Aiming for sustainable packaging
At 3coty® we consider that cats are at the centre of everything. By supporting the well-being of cats, we directly support the well-being of everyone and everything on our planet. Having domesticated cats 4,000 years ago, humans are now responsible for them. We are responsible for the cats that are currently alive and all future generations of cats, and humans. The 3coty® team therefore contributes to reducing the impact that the Industrial Revolution, technological development, and human advancement have had on our planet. We experience the effects of climate change first-hand, read about endangered species and see pictures of piles of waste that pollute their local environment.
Regulating packaging
In November 2022 the EU published a proposal to revise the EU legislation on Packaging and Packaging Waste, PPWR for short. This proposal was voted on and accepted in April 2024. Its ambition is to improve the recyclability of packaging and thereby reduce the amount of packaging which finds its way into waste rather than recycling. The initiative aims to tackle three distinct but related problems around packaging waste:
- Increased single-use packaging, avoidable packaging and more and more plastics in packaging
- Packaging design features and labelling that limit consumers’ ability to identify how to sort packaging waste into recycling reliably
- A tendency to downcycle materials, so that new packaging continues to be made from virgin raw materials rather than recycled packaging.
There is an existing EU directive on packaging and packaging waste, PPWD which could be enacted differently by different EU member countries. A Regulation on the other hand becomes mandatory for member states once it is ratified in law. For a company like 3coty® that packages its products, this is in theory a simplification, as the same rules apply across all countries in Europe that we ship to. In practice, the obligations from the regulations are greater, so many organizations will need to make changes to their packaging to meet the requirements.
While most of the directives in the past were centred around plastic and plastic waste, there is now a drive to change our habits and think of the future of our planet for all humans and all our cats. The PPWR may be a European regulation but there are initiatives towards improving the impact of human behaviour on the climate and earth all around the world.
The elements of the EU regulation are:
- All packaging should be fully recyclable, designed as such by 2030 and recycled at scale by 2035.
- Targets for minimum recycled content in plastic packaging
- Targets for the proportion of packaging made available in reusable or refillable packaging
- Obligations to minimize packaging with due account of safety and functionality, including transport packaging
- Harmonized Extended Producer Responsibility scheme by which a producer makes a financial contribution to the waste management of their packaging
- Harmonized labelling scheme on the composition of packaging and recycling collection containers to assist customers in sorting and disposing of packaging responsibly
- Mandatory deposit return schemes for single-use plastic and metal drinks containers, excluding milk and alcoholic drinks
Change is inevitable
Some of you may be wondering why we have taken such an interest in this directive, surely the bulk of our packaging is metal tins, not plastic bottles or plastic pouches. That doesn’t stop there being an impact on the pet food production regulation which we need to comply with. There is a big debate within pet food manufacturers on how this will affect the industry. You are right, much of this change does not affect us. We already use ferromagnetic steel tins which can be recycled (and we encourage you to do so). It remains important that we know about and apply all packaging regulations.
You may have noticed a new QR code on each new label of 3coty® cat food. When scanned, it will take you to our website where you will be able to find the information on all our ingredients and packaging including the well-known FE40 mark which helps customers understand which recycling bin to use.
The use of QR codes for this kind of information is part of the PPWR and will allow all consumers to find information on product ingredients and packaging. It also provides us with the opportunity to share information in more languages without having to expand our packaging to wasteful sizes.
Despite the added work, we welcome this regulation. We anticipate this regulation to provide recycling knowledge and infrastructure to all our EU customers so that all our tins are disposed of thoughtfully in the bin which supports a circular economy. We also believe it is our obligation to create better conditions for healthy cats and their owners. We are signed up to UN Sustainable Development Goal 12 and hope that this regulation will encourage more customers to make a #lifestyleshift to more sustainable waste management. After all, everything we do is with cats and our planet in mind.
We are proud to manufacture in the EU and comply with the strict EU regulations. They provide customers with confidence that the ingredients and the packaging of what they buy for their cats is of the highest quality. Every label on our natural wet cat food includes a “Produced in the EU” logo.
