EU Circular Economy proposals, Dick Searle, chief executive, has criticised the EU, insisting packaging is unfairly singled out for special attention.

He said the focus remains on environmental issues and frequently underestimates or ignores the economic impact of these measures.
He said there is not enough understanding and realism of the impact of EU Circular Economy proposals on EU wealth creation and competitiveness.
He also said there is recognition of wide disparities between EU Member States on the measure of recycling – both in terms of calculation and classification.
Regarding litter and costs of collection, he said he could not find any explicit reference to general litter or the suggestion (as in the previous proposal) that producers should be responsible for litter costs or the costs of collecting used packaging.
The EU stated that targets should be: Clear environmental, economic and social benefits would be derived from further increasing the targets laid down in Directive 94/62/EC for preparation for re-use and recycling of packaging waste.
“I suspect that not everyone would support this statement. In any event, very clearly there has been no attempt to set targets based on achieving the best balance between environmental and economic outcomes but rather “plucking figures out of the air”. In my view, it is likely that a general target achievement of 85% would only be possible at a very substantial environmental cost and a massive economic cost.”