PPWR: glass bottle manufacturers warn that new proposals will make all bottles start to look the same

Creative designs and iconic shapes will gradually disappear, and commercial value will be squandered because brands can no longer stand out from each other on the shelves.

While our industry appreciates the Environment Committee’s recognition of proprietary packaging designs to some extent, it falls well short of our expectations. We welcome the acknowledgment of packed products with Geographical Indications and design rights but regret that Intellectual Property Rights as a whole are not protected. “We fear this will result in standardized packaging and the gradual demise of brand differentiation. We are committed to ensuring that glass packaging solutions, agreed with our customers, are designed with the minimal necessary weight and volume. However, we believe this measure restricts creative designs and iconic shapes of bottles often reflecting cultural heritage products to be placed on the market in future. This will massively dent the economic value these products bring to Europe and beyond”, adds Adeline Farrelly, Secretary General of FEVE.

The most effective approach to reducing packaging waste is to switch as much as possible to materials that can be reused and infinitely recycled in a closed loop. “We are glad to see that the ENVI Committee adopted ambitious packaging waste reduction targets to mitigate against the risk that heavier but circular materials like glass are replaced by lighter packaging materials that are harder to recycle or reuse”, highlighted Adeline Farrelly.

The vote acknowledges that materials such as glass are highly recyclable. This is welcome. Recyclability performance grades are a big step forward to a truly EU Circular Economy. These grades, a first of their kind, will reward packaging that can be recycled multiple times and that can feed into a closed material loop scheme. Adeline Farrelly commented, “Separate collection and sorting are the prerequisite to guaranteeing high-quality recycling processes and to the fulfilling of the recyclability criteria. We therefore support the introduction of a mandatory 90% collection for recycling target”.