Ackaging waste declining rapidly &ndash eu data showsa new report on the analysis of official eu data on packaging shows that over the past eleven years theamount of packaging waste going to final disposal has fallen by 57. Higher recycling levels and otherforms of packaging waste recovery are largely the reasons says europen, the european organization forpackaging and the environment. In 2008 in the eu 27 member states just over 17 million tonnes ofpackaging were sent for final disposal. To put this into context, it is estimated that 89 million tonnes of foodare currently wasted in the eu 27, more than five times the amount of packaging waste.the analysis of data from 1998 to 2008 by europen also shows that growth in packaging waste is clearlydecoupling from growth in gdp, an objective of the eu waste strategy. In the eleven year period studied,despite an ageing population and a trend throughout europe towards smaller households all of which ledto the purchase of a greater number of packaged goods the amount of packaging placed on the marketexcluding wood packaging rose by only 10 and the amount of packaging waste disposed of alsoexcluding wood actually fell by 57 see note 1.the report packaging and packaging waste statistics in europe 19982008 contradicts widely held&ldquothe datathe 1994 directive on packaging and packaging waste is clearly one of the most&ldquoclearly, this success of the packaging value chain can be seen as an example of bestsaid julian carroll, adding, &ldquoin the.www.europen.be.1.landfill or burned without energy recovery.for the purposes of packaging waste, &ldquodisposal&rdquo generally means that the material was either put in2.waste require member states to report on the amount of packaging placed on the market under theheading &ldquopackaging waste generated&rdquo. This term is therefore used to describe packaging placed onthe market in all official eu documents. This in turn means that official reports often state that &ldquotheamount of packaging waste is increasing&rdquo, whereas the true position is that slightly more packagingis coming onto the market each year, but less and less of it ends up as waste.the eu commission decisions setting out the format for reporting on packaging and packaging3.packaging made from this material was optional until 2003 and since then reports from memberstates on wood packaging have shown major inconsistencies from yeartoyear. The full europenanalysis does however show data both for all packaging and for packaging excluding wood.wood is excluded from the gdp decoupling comparison simply because official reporting onfor more information please contactthe europen secretariattelephone 32 2 736 36 00, email packaging@europen.bewebsitewww.europen.be. Perceptions that packaging has led to a mountain of waste across europe. Instead, it confirms an earliereu commission assessment of the eu thematic strategy on waste prevention and recycling whichshowed that packaging waste from households and commercial sources accounts for only about three percent of total waste.commenting on the findings in the report, europen managing director, julian carroll saidsupports our view thatsuccessful pieces of eu environmental legislation, something in which all participants can take pride. Thisis particularly true for consumers who, across the eu, are increasingly accepting the sorting of packaging intheir homes for recycling as a routine activity&rdquo. The eu directive set a 2008 recycling target of 55 to be reached 12 member states with the remainderincluding the newer member states to reach the same target between 2011 and 2015. By 2008 three of theremainder had passed the 55 target and most others were approaching or already beyond a 50recycling rate.europen members, which are major companies producing consumer goods, packaging and packagingmaterials, are all stepping up their efforts to address packaging related sustainability issues individually andcollectively in partnership with public initiatives such as the eu sustainable consumption and productionaction plan.practice for other industry sectors in their efforts to do more with less&rdquocontext of overall sustainability it is more and more evident that contrary to popular misconception,packaging should be regarded as part of the solution, not part of the problem and as a net contributor toachieving the broad sustainability goal of resource optimization and waste minimization&rdquothe full 43 page report on the analysis of official eu data on packaging and packaging waste can bedownloaded from the europen website end notes to editors pbrussels 21 june 2011
