On July 25, 2023, the United Kingdom’s Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) announced that implementation of a new Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system for packaging will be delayed one year until October 2025. The EPR system would apply to all UK organizations that import or supply packaging and would place the financial cost of managing products once they reach end of life on these business operators.
On August 1, 2023, the Biden Administration proposed the Sustainable Products and Services Procurement Rule as part of the President’s Investing in America Agenda.
The Netherlands published a two-tiered rule that will soon impose a tax on disposable plastic cups and food packaging used for carryout and delivery consumption and eventually ban disposable plastic cups and food packaging for dine-in use.
The United Kingdom (UK) Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs issued a Guidance on how to prepare for a ban on single-use plastic items that will be effective in England on October 1, 2023 [see Environmental Protection (Plastic
The European Commission (EC) has published a draft implementing decision that outlines rules for calculating, verifying, and reporting on recycled plastic content in single-use plastic beverage bottles.
Stakeholders Who Want Input Should Reach Out Now
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a Draft National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution. This publication proposes voluntary actions aimed at eliminating the release of plastic waste from land-based sources by 2040 and focuses on actions to reduce, reuse, collect, and capture plastic waste.
Legislation that would prohibit food service establishments, with capacity for dishwashing, from providing dine-in customers non-reusable eating utensils or eating containers unless requested was introduced to the New York City Council on April 11, 2023.