News

Major Italian recyclers have stopped collecting bales from sorting centres
• Sorting centres risk reaching maximum storage capacity and halting acceptance of mixed plastic waste
• Industry association Assorimap is calling for urgent measures, including bringing forward mandatory recycled content requirements to 2027
• Italy's €450/tonne single-use plastics tax has been postponed for the eighth time, now to January 2027
• High energy costs and competition from non-EU imports of virgin and recycled plastic

138 companies and industry organizations have asked the European Commission to postpone certain PPWR requirements scheduled to apply from 12 August 2026.
Signatories include Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Kraft Heinz, Heineken and other major food and packaging companies.
Industry representatives cite unresolved technical and regulatory issues, including PFAS testing methodologies, recyclability requirements and definitions of single-use packaging.
More than 160 environmental and health organizations have urged the Commission to keep the current timeline unchanged.
No official postponement of the PPWR implementation schedule has been announced by the European Commission.

The countdown is on: on 12 August 2026, the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR, Regulation EU 2025/40) becomes mandatory across all EU member states, with no national transposition. With fewer than 80 days to the deadline, Europe's packaging industry is navigating compliance pressure, implementation uncertainties and a failed last-minute attempt by single-use packaging producers to delay the regulation.

Rezultatele prezentate la Resource Recovery Summit 2026 confirmă o evoluție accelerată a sistemului SGR din România, care ajunge la 83% rată de colectare în 2025 și peste 8,5 miliarde de ambalaje returnate. Performanța poziționează România printre piețele relevante din Europa în zona de colectare a ambalajelor.

România se află din nou sub presiunea Comisiei Europene din cauza întârzierilor semnificative în atingerea țintelor de reciclare a ambalajelor. Deficiențele structurale din sistemul de colectare, lipsa capacităților de reciclare și implementarea neuniformă a responsabilității extinse a producătorului (EPR) riscă să atragă sancțiuni financiare consistente.