Let’s start the New Year with a riddle…

A silly acronym. 400ish amendments. Sleepless nights. And a Camembert drama. What is it?

Yes, it is the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) proposed by the European Commission last year to reduce the volume of packaging generated in the EU. In fact, in 2021, each citizen in the EU generated almost 190kg of packaging waste.

The PPWR has entered its final stage of negotiations between the European Parliament, Member States in the Council, and the European Commission under the Belgian Presidency. Since the proposal’s publication in November 2022, HOTREC called to preserve the coexistence of the single-use and multiple-use packaging systems – considering the heterogenous nature of the hospitality industry as well as investments the industry had made in reuse or recycling within the EU.

Ahead of trilogue negotiations kicking off on 5 February 2024, we continue to raise issues likely to affect hotels and restaurants with co-legislators while seeking a better compromise. We aim for:

• The ban on single use packaging while eating in to be deleted or amended with strict derogations.
• The ban on hotel cosmetics to be limited to miniature single use plastic packaging in hotel rooms.
• The suppression of the obligation to offer beverage and food takeaway in refill or reuse.
• The protection of the free autonomy of businesses when it comes to price fixing for refill and reuse containers.
• The provision of free drinking water to clients to remain regulated under the Drinking Water Directive 2020/2184.

PPWR would have at least brought us one thing: the opportunity to explain to EU law makers how hospitality businesses operate. It has also shown that speaking with one voice at the EU-level is instrumental to protect the interests of millions of hospitality businesses in Europe. HOTREC continues to advocate and monitor compromises likely to unfold in the final stage of the negotiations.