The technical criteria are intended to concretise the EU's overarching Taxonomy Regulation from 2020.

 

Last week, the EU Commission officially published a delegated act to concretise the Taxonomy Regulation, which sets out technical assessment criteria for various economic activities, Euwid reports. The taxonomy is intended to steer investments on a voluntary basis into areas that contribute to the achievement of EU environmental goals and covers the four objectives "transition to a circular economy", "prevention and reduction of pollution", "sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources" and "protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems". Among other things, it affects waste management, the production of plastic packaging, electrical and electronic equipment and portable batteries, vehicle and aircraft construction, and construction and demolition.
 
According to Euwid, in contrast to the consultation draft, the regulation now published provides concerning the criteria for the production of plastic packaging (Annex 2) for the minimum recyclate content two stages: By 2028, non-contact-sensitive packaging is to contain at least 35 per cent recycled material from post-consumer waste and contact-sensitive packaging at least ten per cent recycled material. From 2028, these minimum values are to increase to 65 and 50 per cent respectively. The minimum recyclate percentages are also to apply to plastic packaging intended for use in a reusable system. The other requirements for reusable packaging remain unchanged, Euwid reports. The consultation draft had also provided that the recycled content should only consist of chemically recycled plastics if the production of mechanically recycled material was not technically or economically feasible. This regulation is missing in the version now published, which does not distinguish between chemical and mechanical recycling.
 
Further information: to download the delegated act on environmental taxonomy
 

Sources:

• Euwid Recycling und Entsorgung 27/2023 (July 4, 2023)
• Photo: © unsplash.com, Christian Lue