Following calls to further update the 30-year regulation on packaging and packaging waste, the proposed updates have now been given the formal go-ahead, with Members of the European Parliament approving the law.
On December 16, 2024, Members of the European Parliament voted in favour of suggested updates to the packaging and packaging waste regulation. As the confectionery market moves towards responding to Europe’s calls for a circular economy and climate-neutral region, several legal updates will shape how manufacturers and operators wrap and sell sweet treats.
The big headlines
1. EU rules to significantly reduce the generation of packaging waste
At the centre of the new packaging and packaging waste regulation is the push to cut the amount of waste operators and manufacturers produce in the EU and the wider confectionery sector.
As Europe moves to create a more circular economy, the region has adopted several measures to reduce waste by increasing reuse and recycling initiatives. Europe has adopted measures to tackle waste by recycling more, landfilling less, turning biowaste into biogas and fertiliser, producing secondary materials from building waste, and introducing reuse centres.
Recycling rates have gone up as a result of measures such as these. However, while the amount consumers and businesses are recycling has risen, we’re generating waste faster than we’re recycling.
The EU produced nearly 186.5 kilograms of waste packaging per consumer in 2022. Around a fifth of these, 36 kg, is plastic packaging waste.
2. The law covers packaging’s full life cycle
Alongside keeping recyclability levels high and reducing packaging waste in landfills and its overall environmental burden, the new regulation aims to tackle plastic pollution by considering the life cycle throughout the confectionery production process, from sourcing to shelf.
By setting targets and implementing measures that focus on the entire packaging lifecycle, the new rules strive to minimise packaging used and, therefore, the amount of packaging waste in the confectionery industry.
The packaging and packaging waste regulation does this by setting binding reuse targets, limiting certain types of single-use packaging, and putting restrictions in place to reduce problematic packaging in chocolate, sweet, and gum wrapping.
3. Minimum recycled content targets
The EU Commission strives to ensure that packaging in the European market is safe, sustainable and recyclable. Therefore, the new rules introduce 2030 and 2040 targets for a minimum percentage of recycled content. For example, the new regulatory updates will demand up to 65% recycled content in single-use plastic bottles by 2040.
Minimisation is at the core of the regulation in other ways, too. The new rules set out requirements for operators to minimise packaging weight and volume and avoid unnecessary packaging in confectionery products.
Confectioners will also need to minimise substances of concern in their food contact materials. For example, they will need to restrict the use of food contact materials with per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) that exceed specific amounts on the market. PFAS, in confectionery packaging like sweet wrappers and popcorn bags, can travel from food contact materials onto the food we eat and, subsequently, consume.
Labelling, marking and providing information about recycled content and material composition will also impact confectionery packaging. The EU seeks to better support consumers in choosing brands and products and sorting through their packaging once purchased.
4. Reuse targets and re-fill requirements
As the United Nations (UN) 2030 Sustainable Development Goals deadline approaches, which sets specific targets for sustainable consumption and production patterns under goal 12, the EU’s packaging regulation sets new binding reuse targets for 2030 and indicative targets for 2040.
The targets vary depending on the type of packaging in question. For instance, it specifies binding reuse targets of 40% for transport and sales packaging and 10% for grouped packaging. As part of the new rules, take-away businesses offering ready-prepared food will need to provide consumers with the option of bringing their own containers in to collect food, at no additional charge.
In recent years, we’ve seen the rise of immersive confectionery retail experiences that offer opportunities to sample and personally select sweet treats, like M&M World and Lindt’s new megastore. With consumers selecting their confectionery, in the future, we may see companies ask shoppers to bring their own plastic containers and bags.
5. Clamp down on single-use plastic packaging in foodservice outlets
Plastic pollution remains a prominent issue in the confectionery industry. As research shows that less than 10% of global plastic is recycled, confectionery companies are looking for plastic alternatives in packaging, such as paper wrapping for sweet products.
Currently, under the new rules, single-use plastic packaging updates revolve around products filled and consumed in the food service sector, like hotels, bars and restaurants, rather than the food manufacturing environment.
