction Act 2020. Czech Republic: Draft regulations on waste management have been sent to the EC. France: Citeo (in French) states that now as of 1 April 2021, the Green Dot will be banned (official text in French, 123 kB). There is an 18-month transition period. Germany: The government (in German) reports that the Bundestag has voted to ban SUP bags as of 1 January 2022. Norway: The government has adopted new rules as of 1 January 2021 on importing and exporting plastic waste. Slovenia: Draft regulations on packaging waste have been sent to the EC. UK: The government has published the results (374 kB) of an internet consultation and announced the introduction of a plastic packaging tax. WRAP has published its annual report (2.82 MB) on the UK Plastics Pact.

Reports and developments
WUR reports that researchers have scientifically derived a theoretical limit in (material) recycling rates for plastic packaging for the Netherlands. An article (539 kB) is published in Sustainability. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has published a guide on upstream innovation for plastic packaging. CEFLEX has published a booklet (1.94 MB) on recycling flexible plastics. FINAT has announced the creation of the consortium CELAB: Toward a Circular Economy for Labels. Jo-Anne Verschoor from Leiden University has won the Unilever Research Prize 2020. She developed a method to test whether bacteria are capable of degrading plastic. DSMZ research studied how marine organisms break down biodegradable plastic. A Tel Aviv University study found that bioplastic dishes had a similar effect on marine animals as regular plastic dishes. KIDV has published a calculation tool for the CO₂ impact and costs of reusable packaging. UNSW researchers have developed a new technique to recover aluminium from multi-layered packaging. FEVE has unveiled a new sustainability label: the Glass Hallmark.
 

NVC members receive this information with all the relevant links in the monthly NVC Members-only Update. If you have any questions, please contact us: info@nvc.nl, +31-(0)182-512411