Single-Use Plastics Directive: implementing Act for calculating recycled plastic content

Following the Single-Use Plastics Directive (SUP) from 2019, the European Commission has presented an implementing decision that stipulates the calculation, verification and reporting of data on the recycled plastic content in single-use beverage bottles.

The aim of this legal act is to comply with the requirements of the SUP, which specifies that beverage bottles made of PET should consist of at least 25% recycled plastic.

For 2030, this recycled content is to be increased to 30%. These percentages are calculated as an average of all beverage bottles placed on the market in the respective member states.

The EU member states are therefore obliged to collect data on the weight of the plastic content of the beverage bottles placed on the market, and on the weight of the recycled plastic in the bottles of the market players.

The data collected on the weight of recycled plastic in beverage bottles is then calculated by multiplying the percentage of recycled plastic in each part of each bottle by its weight and adding up the results.

Moreover, by 31 March 2024, the Commission shall propose an amendment of this decision that establishes a methodology to calculate, verify and report on recycled plastic content in beverage bottles that considers recycled plastic resulting from additional types of recycling as defined in the EU Waste Framework Directive.

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