Riigikogu Committee decided to raise the ambition for reducing packaging waste

Chair of the European Union Affairs Committee Liisa Pakosta welcomed the decision of the Committee to make Estonia’s position regarding packaging waste considerably more ambitious. “On the basis of today’s decision of the Committee, Estonia will go to the negotiations with the position that the general objective of Member States could be to reduce packaging waste 15% already by 2035 instead of by 2040,” Pakosta said. She added that the Committee also amended the position regarding excessive packaging, emphasising that there should be as little empty space in packaging as possible. “The current over-packaging and wasteful use of packaging is taking place at the expense of our children and the environment we all live in.”

Speaking of the targets for reuse of packaging for wine, Deputy Chair of the Committee Maria Jufereva-Skuratovski said that it would be reasonable if the countries producing wine collected as many wine bottles as possible and reused them. She added that the appropriate target for Estonia and other countries that do not have wine industry was that as many bottles as possible were to be placed in containers for glass packaging so that they could be used for producing new bottles.

According to the European Union initiative, Member States have to encourage wider implementation of the systems for re-use, the economic operators will be obliged to reduce packaging and to avoid unnecessary packaging, and it is planned to prohibit misleading packages that aim to increase the perceived volume of the product with the help of, for example, double bottoms.

To put an end to unnecessary packaging, the initiative proposes, for example, to restrict the use of single use packaging for serving food and drinks within the premises of cafes and restaurants, as well as the use of mini shampoo bottles and other small packaging in hotels, and the individual packaging of fruit and vegetables. According to the initiative, fast food chains have to package 20% of food in recyclable packaging by 2030.

Adviser of the Environmental Management Department of the Ministry of the Environment Kätlin Roose participated in the sitting of the Committee.

For more information, please contact: Liisa Pakosta, phone +372 502 6191

Riigikogu Press Service
Merilin Kruuse
Phone: +372 631 6592, +372 510 6179
E-mail: merilin.kruuse@riigikogu.ee
Questions: press@riigikogu.ee

Link uudisele: Riigikogu Committee decided to raise the ambition for reducing packaging waste

Source: Parliament of Estonia