New EU Plastics Strategy Aims At Transforming Industry – A Policy Analysis

EU Strategy Aims At Transforming the Plastics Industry (2018 Circular Economy Package/New EU Plastic Strategy)

On 16 January 2018, the European Commission (Commission) adopted and published its long-awaited new Plastics Strategy, along with multiple other documents as a “2018 Circular Economy Package”.

Ambitions to Be a Global Leader and Bringing About the Transition of the Plastics Sector

The Commission had heralded the Plastics Strategy as the first-ever Europe-wide strategy on plastics “to protect the planet, defend EU citizens and empower EU industries” and a major building block of the transition towards a more circular economy. The circular economy is a concept in which materials are reused and recycled, rather than thrown away. As the “jewel in the circular economy crown”, according to Environment Commissioner Vella, the Strategy is meant to lay the foundations for a new plastics economy in which the way plastic materials and products are designed, produced, used, and recycled is fundamentally transformed. Europe could turn challenges into opportunities and set the example for resolute action at global level.