Speeding up work by the EU on incorporating recycled plastic materials into food packaging

Question for written answer  E-001440/2021
to the Commission
Rule 138
Nathalie Colin-Oesterlé (PPE), Agnès Evren (PPE), Anne Sander (PPE)

Point 3.3 of the new circular economy action plan presented by the Commission aims to establish rules for the safe recycling of plastic materials, particularly with regard to food packaging, but obstacles to its implementation remain.

• 1.Can the Commission supply information on the timetable for work on adapting the current rules to resins other than polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and more particularly on the revision of Regulation (EC) No 282/2008 so that new recycling processes can be authorised without systematically having to go through the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) as happens for PET recycling.
• 2.Is the Commission planning to ask EFSA to define the challenge tests needed to validate the efficiency of recycling other resins, notably for polyolefins in the form of plastic resins such as polyethylene (PE) or polypropene (PP), which are widely used in food packaging? Without these tests, it will not be possible, under current regulations on recycled plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with foods, to authorise mechanical recycling processes other than those for PET.