Companies and industry associations are invited to submit voluntary commitments to the European Commission (EC) as part of its "Pledging Campaign". The EU-wide campaign was launched as part of the EC's recently published plastics strategy – see Plasteurope.com of 19.01.2018 – and aims to ensure that 10m t of recycled plastics are incorporated into new products on the EU market by 2025.

Stakeholders are asked to provide data that justify how their pledge will contribute to getting more recyclates into new products. The incorporation of other relevant aspects, such as design for recyclability, are welcome.

The EC will dedicate its own website to pledges received. Details are explained in "Annex III" of the plastics strategy paper published on 16 January. By 31 October 2018, the EC will present an assessment of the voluntary pledges it receives. The deadline is 30 June 2018.

Pledges can be submitted by email to: GROW-ENV-RPLASTICS-PLEDGE@ec.europa.eu.

In recent weeks, several international corporations have published voluntary commitments on increasing the use of recyclates in packaging. McDonald's wants to have 100% of its packaging coming from renewable, recycled, or certified sources by 2025 – see Plasteurope.com of 16.01.2018. Bottled water supplier Evian also aims to have 100% recycled plastics used for its water bottles by 2025 – see Plasteurope.com of 23.01.2018. After the publication of the UK's 25-year environmental plan in early January 2018, several national companies announced commitments in response. Among others, premium food supplier Cranswick has committed to 100% recycled packaging by 2025. Supermarket chain Iceland took a stricter approach and pledged to entirely phase out plastic packaging of its own-brand products by 2023 – see Plasteurope.com of 19.01.2018.

e-Service:
Annexes I to III as a PDF file