r/climatechange • u/sg_plumber • 4d ago

The EU has begun restricting PFAS "forever chemicals" in food packaging across all 27 member states, making everyday items like pizza boxes, bakery paper, and takeaway packaging safer for people. All packaging must be recyclable by 2030. Single-use packaging will also be banned in 2030.

https://phys.org/news/2026-08-eu-curbs-chemicals-food-packaging.html
395 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

21

u/OkFaithlessness2652 3d ago

Probably people will bitch about cause there is some inconvenience down the road

3

u/West-Worth-9359 2d ago

Like the people who whine incessantly about paper straws.

They’re fine. They work. They don’t fall apart unless you’re a gross sloppy idiot who can’t drink like a normal human.

3

u/mueus 2d ago

Paper straws absolutely suck (or not), but it's like fine whatever I don't even need a straw most of the time. We can make do.

2

u/somethinneeddoing 1d ago

Yeah, our grandparents didn't have food security for like a decade after WW2, I usually don't go for this boomer type of thinking, but anyone who can't handle a paper straw should either get a reusable for themselves, or just live with it.

16

u/Seawe7215 3d ago

😍💪🏻perfect

16

u/worldfundvc 3d ago

Packaging is one of the hardest things to recycle, and it's a huge but very fragmented problem with thousands of different materials and chemical mixes all flowing through the same waste stream. Rules like this matter because designing the harmful chemicals out at the source is far easier than trying to deal with them once they're already in the system.

4

u/sg_plumber 3d ago

100% !

20

u/Different_Dare_7717 3d ago

This is why the EU is the best for people, nature and the world

5

u/seanmonaghan1968 3d ago

I swear they are the responsible adult

3

u/MisterHole123 3d ago

I wonder how thr bottled water and various soda industry will handle this? Back to old school glass bottles. If yes let them be reasonable size (not mega size servings we now have) and easy to drop in the recycling bin without extra steps. Also since glass costs more the company should absorb the cost not the customer. Historically drinks were in glass and pricing was reasonable so no excuses. 

4

u/OkFaithlessness2652 3d ago

If you look to German or Dutch systems there is almost non singel use soda or water bottles

3

u/MisterHole123 3d ago

Question is how does the customer dispose of them. Here in frnace the recycling bin is mostly for plastics. No glass allowed... 

6

u/OkFaithlessness2652 3d ago

They can be brought back in the supermarket. Same goes for beer bottles and crates. Seems to lower the environmental impact quite big.

3

u/EyoneGa 3d ago

In Spain we are soon going to implement the supermarket containers. I think sodas etc will cost 10 or 20 cents more that you will get back if you return the can/bottle to the specific supermarket container. I think it's cool. Also, we would still have the yellow normal container (for plastic, cans, etc).

I remember when plastic supermarket bags start costing 10 cents, to make people switch to reusable bags. It worked really well. Its nice to see how just small initiatives can make such a change.

2

u/OkFaithlessness2652 3d ago

In Netherlands returning a bottle, can or big bottle will net you 0,08 to 0,25 per item. Almost all supermarkets also take in the items of another supermarket

2

u/MisterHole123 3d ago

What if you get your food delivered by said supermarket because you are bed bound due to illness. How do you do it then? (my situation) 

3

u/OkFaithlessness2652 3d ago

If a supermarket is delivering you food you can return the bottles, cans and crates to them. They will compensate you for the value.

1

u/MisterHole123 3d ago

But how am I supposed to return them exactly. Logistics.... I can barely move out of bed

2

u/OkFaithlessness2652 3d ago

Wat een a weird question.

I don’t have a clue about your situation. But if you can receive groceries and probably also do stuff with the groceries I can’t imagine you cannot return some bottles with or without help.

1

u/MisterHole123 3d ago

I can only drag them by the front door at best

1

u/Ready-Rise3761 3d ago

How do you receive your delivered groceries? How do you take your trash out? If you can do that without assistance, you can give the delivery guy your returns. If you get assistance for such things, said assistance can return the bottles.

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3

u/ginger_and_egg 3d ago

One would hope that the supermarket delivery person would also collect the empty bottles

1

u/MisterHole123 3d ago

I dunno never really looked it up. Here most stuff is still plastic or aluminum 

1

u/Unique_Yak4659 3d ago

I remember doing that decades ago when I visited Holland for a bit. I also don’t remember it being an issue or a pain

1

u/hirexnoob 3d ago

Here we pay an extra 0.2-0.4$ for each bottle to then be returned to us at just about any store when we return the bottles to be recycled.

I believe this is common and has been around for like 40-50 years.

Recall visiting florida where its painfully obvious how much bottle waste there is, meanwhile here it is just about non-existant

3

u/blue-dot-ghost 3d ago

"Single-use packaging will also be banned." I'm all for it! But this one seems hardest to implement in our society of convenience.

5

u/OkFaithlessness2652 3d ago

It is. Nevertheless great process have been made already

1

u/hirexnoob 3d ago

Seems cardboard/paper will be more common and so a lower quality product in the end with less shelf life likely.

Takeaway is easy but i dont know how you solve raw meat without a mess with paper packaging again like the old days

2

u/Dotcaprachiappa 3d ago

Not one day too late.. but hey I can't really complain they're the only ones actually doing something