The way forward
The lengthy discussion leading to an agreement on the Waste Framework Directive has shed light on the importance of keeping a strict five-level waste hierarchy in Europe. This hierarchy explicitly states what has been recognized for a long time: that re-use is one of the best options for saving resources and ensuring a sound, long-term, waste management policy. Re-use is also a climate-friendly alternative to recycling, energy recovery and landfilling. Paradoxically, measures promoting re-use across Europe are either non-existent or under attack.
Against this background, the conference “Reusable Beverage Packaging in Europe – The sustainable and climate-friendly way forward”, which took place in Brussels, October 8, looked specifically at the case of re-usable beverage packaging systems that do exist in many EU Member States, and showed examples of re-usable beverage packaging that maintain environmental, social and economical sustainability.
“Re-use is unfortunately often described as an outdated waste management system. Positive examples of business strategies linked to re-use are seldom depicted in regulations or in the press. Yet, they exist in all of Europe and, contrary to what many people think, they provide innovation opportunities to the operators in the beverage supply chain”, explained Mr Schraven, President of CEGROBB, the European Association of Beverage Wholesalers. The lengthy discussion leading to an agreement on the Waste Framework Directive has shed light on the importance of keeping a strict five-level waste hierarchy in Europe. This hierarchy explicitly states what has been recognized for a long time: that re-use is one of the best options for saving resources and ensuring a sound, long-term, waste management policy. Re-use is also a climate-friendly alternative to recycling, energy recovery and landfilling. Paradoxically, measures promoting re-use across Europe are either non-existent or under attack.
Against this background, the conference “Reusable Beverage Packaging in Europe – The sustainable and climate-friendly way forward”, which took place in Brussels, October 8, looked specifically at the case of re-usable beverage packaging systems that do exist in many EU Member States, and showed examples of re-usable beverage packaging that maintain environmental, social and economical sustainability.
“Re-use is unfortunately often described as an outdated waste management system. Positive examples of business strategies linked to re-use are seldom depicted in regulations or in the press. Yet, they exist in all of Europe and, contrary to what many people think, they provide innovation opportunities to the operators in the beverage supply chain”, explained Mr Schraven, President of CEGROBB, the European Association of Beverage Wholesalers. “Refillables also contribute to local and regional development and employment as regional products marketed by Small and Medium Sized Enterprises tend to work well in refillable systems. Since the European Commission has stated that SMEs will play the biggest role in EU’s goal to speeding up economic growth and creating more and better jobs, this is an important aspect to keep in mind, particularly with the current global financial crisis.”
The conference also gave the floor to consumer and environment interest groups, in order to shed light on the environmental benefits of refillables over one-way or one-use packaging material. Jean-Pierre Hannequart from the Association of Cities and Regions for Recycling and Sustainable Resource Management elaborated on how the Member State Prevention Plans that are set up in the revised Waste Framework Directive can be influenced at local and regional level. In addition, a new study analyzing the CO2 reduction potential of reuse systems was presented and discussed.
The conference concluded with the presentation of the two winners of the European Refillables Award for their innovative and outstanding performance in the field of refillable packaging. The German beverage retailer Lösch Depot GmbH was awarded for its close cooperation with regional breweries, juice producers and mineral water fillers using refillable bottles and, as a result, for its important contribution to strengthen regional and environmentally friendly refillable systems. The Belgian producer Spadel was awarded for their new reusable bottle that weighs 10% less but has a 25% bigger volume, resulting in significantly improved logistics and reduced environmental impacts per filling volume.
