The traditional linear economic model of ‘take-make-use-dispose’ is not sustainable and is causing severe environmental problems such as resource depletion, waste accumulation, and pollution. Although customers are also contributing to this problem by generating more waste and consuming more resources than necessary, they often lack awareness, resources, and incentives to adopt sustainable practices and reduce waste, resulting in hard tasks to implement and consumers' frustration.

The European Green Deal program is a comprehensive plan to transform the European Union's economy into a more sustainable and circular model. It aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase energy efficiency, promote sustainable food systems, and promote the circular economy.

The circular economy model promotes the reuse, repair, and recycling of products and resources to reduce waste and promote sustainability.

The European Green Deal provides a range of initiatives and incentives to support customers to adopt sustainable practices such as green public procurement, sustainable finance, and sustainable product standards.

As part of these new EU-wide rules on packaging,industries have high expectations to meet : To foster reuse or refill of packaging, which has declined steeply in the last 20 years, companies will have to offer a certain percentage of their products to consumers in reusable or refillable packaging, for example takeaway drinks and meals or e-commerce deliveries. There will also be some standardisation of packaging formats and clear labelling of reusable packaging.

In addition, many measures aim to make packaging fully recyclable by 2030. This includes setting design criteria for packaging; creating mandatory deposit return systems for plastic bottles and aluminium cans; and making it clear which very limited types of packaging must be compostable so that consumers can throw these to biowaste.

In addition, to fight greenwashing and avoid misleading consumers, producers need to avoid generic claims on plastic products such as ‘bioplastics' and ‘biobased'. When communicating on biobased content, producers should refer to the exact and measurable share of biobased plastic content in the product (for example: ‘the product contains 50% biobased plastic content').

Following the first Circular Economy package of measures adopted in March 2022. These new EU-wide rules included the new Regulation on Ecodesign for Sustainable Products, the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles, and proposed new measures to empower consumers and enable them to play a fuller role in the green transition.

The European Green Deal has helped customers to become more circular by providing incentives and resources to adopt sustainable practices. For instance, the Sustainable Product Initiative aims to promote products that are designed to last, are reusable, or recyclable. The Ecodesign Directive, which is part of the Green Deal, sets standards for energy-efficient products and promotes the repairability and recyclability of electronic products. The Circular Electronics Initiative aims to promote the circular economy in the electronics sector by promoting repairability and recycling. Overall, the European Green Deal has helped to raise awareness among customers, companies, and policymakers about the benefits of the circular economy and promoted the transition to a more sustainable and circular economic model.

Photo by Guillaume Périgois on Unsplash