CEN Final Phase Opened

The CEN project resulting from a request by European Parliament to harmonise plastic packaging recycling across the EU and define the technical criteria to qualify as recyclable – has reached the final stage, a formal vote on the 14 EN18120 standards.

It is the members of CEN who will have the final vote, which will run until January 8th.

There is already a clear commitment to trigger an immediate revision of the standards after publication. This will run throughout 2026. The aim is to become part of the PPWR decree on recyclability in 2027.

Meanwhile, the latest proposal is that recyclability tables should in future be 5 columns, not 3. This would be contrary to the standards released this week.

There are two outstanding working groups, including bio-plastics (focused on PLA) and a small group on ‘other’ flexibles.

Please contact Paul East for further details.