EU to fall short on ambition to reduce packaging waste, warn NGOs

Following lobbying from the industry, European regulation on packaging waste may reduce reuse targets in favour of recycling, to the dismay of zero waste organisations.

In 2020, the average EU citizen generated packaging waste weighing more than an adult panda, dispensing with just over 177kg of cardboard boxes, plastic wrappers, tin cans and bottles. Germans were the worst offenders, throwing away 225.8kg of packaging; while Croatians limited their waste to 66kg per inhabitant. The total amount of packaging generated in the EU rose by over 20 per cent or 13.3mn tonnes from 2009 to 2020.