FEDIAF joins 70 industry associations urging the European Commission to Ensure Truly Harmonised Waste Sorting Labels
FEDIAF joins a broad coalition of 70 European associations from across the packaging value chain calling on the European Commission to rethink the current direction of the Joint Research Centre’s (JRC) guidelines on EU waste sorting labels.
The proposed approach, which promotes colour, text-based sorting instructions on packaging, risks fragmenting the EU Single Market, increasing operational burdens for businesses, and confusing consumers. It runs counter to the objectives of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) and undermines the EU’s efforts to safeguard the Single Market, as outlined in the Single Market Strategy, which identifies divergent packaging labels as one of the top ten barriers to intra-EU trade.
Under Article 12 of the PPWR, the Commission is tasked with establishing EU-wide sorting instructions. However, the current direction of the JRC guidelines could reintroduce national barriers by requiring translation into multiple languages and imposing complex labelling requirements, threatening the very harmonisation the regulation seeks to achieve.
The coalition calls for a simple and truly harmonised labelling system that supports recyclability, reduces compliance costs, and works across all Member States.
The full letter is available here: