The days of hotels giving out little bottles of body lotion, shampoo, and shower gel to visitors are long gone.
In accordance with new EU-wide regulations on packaging and trash, the European Commission has put a prohibition on their usage.
Each European creates over 180 kilograms of packaging trash annually on average.
According to the Commission, 40% of the plastic and 50% of the paper used in the EU are used for packaging. This makes packaging one of the largest consumers of virgin materials.
Without intervention, packaging waste in the EU will rise by an additional 19% by 2030, and by 46% in the case of plastic packaging.
The new laws are designed to reverse this pattern. For customers, they will guarantee choices for recyclable packaging, eliminate superfluous packaging, restrict overpackaging, and provide clear labeling to encourage proper recycling.
For the industry, they will expand economic options, particularly for smaller businesses, reduce the need for virgin materials, increase Europe’s capacity for recycling, and lessen its reliance on raw materials and foreign suppliers. By doing so, the packaging industry will be on pace to become carbon neutral by 2050.
The Commission also clarifies for consumers and business how to use, dispose of, and recycle biobased, compostable, and biodegradable plastics by identifying the uses for which they are really good to the environment.
“The ideas are essential components of the Circular Economy Action Plan of the European Green Deal and its goal of making sustainable goods the standard.” Additionally, they give in to particular requests made by Europeans at the Conference on the Future of Europe.
By 2030, all packaging is to be recyclable.
Businesses would be required to provide customers with a certain proportion of their goods in reusable or refillable packaging, such as takeout beverages and meals or e-commerce deliveries, in order to promote package reuse or refill, which has fallen precipitously over the last 20 years. Standardization of package forms and the labeling of reusable packaging will also take place.
Certain types of packaging, such as single-use containers for food and drink when consumed in restaurants and cafes, containers for fruits and vegetables, miniature shampoo bottles, and other miniature packaging in hotels, will be prohibited in order to address the issue of obviously unnecessary packaging.
The European Parliament and Council will now debate the proposal on packaging and packaging waste in accordance with the regular legislative process.
»Mini shampoos and shower gels will be prohibited in the EU«