In Flanders, a Flemish initiative from the ministers Hilde Crevits (Christian Democratic and Flemish-CD&V) and Zuhal Demir (New Flemish Alliance-N-VA) named “Green Deal Anders Verpakt” with the objective to decrease the amount of the disposable packaging in the distribution sector by 15,000 tonnes, or around 300 million units.
More than 80 nation has signed the initiative as well as the Flemish waste management company OVAM mentioned that it wants to switch the trend that the majority of the households are using non-reusable packing. It has been increased by 10 percent in the last decade.
OVAM stated in the statement, “More and more non-recurring packaging is coming onto the market.”
Along with this, “In 2019, approximately 877,000 tonnes of household packaging and 750,000 tonnes of commercial packaging came onto the market in Belgium. For business packaging, reusable packaging is used in more than 4 out of 5 packaging applications.”
Since the pandemic has started, people are more likely to buy things online and takeaway sales, which leads to more disposable packaging. The maximum amount of packaging is now not yet identified, but it has been reported that there is a substantial increase in both online shopping and takeaway sales, both of which involve more packing.
Moreover, OVAM mentioned that although significant progress has already been made in the selective collection and recycling of packaging, excessive use of the single packaging ends up in litter or residual waste destined for incineration.
On the other hand, the waste management company mentioned, “If we want to achieve a circular economy, we must start using our raw materials more sustainably. Prevention, and more specifically the elimination of packaging, and the reuse of packaging are part of the solution.”
The Flemish Government has given permission to the Implementation Plan for Plastics and the Packaging Plan 2.0. They both are included in the Green Deal Anders Verpakt.
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