Replace the wooden camembert box with a plastic box? This would be the latest idea from the European Union, according to posts on social networks. In reality, the story is a little more complex and there is no question in the future European regulation on packaging and packaging waste (PPWR) of replacing a wooden box with a plastic box made from fossil energy . Especially since the Camembert sold in supermarkets is generally already surrounded by a PVC film, then a wooden box. Cheeses under protected geographical indication and of controlled origin, such as Mont d’Or, are not affected by the regulation, also explains The world.
This replacement would go against the objectives of the Green Deal, which aims to stem the increase in packaging waste, encourage reusable packaging, and reduce plastic packaging. For what ? Because Europeans have never generated so much packaging waste: 188.7 kg per inhabitant in 2021, a jump of 11 kg in one year and 32 kg in a decade, for a recycling rate of only 64%. , according to Eurostat. That’s it for the frame.
Packaging that is energy-recovered
Let’s retrace the route of this outburst in the media and on social networks. Originally, we found the fear of a manufacturer of wooden boxes intended in particular for Camemberts, the Lacroix group, which has its headquarters in the Jura. In an article from La Presse de la Manche on October 28, its general director was first concerned about the consequences of the Anti-Waste law for a circular economy (Agec), adopted in 2020 in France and future European regulations. TF1 took up the subject on November 8, then BFMTV on November 12, followed by other media, which only kept the European regulation aspect. However, the compromise found in France could have an impact on the future regulation. The Lacroix group explains that there is no specific recycling sector in France, which would be too expensive for players in the sector.
Correct information, but which deserves to be supplemented, because light wooden packaging such as cheese boxes, fruit trays or oyster baskets go well in the yellow bin, where recyclable packaging is placed. How it is possible ? These packaging are used in energy recovery in sorting centers, indicates to 20 minutes, Citeo, the organization responsible for the recovery of household packaging. These lightweight wooden packaging are incinerated. “This untreated, clean wood is in high demand in small boiler rooms which have not invested in large filters, such as hospitals, nursing homes, collective catering,” explains Olivier de Lagausie, general delegate of the inter-professional packaging union. light wooden (Siel).
A ban in France and an exemption
In France, the Agec law prohibits in 2030 the use of non-recyclable packaging. “If we read French law strictly speaking, Camembert wood will be banned,” points out Citeo. For this reason, the sector benefits from a recycling exemption. The material could be recycled to make shredded material, but no investment has been made in a value chain. “The market cannot cope with such few tonnes and complicated sorting costs to absorb,” adds Citeo.
The exemption took place in 2020 and is welcomed by the profession. “We have finally been recognized in France as not posing a problem, being a virtuous material with very little impact on the environment,” emphasizes Olivier de Lagausie du Siel. We are in sustainable forest management with poplar, locally and replanting work. » The sector for the production of light wooden packaging represents 257 million euros in turnover in France, according to the Sielwith around 1.1 billion products sold each year.
“Low tonnages and low environmental impact”
In 2021, Citeo created, at the request of the State, the category “unprocessed materials from renewable resources and sustainably managed with material recycling or organic recovery sector in development” for these lightweight wooden packaging. “It must be understood that both French and European law aims to develop the circular economy,” explains Citeo. It is restrictive to associate them with laws that limit plastic, it is above all a framework to reduce all packaging, to develop reuse whatever the material and to achieve 100% recyclable packaging on the market. »
“Given the low tonnages and given the low environmental impact of wood packaging versus known single-use alternatives, we are in favor of an exemption for wood,” continues the organization, which specifies that it will comply with the law whatever the decision. “For household wooden packaging, Citeo, [l’éco-organisme] Leko and Ademe have shown that for this deposit, energy recovery is also favorable to the environment and much more economically advantageous than material recycling”, underlined in 2022 a document of the consortium of professional organizations in the wood packaging sector in France.
An amendment under study in the European Parliament
An argument that the industry puts forward to plead its case. Where things get stuck, believes Olivier de Lagausie, is at the level of section 6 of the proposed European regulation, which, in summary, indicates that all packaging must be recyclable according to certain criteria. “We need an exemption for the wood packaging sector from Article 6 as in France,” defends Olivier de Lagausie, “and we need to recognize that indeed, the energy recovery of wood that has already been used and which is a clean wood is a great solution. »
A source close to the matter in the European Parliament confirms to us that an amendment, carried by the Renew group (centrists), is being studied to take it into account: “Light wood packaging is a blind spot in the text , we are told, because it represents a tiny part of packaging waste in a global market of 350 billion euros. At the European level, what we are going to do is to ask the Commission to look, by 2032, at how we are dealing with the issue of light wood, while knowing that in the meantime, the obligations recyclability and recycling will not apply to the sector. This is the meaning of the amendment. » Contacted, a spokesperson for the European Commission points out that “nothing in the text prevents the use of wooden packaging”.
“Rules that get us out of single-use products”
For Zero Waste France, restricting the European text to this question on Camembert is “regrettable”, since the regulation aims “to reduce the footprint of packaging waste on the planet and, therefore, their contribution to the ecological crisis”. underlines Charlotte Soulary, advocacy officer for the association which defends zero waste. She recalls that the recycling objectives are set by material and that that for wood is “quite timid”, at 30% in 2030. “Wood could have other uses than incineration such as composting”, she says. -she, considering that it is neither healthy nor sustainable to think about exemptions for each sector. “We need to start thinking now about collective European rules and especially rules that get us away from single-use products,” she argues.
The regulation, currently being discussed in the European Parliament, is the subject of lobbying, as we can see. A vote in plenary session is scheduled for the week of November 20. Its path does not end there since the European Council, in which members of the governments of the Member States participate, will get involved this winter. Negotiations between the three European institutions, the Parliament, the Commission and the Council, will take place to lead to a final adoption in April 2024, before the European elections. Which leaves a little time to think about the uses of wooden boxes.