One of the Republic’s biggest companies is calling on EU environment ministers to back proposals to make all packaging recyclable by 2030.
Smurfit Kappa says it supports the EU’s revised packaging and packaging waste regulation, which the council of environment ministers will discuss at a critical meeting on Monday.
The Dublin-based packaging specialist is a leading member of industry group Two Sides, which also backs the European Commission and parliament’s proposal and demands that all packaging be recyclable by 2030.
Two Sides maintains that more than 90 per cent of the 30 million tonnes of corrugated cardboard produced in the EU every year is recycled.
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According to Jonathan Tame, the organisation’s managing director, most cardboard boxes used in retailing are never dumped.
Instead, they move in a “loop” from shops to recyclers and back to paper mills where they are remanufactured back into boxes.
Saverio Mayer, Smurfit Kappa Europe’s chief executive, said the European Parliament had recognised that reuse and recycling of packaging were complementary.
“We call on the council of environment ministers to follow suit and support Europe’s circular economy as they did back in 2020,” he said.
The council will vote on Monday on whether to make the proposal law. The European Commission proposed the move late last year, and the parliament subsequently voted to support it.
Smurfit Kappa is one the biggest players in its industry, employing 47,000 people in 350 factories across 36 countries. The group earned revenues of €12.8 billion last year.
