Researchers have identified a gap in the draft UN Global Plastics Treaty text, which does not require countries to report how much plastic they produce, which chemicals are used in its manufacture, or how much plastic pollution enters the environment.  Published in Science, the paper has introduced a detailed, practical framework for standardized global reporting and accountability by researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), and the University of California, Berkeley, US, along with Tsinghua University, China. Douglas McCauley, director at UCSB’s Benioff Ocean Science Lab and co-author of the paper, tells Packaging Insights: “A standardized reporting system of the kind we propose would create more transparency and trust for the global packaging industry.”

In its second quarter financial report, Kingsey Falls, Quebec-based packaging producer Cascades Inc. has announced its Bear Island conversion project in Ashland, Virginia, has been impacted by the "current inflationary environment." The company says higher cost levels combined with labor and material availability constraints have led to temporary delays in certain construction milestones and have increased the total cost of the project near $470 million to $485 million. The conversion originally was projected to cost approximately $380 million when the project first was announced in October 2020. "Our team is working closely with contractors to mitigate any potential delay caused by these elements in order to meet the targeted mid-December 2022 start date," Cascades President and CEO Mario Plourde says.

As one of the policies under the EU Green Deal, the European Commission in November 2022 proposed a new regulation on packaging and packaging waste (PPWR) that will repeal the present directive (PPWD). One of the objectives is to make all packaging in the EU market recyclable in an economically viable way by 2030. But already now recyclable packaging is being encouraged through the implementation of eco-modulated fees in the different national Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes. Sign up for the webinar at: https://triowor.webinargeek.com/how-to-ensure-recyclability-in-your-value-chain Key takeaways: After watching this webinar, you will have the latest updates regarding recyclability in the coming Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation and you will be aware of the standards that are being developed by request from the European Commission to support the regulation. You will also understand the difference between “design for recycling” and “recyclable” and know the coming steps in the legislation process and how it might affect your business. You will have seen concrete examples of adjustments made in flexible plastic packaging to meet coming EU legislation as well as requirements from national EPR schemes.