Single-use plastic labelling ordinance - or: The new warning about plastic

• An average of 8 million tonnes of plastic waste ends up in the oceans every year, causing enormous environmental damage.
• Disposable plastic products are particularly tricky because they are often disposed of improperly - namely in nature or in the sewage system.
• Therefore, consumers should be sensitised for more careful use of single-use plastic: Less consumption, less pollution and more recycling are the goals.

• Uniform EU-wide labelling of single-use plastic products will therefore become mandatory for all manufacturers. In this way, potentially problematic plastic waste can be identified directly at the point of purchase and treated accordingly.

Single-use plastic labelling ordinance (In german: “Einwegkunststoffkennzeichnungsverordnung”) and single-use plastic ban ordinance (In German: “Einwegkunststoffverbotsverordnung”) - these unwieldy terms conceal new draft laws intended to implement EU directives in Germany. Their goal: less plastic that ends up in the environment and has a harmful effect there. In addition, the mandatory labelling of certain products is intended to make people more aware of the consumption of plastic. We explain what the new regulation is all about.

The basis for the new Single-Use Plastic Labelling Ordinance(In German: “Einwegkunststoffkennzeichnungsverordnung”) (EWKKennzV) is the EU Directive 2019/904, which was already adopted in 2019 to reduce the impact of certain plastic products on the environment.

Single-use plastic as a global environmental problem

Despite high recycling rates and the immense potential for plastic recyclates, several million tonnes of plastic waste still end up in the environment every year. The oceans have literally become a reservoir for diverse plastic waste.

Not all of it comes from packaging waste, but a significant portion does. From careless handling of plastic shopping bags to deliberate and illegal disposal by ships - plastic waste enters the sea in many ways. So we are not only literally swimming in plastic.

High consumption - high waste generation

One reason for the state of our environment is the high consumption of products made of disposable plastic. Drinking bottles, coffee cups, straws, the list is long. It is impossible to imagine everyday life without plastics, and that is also part of the problem: plastic packaging is within our reach everywhere, and often it is impossible to avoid it (despite better alternatives).

The difficulties that arise from this can be illustrated particularly clearly using:

• Because they cannot be reused immediately, disposable bottles are shredded.
• Only a small part of the plastic is then turned back into bottles: 25 per cent is used for plastic foil production, 20 per cent in the textile industry and about 30 per cent becomes pallet banderoles or similar products.
• The proportion of recycled plastic in new disposable bottles is just as modest. It is about 25 per cent - so the bottles are mainly made of new plastics.

In addition, theCO2 balance, is far worse than that of reusable bottles. The German environmental organisation Deutsche Umwelthilfe assumestwice as many emissionsif the entire life cycle of the bottles is taken into account.

In one important point, however, disposable bottles differ from other packaging products made of disposable plastic: in many cases, they already have a label because they are integrated into the deposit-refund system This actually makes it clear how and where they should be disposed of.

THE SINGLE-USE PLASTIC LABELLING ORDINANCE - AND WHAT IT ACTUALLY MEANS

On 10 February 2021, the new ordinance, abbreviated as EWKKennzV, was adopted by the German Federal Cabinet, and the regulations then came into force throughout the EU from 3 July 2021. What will this change for products made of single-use plastic and their manufacturers? The most important questions at a glance.

WHAT ARE THE PROVISIONS OF THE NEW REGULATION SUPPOSED TO ACHIEVE?

The EU Single-Use Plastics Directive and the new regulation aim to reduce the consumption of single-use plastic products in the future. To this end, the EWKKennzV is intended to help make plastic more visible as an important resource.

So an important aspect of the regulation is to make consumers aware of their plastic consumption: What actually contains plastic? What is the best way to dispose of the labelled product? These are the questions around which the labelling obligation revolves.

Its aim is not least to ensure that less plastic waste is improperly disposed of in nature or the sewage system.

WHICH PRODUCTS ARE AFFECTED AT ALL?

• Packaging of hygiene products containing plastic (sanitary towels, tampons, tampon applicators) and wet wipes;


• Packaging of tobacco products with plastic-containing filters;

• Packaging of plastic-containing filters for the use of tobacco products;


• Disposable beverage cups.

DOES THE REGULATION ALSO IMPOSE NEW REQUIREMENTS ON THE PRODUCTS CONCERNED?

So far, only one specification for new product requirements has been laid down in the regulation. This concernsbeverage containers with caps or lids. If these are made of plastic, they must be firmly attached to the beverage container from July 2024. The background is an unattractive one: the detached caps and lids are part of the disposable plastic waste that now turns upmost frequently on European beaches. With the fixed connection, this should be curbed in the future.

The technical requirements for this have not yet been defined, but a European standard is in the works. It will be announced in time so that manufacturers can adapt to the new requirements.

What does the labelling obligation mean for manufacturers?

The Federal Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) does not see any serious consequences for manufacturers as a result of the EMKennzV. This is because it actually only requires additional labelling. Other such labels already have to be printed anyway because of health protection requirements or brand designation. In this respect, the effort is therefore hardly greater than before. The BMU thus does not expect an increase in the price of the products concerned.

The case could be somewhat different for disposable beverage cups because here every single one has to be labelled. This means more effort, at least in production. Whether this in turn has an impact on the prices for the cups cannot yet be answered.

What does the labelling look like for the products?