The Permanent Material Alliance - comprising the Association of European Producers of Steel for  Packaging (APEAL), European Aluminium, the European Container Glass Federation (FEVE) and  Metal Packaging Europe 

The Alliance welcomes the recyclability provisions adopted by the European Parliament’s plenary  session today. The vote signals a commitment to more ambition, and this is a significant stride toward  advancing the circular economy and positions the European Union as global leader in sustainable  practices. 

RECYCLABILITY PERFORMANCE GRADES ARE A GREAT STEP FORWARD  

“The performance grades, and their strong qualitative recyclability criteria, will foster innovation by  rewarding packaging that is designed for recycling whilst also being sufficiently and effectively  collected, sorted, and recycled at scale. They are a great step forward to a truly EU Circular Economy,” said Alexis Van Maercke, Secretary General of APEAL. 

HIGH QUALITY RECYCLING SHOULD BE AMBITIOUS, FACILITATED BY A ROBUST DEFINITION 

“The definition of high-quality recycling is a pre-requisite to encouraging economic operators to  enhance recyclability” said Krassimira Kazashka, CEO of Metal Packaging Europe. “We support the  introduction of the concept for 'high-quality recycling. However, the European Parliament missed the  opportunity to have a more robust definition incentivising materials that can withstand multiple  recycling loops without any change to their main material properties, stimulates design for recycling  and further boosts effective and efficient recycling.” 

SEPARATE COLLECTION IS KEY TO HIGH QUALITY RECYCLING 

Maarten Labberton, Director Packaging Group of European Aluminium, commented “High quality  recycling of packaging materials highly depends on the availability of efficient separate collection and  sorting systems for packaging waste. A timely and ambitious approach which encourages the separate  collection of packing waste in all EU Member States is a must and we fully support the separate  collection target of 90% endorsed by the European Parliament today”. 

ENSURING A FAIR EFFORT SHARING BY ALL MATERIALS TO REDUCE PACKAGING WASTE 

“Aluminium, glass and steel are today already preventing waste as our materials are largely collected,  sorted and undergo high-quality endless recycling into new loops,” added Adeline Farrelly, Secretary  General of FEVE. “We are glad to see that the European Parliament adopted packaging waste  reduction targets to mitigate against the risk of substitution of fully circular materials (Permanent  Materials) by difficult to recycle packaging materials.”

CALL FOR STRONGER MEASURES AND DEFINITIONS 

In conclusion, the Permanent Materials Coalition calls upon the Council of the EU to fortify the PPWR,  ensuring it enhances the EU Circular Economy, safeguards the environment, and maximises the  retention of resources within the economy. The Alliance remains committed to collaborative efforts  that promote sustainable practices and drive the transition to a circular and environmentally  conscious future. 

As champions in recycling, boasting rates of 73%1, 80.1%2 and 85.5%3for aluminium, glass and steel respectively, permanent materials are united in supporting the objective to make all packaging on the  EU market be reusable or recyclable in an economically viable way by 2030. In addition, they  emphasize the need for a robust approach to safeguard this and achieve this crucial goal. 

ENDS 

About the Permanent Materials Alliance 

The Permanent Materials Alliance is composed of APEAL, the Association of European Producers of  Steel for Packaging, European Aluminium, the European Container Glass Federation (FEVE) and Metal  Packaging Europe.  

The aluminium, glass and steel sectors are top performers in recycling packaging materials with  respective rates of 73%4, 80.1%5 and 85.5%6. As permanent materials, aluminium, glass and steel can  be recycled over and over again without losing their key intrinsic properties, thus maintaining circular  material loops. A ‘permanent material’ is a material whose inherent properties do not change,  regardless of the number of times it goes through a recycling process. It means that once it is produced  for the first time and properly collected, sorted and processed at the end of its life, it becomes the  raw material for new and endless production loops. Such materials are, and will remain, at the heart  of any proven and well-functioning Circular Economy. 

Contact details  

• European Aluminium - Maarten G. Labberton, Director Packaging Group labberton@european aluminium.be, +32 494 51 58 58 

• FEVE - Adeline Farrelly, Secretary General and Vanessa Chesnot, Head of Public Affairs and  Product Policy a.farrelly@feve.org, +32 475 93 17 24; v.chesnot@feve.org, +32 475 79 12 33 

• Metal Packaging Europe - Krassimira Kazashka CEO and Sarah Cuvellier, Deputy CEO krassi.kazashka@mpe-eu.com +32 2 897 04 90 sarah.cuvellier@mpe-eu.com, +32 2 897 04 91 

• APEAL - Alexis Van Maercke, Secretary General and Steve Claus, Sustainability Manager  a.vanmaercke@apeal.be, +32 477 81 75 14; s.claus@apeal.be, +32 496 54 14 11

1 Recycling rate for aluminium beverage cans (2020) 

2 Collection rate for glass packaging (2021) 

3 Recycling rate for all steel packaging segments (2020) 

4 Recycling rate for aluminium beverage cans (2020) 

5 Collection rate for glass packaging (2021) 

6 Recycling rate for all steel packaging segments (2020)