New European Union rules banning high levels of PFAS "forever chemicals" in packaging took effect on Wednesday as part of the bloc's Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation. Any new packaging products designed to come into contact with food must now meet tighter standards. PFAS are used to make paper and cardboard packaging grease- and water-resistant and are found in products from pizza boxes to frozen dinners.
PFAS have been linked to increased risks of certain cancers and other health conditions. Scientists worry about long-term effects because the chemicals are highly persistent and accumulate in the body and the environment. The new restrictions aim to reduce the risk of PFAS migrating into food or the natural world when packaging is discarded.
Small businesses and online traders have fiercely criticized the changes, which also require packaging to meet new sustainability standards. Many complain they must now register packaging in multiple EU states, often with fees, and that they lack exemptions from the rules. "Instead of facilitating cross-border trade, the new rules threaten to make it significantly more difficult," warned Händlerbund, the German online retailers' association. EU lawmaker Elisabeth Dieringer of Austria's far-right Freedom Party warned that the regulation would mean five-figure costs for medium-sized firms.
Several businesses said they had paused deliveries to and within the EU over the new rules. The owner of a small online store, Monstaas Workshop, wrote that appointing an authorized representative in every EU country would cost around €300 per country per year. Swedish electronics maker iLabs Electronics said it would halt web shop orders from EU countries, citing disproportionate costs and administrative burden. A change.org petition calling on Brussels to "stop destroying EU micro-businesses" had been signed by more than 45,000 people by Wednesday morning.
The European Commission said EU countries witnessed a 20% increase in packaging waste over the last decade. Without the new regulation, Brussels warned, discarded packaging was set to rise by another 19% by 2030. The bloc generated 178 kilograms of packaging waste per person in 2023, with plastic accounting for 35.3 kilograms per capita, only 42% of which was recycled. The EU has set binding targets to cut packaging waste by 5% by 2030 and 15% by 2040.
