Review on legislative and socio-economic framework (barriers and opportunities) for reusable packaging

Abstract

By making a state of the art on the regulations and standards, in force and in progress, this deliverable aims to better inform the regulatory aspects of the design of reusable packaging and to analyse the barriers and opportunities to implement the reuse of packaging, so as to spot potential conflicts with constraints linked to this purpose. The first part is dedicated to the main definitions useful to understand the subject of packaging reuse. To make a relevant state of the art in the second part, we investigated two major issues which both concern the reuse of packaging, at European and national levels, in countries of BUDDIE-PACK's partners: hygiene on one hand and packaging on the other hand, in order to identify any pain point in the reuse of packaging. It can be noted that all the hygiene regulations that we have identified relate to the food sector and do not include any mention of non-food products, such as home care products, which are operated in the use case of ASEVI. Regulation (EC) N°852/2004 lays down the general rules on the hygiene of foodstuffs and especially requires that containers used for transporting foodstuffs to be designed so that adequate cleaning is possible, and to be dedicated for the transport of foodstuffs. Complementary good practices are also mentioned in the Codex Alimentarius, an internationally recognized collection of food standards, and in the ISO 22000 and EN 15593:2008 standards. In Directive 98/83/EC on the quality of water likely to be used in the food industry, despite microbiological and chemical requirements, a vagueness can be observed on three parameters impacting hygiene, which are the colour of water, its smell and its taste: indeed, the Directive only requires that these parameters must be “acceptable to consumer” and that “no unnatural change” can be observed, which means that non-compliance thresholds may vary according to the stakeholders. Standard EN 17735:2022 is essential to guarantee the safety of washing, as it specifies the hygiene requirements for the operation of commercial dishwashers in a professional environment and also includes the main guidelines for obtaining hygienic results for treated articles. To close the chapter on hygiene, one must note that a standard exists to assess the efficience of disinfectants in the food area through a quantitative test on a nonporous surface, such as steel, but that such a standard does not exist on plastic surfaces. The third part presents the packaging regulations from four angles (design, food contact, production and recycling, non-food products) and an institutional analysis. Directive 94/62/EC, on Packaging and Packaging Waste (PPW), is currently being revised by the European Commission: it should become a Regulation, directly applicable by all Member States, and shall further support the implementation of reusable packaging. The vote is expected in September 2023. It should be noticed that the restrictions set in Directive (EU) 2019/904 SUP (Single-Use Plastic) only concern single-use plastic packaging. Regulation (EU) N°10/2011 regulates the safety of plastic materials in contact with food. It gives guidance on specific migration test methods, including for reusable materials: its limitation is that it considers a low number of reuses, so it does not take into account the possible degradation of the material, such as scratches which are inherent in the prolonged reuse of packaging and which can impact the migrations of substances. The REACH Regulation, also under review, establishes procedures for evaluating information on the properties and hazards of chemical substances. Due to the many substances used in the manufacture of plastics and required to make them sustainable, REACH revision may have an impact on the development of reusable packaging. In Regulation (EU) 2022/1616 setting the operating rules of all recycling stages, it is interesting to remember that recycling schemes, of any material, in a closed and controlled chain may be considered as suitable to recycle waste plastic into food-contact plastic, in the same way as mechanical PET recycling. This principle could be implemented for any reusable packaging provided that it is used in a closed system and that external non-foodstuffs contaminations are avoided. Regulation (EC) N°648/2004 on detergents, such as ASEVI’s products, does not mention any requirement on the packaging. Some of BUDDIE-PACK's partners countries, France, Spain, Germany and The Netherlands, have passed laws to implement reusable packaging, with a focus on food or beverage consumption, on-site or on-the-go. While France explicitly banned single-use packaging in several sectors in addition to the on-site catering, Germany and The Netherlands set less restrictive incentives for on-site and take-away catering, and Spain addressed quantified reuse targets for take-away beverage and beverage sold in food retail stores. Note that the UK's exit from the EU led to the transposition of most of regulations mentioned in this deliverable into national law, without significant differences with European regulations, except the SUP Directive, for which an equivalent legislation is expected in October 2023. Beyond these regulations already adopted to promote the reuse of packaging, this dynamic is much broader than Europe: thus, the United Nations Environment Assembly has created an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee responsible for drafting a text "legally binding" by October 2024. The work sessions should result in a first draft text by November 2023. The suggestions of NGOs converge on the development of shared logistics infrastructures and user-friendly packaging, the expansion of DRS to encourage consumer engagement, but also the standardisation of LCA methods to ensure data reliability. The NGO Zero Waste Europe also insists on the need to implement economic levers to encourage companies to offer reusable packaging, and consumers to choose it. The fourth part gives more details on the main expected modifications in the regulations being revised, especially the PPW and the REACH Regulations, which could impact the development of reusable packaging. To help provide answers to BUDDIE-PACK use cases, the fifth part summarises the regulations and standards that cover each use case, in order to find all information sources at a glance, to incorporate them into the packaging design and to produce packaging fully adapted to the needs. To conclude with this deliverable, the sixth part explains the main barriers and above all the opportunities, at regulatory, technical, safety, social and economic levels. As the hygiene regulations establish an obligation of results towards the actors of the value chain, and not of means, the reuse of packaging does not conflict with hygiene constraints on condition that each part provides the required health guarantees on its scope. Our innovation approach and its proof of concept should allow to identify risky points in advance and to develop solutions to scale up without risk. The debate on the revision of the REACH Regulation will have to be considered into the SSbD concept. In addition, discussions on the PPW Regulation and the Global Plastic Pollution Treaty may open new perspectives of strategies to implement reusable packaging by the end of 2024. The two major technical obstacles are the lack of knowledge about the ageing of plastics through cycles of use and washing (degradation of polymer chains after heat treatment, repeated sealing or mechanical stress, water abrasion) and logistics (collection of used packaging, storage, transport). The Digital Product Passport should therefore be an effective lever for optimising the return of packaging and its durability. Moreover, the standardisation of packaging, coordinated at a European level in cooperation with EPRs and business operators shall allow an optimisation of transport and storage. Capitalising on the experience of manufacturing and retailing sectors which already reuse their packaging will be decisive, especially on the logistics. Solving safety obstacles will be also essential to develop the reuse of packaging, i.e. defining compliance criteria on rinsing and drying to ensure there is no residue of detergent or water, and investigating the risks of migration of substances and release of microplastics, from a material which has been used multiple times. On the first point, depending on the sector, industrial means allow to prevent food contamination (ventilation, humidity control, ease to clean premises and equipments, specially trained staff, etc.). Capitalising on the experience of actors already involved is also an important action lever, such as bottlers or school catering. Social barriers are difficult to solve because they require changing deep-rooted habits, for both packaging’s users and consumers. Restaurants may be afraid of wasting time in their daily tasks (additional time to handle, store, wash, wipe, etc.). Some of consumers could be reluctant to use a packaging that they gauge it has already been used (scratch, small stain, discoloration, etc.), even if it is clean and safe, which requires a specific pedagogy. Active consumerism can effectively contribute to the proper functioning of the reuse loop and is very rewarding for the consumer, as we see it with the successful development in Europe of DRS. Giving back an economic value to packaging should also prevent waste from being abandoned. Even if their exact role is not yet defined, business operators will have to be strongly involved in the management of the reuse loop in opposition to the management of waste, which is dealt by local authorities. This involvement and the initial investment in packaging will impact their business model. To help them, public policies should support adequate eco-modulations and the development of shared logistics. Various incentives should be also addressed to consumers to encourage them to ch