Council of the EU announces member states endorsement of recently completed negotiations on the 8th Environmental Action Program (EAP); EAP will guide EU climate and environmental policy until 2030; priority objectives include decreasing the EU’s material and consumption footprints
Switzerland: 25% of PVC lid gaskets exceed plasticizer migration limits
Swiss national campaign analyses 109 oily food samples packaged in glass jars on the compliance of migration of plasticizers from their lid gaskets; comparison with European campaigns conducted a decade ago shows similar proportion of non-compliant samples with non-polyvinyl chloride (PVC)-gasket; urges food businesses to pay more attention to the suitability of their products lids
EU Parliament vetoes EDC criteria
EU Parliament’s vote rejects EU Commission’s proposal for EDC identification criteria for pesticides; asks to remove exemption for the substances with intended endocrine mode of action, deliver new proposal ‘without delay’
Report grades companies on responses to plastic pollution
Shareholder advocacy group As You Sow evaluates 50 largest US consumer-facing companies on their responses to address plastic pollution crisis; finds most companies too slow in adopting actions to prioritize packaging reduction and to promote reusability, recyclability, compostability; outlines key recommendations
NGOs call for lower PFHxA concentration limit
Consortium of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) submits comments on EU restriction proposal for perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA) and related substances; calls for concentration limits much lower than those currently proposed, transparent justification for limits proposed
OECD urges restricted substances list for plastics
OECD report suggests establishing global list of restricted substances for plastics manufacturing in order to ‘support quality and consistency in recycling’
EDC criteria: Recent meetings
DG SANTE publishes summaries of recent meetings concerning the proposed EDC identification criteria; asks EFSA and ECHA to develop a harmonized guidance document for the implementation of EDC criteria
ENVI committee adopts resolution on chemicals strategy
Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) Committee of European Parliament passes resolution calling for upcoming chemicals strategy to fully apply precautionary and polluter-pays principles; resulting legislation should address and minimize endocrine disrupting and other hazardous chemicals in products including food packaging and recycled materials
PET recycling will not meet brand commitments
National Association for PET Container Resources concludes that U.S. PET recycling rates too low to meet brand commitments for recycled content; calls for action, including improving collection
News from the EU Commission on food contact materials
EU Commission plans authorization of two new substances for use in food contact plastics, postpones discussions on new ceramics legislation and discusses Declaration of Compliance issues