Open letter – Support an EU-wide restriction of single-use packaging for dine-in
Ahead of 4 March 2024, when negotiators aim to reach an agreement on the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), ECOS and 29 environmental NGOs and coalitions urge the EU to agree to ambitious measures to reduce the amount of problematic, avoidable, and unnecessary single-use packaging in the EU.
We reiterate our strong support for an EU-wide restriction of single-use packaging in the HORECA sector for customers who dine in. We hope that negotiators can agree to the proposals in this regard made by the European Commission in November 2022 and endorsed by the Council’s General Approach of December 2023.
The types of single-use packaging covered under these points fulfil all the criteria to be restricted:
- They are problematic: most single-use packaging used in the HORECA sector is difficult to recycle after use and contact with food, and is often not recycled or downcycled1.
- They are unnecessary and avoidable: most operators in the HORECA sector offer reusable tableware to customers dining in; single-use packaging can clearly be avoided by adopting suitable operating procedures.
