Hazel O’Keeffe Quoted in Chemical Watch News & Insight Article on Europe’s New Packaging Regulation

Keller and Heckman Partner Hazel O’Keeffe was quoted in the Chemical Watch News & Insight article, "What does Europe's new packaging regulation mean for food and beverage manufacturers?" The article discusses the European Union’s plans to tighten packaging regulations by introducing a Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), driven by a desire to bolster recycling and reduce waste. Hazel commented on different aspects of the legislation, including how it will affect most food and drink manufacturers. 

"I believe that the reuse and refill targets, packaging minimisation requirements, single-use plastic bans notably in the hotel, restaurant and catering (HORECA) sector, recyclability and – for plastics – recycled content targets, will all significantly impact how the food and beverage industry currently operates," commented Hazel.

Hazel also pointed out with respect to the per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) ban that: "[w]hile the European Parliament introduced a ban on PFAS above certain levels in the draft text, this is something that is in the pipeline already under the REACH legislation. It may, nonetheless, pose challenges for certain sectors of the food and beverage industry." Hazel added that "[t]he BPA ban proposed by the European Parliament was removed from the provisional agreement as this is being addressed under the food contact legislation."

Lastly, Hazel indicated that the provisional agreement also introduced "the possibility that the European Commission could draw up a legislative proposal permitting the use of bio-based feedstock as an alternative to recycled content recovered from post-consumer waste to meet the recycled content requirements of the PPWR if there is an insufficient availability of recycled plastics coming from suitable technologies complying with the recycled plastics regulation. Before deciding whether bio-based feedback may be used for this purpose, the Commission must first conduct a review of the state of technological development and environmental performance of bio-based plastic packaging, taking into consideration certain sustainability criteria. This may help promote innovation in the food packaging sector."

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