{"id":46755,"date":"2025-06-10T07:28:24","date_gmt":"2025-06-10T07:28:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bp-consultants.de\/?p=46755"},"modified":"2025-06-10T14:26:27","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T14:26:27","slug":"design-for-recycling-eu-competition-for-strategies-and-interests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bp-consultants.de\/en\/design-for-recycling-eu-competition-for-strategies-and-interests\/","title":{"rendered":"Design for recycling: EU competition for strategies and interests"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4>Who takes the lead in shaping Design for Recycling (DfR) standards? Within the European Commission, a political struggle is emerging between two General-Directorates. A pragmatic and a scientifically accurate approach are at odds with each other. A winner is emerging. As a result, you should familiarise yourself with the established standards and the work of CEN\/TC 261 Group 10 at an early stage. This will enable you to prepare proactively for the upcoming standards.<\/h4>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Focus on two Directorates General<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A political struggle is emerging within the European Commission for leadership in the creation of Design for Recycling (DfR) standards. Two Directorates-General are opposing each other, each with their own approaches:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><u>DG Grow<\/u>: The Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs has developed a plastics strategy (KS strategy) based on the Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP).\n<ul>\n<li>DG Grow focuses on the standardisation process.<\/li>\n<li>It commissions the European Committee for Standardisation (<a href=\"https:\/\/standards.iteh.ai\/catalog\/tc\/cen\/98aebe04-adec-493a-a9e9-715444a75cad\/cen-tc-261-sc-4-wg-10\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CEN\/TC 261-Group 10<\/a>) to develop the standards.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><u>DG Environment<\/u>: The Directorate-General for the Environment, on the other hand, relies on a science-based approach and works closely with the EU&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/commission.europa.eu\/about\/departments-and-executive-agencies\/joint-research-centre_en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Joint Research Centre (JRC)<\/a>.\n<ul>\n<li>DG Environment&#8217;s research-based DfR methodology is exemplified by the JRC publication &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu\/repository\/handle\/JRC136777\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technical recommendations on possible elements and parameters of a methodology to assess recyclability of packaging<\/a>&#8221; (2024). Within this framework, existing standards were analysed in a methodologically sound manner and criteria for assessing recyclability were derived with the involvement of stakeholders.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-46756\" src=\"https:\/\/bp-consultants.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Overveiw-of-DfR-guidelines-en-1024x502.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"770\" height=\"377\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bp-consultants.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Overveiw-of-DfR-guidelines-en-1024x502.png 1024w, https:\/\/bp-consultants.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Overveiw-of-DfR-guidelines-en-300x147.png 300w, https:\/\/bp-consultants.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Overveiw-of-DfR-guidelines-en-768x376.png 768w, https:\/\/bp-consultants.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Overveiw-of-DfR-guidelines-en-1536x752.png 1536w, https:\/\/bp-consultants.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Overveiw-of-DfR-guidelines-en.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 770px) 100vw, 770px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-46758\" src=\"https:\/\/bp-consultants.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Assessing-Recyclability-en-1024x502.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"770\" height=\"377\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bp-consultants.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Assessing-Recyclability-en-1024x502.png 1024w, https:\/\/bp-consultants.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Assessing-Recyclability-en-300x147.png 300w, https:\/\/bp-consultants.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Assessing-Recyclability-en-768x376.png 768w, https:\/\/bp-consultants.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Assessing-Recyclability-en-1536x752.png 1536w, https:\/\/bp-consultants.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Assessing-Recyclability-en.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 770px) 100vw, 770px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>A comparison of strategies: business versus science<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><u>DG Grow <\/u>uses the KS strategy &#8211; even if it is not legally binding &#8211; as the basis for a formal standardisation mandate to CEN.\n<ul>\n<li>This <strong>pragmatic strategy <\/strong>has the advantage of being quick to implement and fits in well with the EU Commission&#8217;s efforts to reduce bureaucracy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><u>DG Environment<\/u>, on the other hand, takes a scientifically accurate approach.\n<ul>\n<li>The aim is to create a <strong>fact-based foundation for subsequent legislation <\/strong>or delegated acts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>This parallelism leads to tensions, as the scientific process is more protracted, while the standardisation route delivers results more quickly.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>The advantage of standardisation? A race against time<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There is evidence to suggest that DG Grow&#8217;s pragmatic approach is gaining ground.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>CEN\/TC 261-Group 10 has been commissioned to develop <strong>a total of 14 standards for KS recycling by November 2025<\/strong>. The following applies:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>RecyClass <\/strong>is currently favoured throughout Europe and is used as a benchmark. In some areas, competing industry standards such as <strong>CEFLEX <\/strong>are in the running for flexible packaging.\n<ul>\n<li>However, leading packaging and packaging manufacturing companies that already want to orientate themselves to these standards must live with the fact that they differ from each other in key details.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The so-called <strong>&#8220;minimum standard&#8221; <\/strong>of the Central Authority does not appear to be officially recognised. However, it remains conceivable that this minimum standard will be considered in the drafting of future delegated acts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li>At the beginning of 2025, CEN received an <strong>ad hoc mandate <\/strong>from the EU Commission to <strong>extend <\/strong>the <strong>existing standard methodology to all other packaging categories by the end of 2025<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The decision in favour of the standardisation route indicates a <strong>clear political strategy <\/strong>that focuses <strong>on efficiency and feasibility<\/strong>. Standardisation is the political instrument of the EU circular economy. Scientific depth is maintained through parallel processes but not prioritised for the time being.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Consequences and opportunities<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For players in the packaging industry, this means that they should <strong>familiarise themselves with the standards in progress and the work of CEN\/TC 261-Group 10 at an early stage to<\/strong> proactively prepare for the upcoming standards.<\/p>\n<p>We would be happy to support you with an <strong>assessment of your packaging portfolio <\/strong>with regard to future compliance with the PPWR regulations. This involves Design for Recycling (DfR) standards, but of course also all other requirements of the PPWR.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Who takes the lead in shaping Design for Recycling (DfR) standards? Within the European Commission, a political struggle is emerging between two General-Directorates. A pragmatic and a scientifically accurate approach are at odds with each other. A winner is emerging. As a result, you should familiarise yourself with the established standards and the work of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":46700,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2517],"tags":[2553,2552,869,2076,2041,2434],"class_list":["post-46755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-circular-economy-en","tag-design-for-recycling-en","tag-dfr-en","tag-eu-en","tag-packaging-en","tag-ppwr-en","tag-verpackung-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bp-consultants.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bp-consultants.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bp-consultants.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bp-consultants.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bp-consultants.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46755"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bp-consultants.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46773,"href":"https:\/\/bp-consultants.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46755\/revisions\/46773"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bp-consultants.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bp-consultants.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bp-consultants.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bp-consultants.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}