New EU packaging laws set to ‘add tension’ to UK trade

New European Union packaging and labelling laws announced last week are set to “add tension” to UK-EU trade.

The EU’s new proposals, which will require all packaging circulating in the bloc to abide to greater recycled content targets in efforts to reduce waste, will “affect everything from food to white goods”, said Richard Ali, VP communications at Finnish consumer packaging company Huhtamaki.

One of the main goals is for all EU packaging to be reusable or recyclable by 2030, so the new EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive has introduced new targets for recycled content in a variety of plastic packaging.

For example, by 2030 all plastic drinks bottles and food wrapping made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) will have to be made of 30% recycled content.

The recycled content targets will incrementally rise throughout the years in a bid to make all packaging fully recyclable at scale.

This is set to add difficulty to trade relationships, Ali added, as all exports from other countries too will have to adhere to the new requirements.

He said this would be an added burden for trade across Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland borders.

Earlier this week, the Food & Drink Federation said UK food and drink exports to the EU in the third quarter of the year were finally nearing pre-Covid levels, having increased 17.8% compared with the same period last year.

Some of the most sought-after British food and drink exports included beef, cheese and gin – all of which will have to abide to the new EU packaging rules once they fully come into force.

The British Meat Processors Association’s technical policy manager Nan Jones said: ”This is similar to issues many are having with the plastic packaging tax, where companies are choosing to pay the tax rather than using the 30% recycled packaging because it’s more cost effective.

”If this becomes mandatory for goods exported to the EU it will only add to food inflation as packaging is necessary for maintaining the shelf life of the goods.

”There’s also an issue with the supply of recycled packaging, so this should not become mandatory until sufficient packaging is available.”

The EU commission proposals are still set to undergo feedback consultion from different industries to get additional feedback before being approved by the European Parliament and the European Council. There were “lots of moving parts” in the consolidation of the legislation, according to Ali.

The directive’s review of its 2018 guidance, announced last week, aims for greater legislation harmonisation across the bloc’s countries in a push to reduce its carbon footprint to zero by 2050 in line with the Paris Agreement.