Page 54 - Plastics News March 2026

BUSINESS NEWS
EU CONFIRMS RPET IMPORTS ONLY COUNT TO
SUPD 25% TARGET FROM 21 NOVEMBER 2027
he long-awaited final version of the Single
Use Plastics Directive (SUPD) Implement-
Ting Decision text has been published and
confirms that recycled polyethylene terephtha-
late (rPET) imports from outside the EU will only
count towards the 25% target from 21 November
2027.
The Implementing Decision also sets out the
Commission’s mass-balance approach under
the SUPD implementing act voted through on 6
February.
The text, published on the Commission’s Comi-
tology Register, states under Article 1 (1):
‘recycled plastic’ means plastic which was post-
consumer plastic waste before recycling, and
which has been produced by recycling (includ-
ing sorting), as defined in Article 3, point (17),
of Directive 2008/98/EC and including sorting,
in the Union. As of 21 November 2027, it shall
also cover post-consumer plastic waste that has
been recycled (including sorted) in:
(a) a third country to which the OECD decision
applies, unless the assessment carried out and
decision adopted pursuant to Article 45(5) and
(6) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1157 concludes that
it does not fulfil the requirements of environ-
mentally sound management of plastic waste;
54 PLASTICS NEWS
(b) a third country with which the Union has con-
cluded agreements or arrangements to ensure
that the recycled plastic is obtained from post-
consumer plastic waste that has been treated in
each relevant installation in a manner equivalent
to EU standards related to human health and en-
vironmental protection requirements under Un-
ion legislation, in particular in Directive 2008/98/
EC and Regulation (EU) 2025/40, as relevant.
Article 1 sets out further conditions for the third
countries listed in section (b) including the re-
quirement for having a ‘comprehensive waste
management framework covering its entire terri-
tory’ and that the third country can demonstrate
its ‘ability and willingness to guarantee environ-
mentally sound waste management’, amongst
other criteria.
Article 1 (2) defines post-consumer plastic waste
as such:
(2) ‘post-consumer plastic waste’ means waste
that has been generated from plastic products
that have been:
(a) placed on the market of the Union;
(b) placed on the market or supplied for distri-
bution, consumption or use in a third country, in
the course of a commercial activity, whether in
return for payment or free of charge.
With the publication of the Decision, the Com-
mission has given a date from which imported
rPET recycled outside of the EU can count to-
wards the mandatory 25% target.
The use of imported material in counting towards
the 25% SUPD target has long been a topic of
discussion in the rPET market, with some players
believing the original SUPD text allowed for the
use of imports, while others said it did not.
ICIS received confirmation from the Commission
March 2026