European Bioplastics, together with its members and the members of the Bioplastics Organisations Network Europe (BON Europe), has welcomed President Ursula von der Leyen and the new College of Commissioners for the 2024-2029 legislative term. In a joint letter, EUBP expressed strong support for the President’s commitment to a green and digital transition, particularly through the Clean Industrial Deal and the Circular Economy Act, which are essential to Europe’s sustainable prosperity and global competitiveness.

In the letter, we emphasize the crucial role of biobased, biodegradable, and compostable plastics in achieving the EU sustainable competitiveness goals for this new policy cycle. Our letter outlines key action points to drive progress:

1. Setting a legal and regulatory framework to boost investments and drive innovation in the EU

To address the current lack of integration of bioeconomy concepts and priorities within the existing EU regulatory framework.

2. Incentivising access to sustainable biomass

To provide coherent and long-term incentives to stimulate a bioeconomy based on an efficient use of biomass. The review of the Bioeconomy Strategy, planned for 2025, provides a unique opportunity to rectify this, by allowing the transition from fossils to renewable materials.

3. Providing a level playing field by creating financial support to technological innovation

To increase funding and financing streams for research and innovation projects as well as close-to-market and production projects.

4. Closing infrastructure gaps and incentivising access to food waste collection

To address persisting challenges in implementing EU-wide practices of separating and processing compostable plastics from the general waste stream.

5. Increasing market uptake

To set up a level playing field for biobased, biodegradable, and compostable plastics, beyond standards and labels. Market incentives, such as the ones recently introduced in the US, are sorely needed in Europe to keep the return on public and private investment from being harvested elsewhere.

Learn more at www.european-bioplastics.org/european-bioplastics-call-to-recognise-the-role-of-the-bioplastics-industry-as-an-enabler-to-achieve-the-european-green-deal-transformation