EU Legislation regarding waste and microplastics

Important legislative progress was made at the meeting of the 27 EU Ministers for Environment in Luxembourg in June regarding waste management, including textiles and microplastics and a final agreement on the EU ‘Nature Restoration Law’.

The EU showed the commitment to a green transition, by protecting EU consumers from greenwashing, targeting food and textile waste and protecting our soils from degradation.

You can read more details here.

The overall aim is to reduce the environmental and climate impacts associated with textile and food waste generation and management. It also aims to foster circularity in the textile sector.

The new rules introduce mandatory and harmonised extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes for textile producers in all EU member states. The general approach also sets legally binding food waste reduction targets for member states, to be achieved by 2030: 10% in processing and manufacturing, and 30% (per capita) at retail, restaurants, food services and households.

Read more about the Environment council.

For those interested in microplastics: the state of play note presented to the EU Environment ministers.