The Commitment of Packaging Industry in the Framework of the European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy

Eleonora Foschi and Alessandra Bonoli
Additional contact information
Eleonora Foschi: Department of Civil, Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering-DICAM, University of Bologna, via Terracini 28, 40131 Bologna BO, Italy
Alessandra Bonoli: Department of Civil, Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering-DICAM, University of Bologna, via Terracini 28, 40131 Bologna BO, Italy

Administrative Sciences, 2019, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: European Commission is strongly committed into issues related to plastic materials production and plastic waste management. While the Circular Economy Package has set targets generally referred to recycling rates, the European Strategy for plastics in a circular economy (and related action plan), fosters sustainability along the entire plastic value chain: from primary producers to converters, brand owners and retailers to waste collectors and recyclers. The Directive on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment (more commonly known as Directive on Single-Use-Plastics, waiting for publication in the Official Journal of the European Union) rules targets on ten plastic products most often found as littering on global beaches, directly affecting plastic industry and, consequently, market. Policy makers and industrial stakeholders are called upon to collaborate. The article aims to illustrate interactions between European Commission and all plastic value chain stakeholders on implementing measures to reach ambitious targets pursued by the recent European policy. The study shows how European Commission has robustly worked to regulate production and consumption patterns on plastic carrier bags and packaging (including food packaging) thus facilitating the achievement of specific targets provided by the recent Directive. However, additional provisions concerning market restriction have been introduced; industrial stakeholders carried on a prompt response by promoting the creation of alliances, join venture and association, as well as a more integrated plastic value chain. On the base of this purpose, a virtuous example of a closed supply chain is presented.

Keywords: plastic; circular economy; European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy; Single-Use-Products; environmental management; closed-loop supply chain (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L M M0 M1 M10 M11 M12 M14 M15 M16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/9/1/18/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/9/1/18/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jadmsc:v:9:y:2019:i:1:p:18-:d:206658

Access Statistics for this article

Administrative Sciences is currently edited by Ms. Nancy Ma

More articles in Administrative Sciences from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().