European Union Considers Resin Identification Code for Plastic Packaging

Food & Drug Packaging, March, 1999

The Environment Committee of the European Parliament, the legislative arm of the European Union (EU), is now considering a proposal for identifying material used in plastic packaging that is closer to the resin identification code (RIC) system developed by The Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI) currently used in the U.S. (see box below).

This proposal is the result of efforts to develop a marking system in the EU that will not present unintended trade barriers to North American processors attempting to export plastic packaging to Europe.

Efforts to create a system for identifying and marking packaging in the EU stem from the passage of the EU Packaging Waste Directive (94/62/EC), which is aimed at reducing solid waste disposal of packaging through recycling and other means. This Directive calls on the European Commission, the EU's administrative body, to establish a system that allows the identification of packaging materials to facilitate collection, reuse and recovery and to propose legislation for a consistent marking program throughout the EU.

In response, the Commission issued a proposal for marking packaging and establishing a conformity assessment procedure for packaging and, in February, 1997, adopted an identification system for packaging materials to be enacted throughout the European Union.

Although this packaging material identification system uses a numbering and abbreviation scheme that is quite similar to SPI's RIC, it does not include the triangular chasing arrows included in the American system, and uses some abbreviations for materials that are different than those used in the United States.

For example, the EU abbreviation for polyethylene terephthalate is PET (under SPI's scheme, it is PETE), and the abbreviation for polyvinyl chloride is PVC (not V as it is in the U.S.). Moreover, the Commission proposal does not include a category corresponding to unclassified or mixed plastics.

Inclusive Or Exclusive?

Because compliance with this identification system is now voluntary, member states have so far permitted the use of packaging displaying the SPI RIC code or any other type of marking, or no marking at all. Some Commission officials, however, have argued that if a code is used, it must be the Commission's version, setting up a potential trade barrier.

The Commission's proposal for the marking of packaging would present another barrier. This proposal establishes specific rules for the use of symbols to indicate that a package is reusable or recyclable. If the RIC's chasing arrows symbol is seen as suggesting that a package is reusable or recyclable, this part of the SPI RIC could be prohibited under this proposal.

Such a restriction could constitute a trade barrier to North American plastics processors who use the RIC. However, a series of amendments to this proposal have been offered which hopefully will resolve this issue.

The amendments recommend abandoning the Commission's proposal for the recycling and reuse symbols and, instead, codifying the material identification code adopted by the Commission in 1997 together with an added provision allowing symbols already in widespread use, such as the SPI RIC with the chasing arrows, and similar symbols used by the glass and aluminum industries.

This new proposal would reinforce the SPI RIC position in Europe; however, whether it will win the support of the European Parliament and other EU institutions involved in the decision making process remains to be seen.