Summary
Biodegradable and compostable plastics (BDCP) provide unique benefits for the end-of-life management of products and have the potential to play a key role in achieving the Green Deal objectives (e.g. reducing food waste, sustainable production and
consumption). Cefic is of the view that a single approach that combines biobased plastics and biodegradable and compostable plastics would be confusing and fail to address the specificities of each category of plastic.
Key takeaways
A policy framework for biodegradable and compostable plastics should focus on:
- Incentivising the use of biodegradable and compostable plastics, where it proves to be valuable.
- Increasing the use of biodegradable and compostable plastics in green public procurement contracts for products and services, where beneficial from an LCA perspective and suitable from an end-of-life perspective.
- Broaden the scope of the policy framework to include a broader range of new plastics and polymers.
- Promoting the development of efficient collection schemes of food waste as well as the development and the modernisation of the infrastructure for the management of organic waste, in order to reach the zero organic waste in landfill (as required by the Waste
Framework Directive). - Increasing the knowledge and awareness of the applications suitable for BDCP, their positive effects of BDCP in the public.