Draft of new regulation on recycled food contact plastics

The draft of the new Regulation that will replace Regulation (EC) 282/2008 on recycled plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with foodstuffs has been published.

The new Regulation will be divided into 4 parts and 3 annexes and will be largely innovative, confirming its aim to:

• Ensuring that recycled plastics are safe
• Regulating all processes by ensuring clear terminology and including new definitions
• Regulate all plastics and food contact articles containing recycled plastics
• Ensure that the plastic is decontaminated during the process

The main innovations are:

Article 4 requires that recycled plastics placed on the market must be manufactured using a suitable technology (technologies for decontaminating the input material and which are recognised by EFSA, the Commission and the Member States) or produced using new recycling technologies called novel technologies, which shall follow the Chapter IV requirements and first be approved by the authority.

Article 5 specifies the labelling requirements for the recycled plastic item, both for content and size.

The main unchanged and consolidated aspects are:

• that the input shall be sourced from plastic materials and articles manufactured in accordance with the plastics legislation, passing through a decontamination process and an authorised recycling process before;
• that it will be required a CMSS (Compliance monitoring summary sheet): a compliance monitoring summary file, completed by the recycler, which can be used as a tool for the auditor to verify product compliance; 
• The publication by the Commission of a publicly available EU register containing, among others, the authorised recycling processes.

However, the Regulation has not been formalised yet; the draft text under public consultation will be the subject of the next working group of Member States in February 2022.

Source: WTO