(1)

Directive (EU) 2019/904 sets targets for the minimum recycled plastic content in single-use plastic beverage bottles listed in Part F of the Annex to that Directive, including PET bottles. Member States are to report data on recycled plastic content in PET bottles for each calendar year.

(2)

Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2023/2683 (2) laid down the methodology for the calculation and verification of the recycled plastic content targets and the format for reporting data on recycled plastic content in beverage bottles. That methodology is based on data generated in accordance with Commission Regulation (EU) 2022/1616 (3).

(3)

The only suitable recycling technologies referred to in Regulation (EU) 2022/1616 are post-consumer mechanical recycling of PET and recycling from product loops in closed and controlled chains. To allow additional recycling methods that are not covered by that Regulation to contribute to the attainment of the recycled content targets laid down in Directive (EU) 2019/904, it is necessary to establish additional rules for the calculation, verification and reporting of recycled plastic content derived from such additional recycling methods. In particular, it is necessary to introduce so-called mass balance accounting, which requires substantial additions to the existing methodology. In the interest of clarity and legal certainty and considering the number of new rules and changes in existing rules that are needed, Implementing Decision (EU) 2023/2683 should be repealed.

(4)

As global efforts to curb plastic pollution ramp up, a market for recycled plastics, whether from mechanical or chemical recycling, and the related supply chains, is expected to develop globally. Clear rules are needed to ensure that recycled content can be reported in a transparent, verifiable and comparable manner, across all existing recycling methods and processes. Union rules should provide a framework for the future international approach, with a view to ensuring a global level playing field.

(5)

Chemical recycling can treat plastic waste which is difficult or impossible to mechanically recycle and can deliver higher quality and technical performance of recycled outputs. To deliver the full potential of the circular economy, chemical recycling should complement mechanical recycling, which is in general preferable from an environmental point of view, where it delivers sufficient quality and technical performance of recycled outputs.

(6)

With the objective of establishing a simple, predictable framework that enables all recycling methods and processes capable of generating environmental benefits for the circular plastics economy to also attain economic viability, Union reporting rules on recycled content should cover all recycling methods and processes. Those rules should also facilitate the Union chemicals industry’s transition to circularity by encouraging the use of alternative feedstocks and reducing dependencies on virgin fossil resources.

(7)

Recycled plastic in beverage bottles that is obtained through mechanical recycling that is a suitable recycling technology in the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2022/1616 or through other recycling technologies that are suitable recycling technologies or novel technologies within the meaning of that Regulation, for which the proportion of material stemming from post-consumer plastic waste in the output is known and for which no other plastic waste than post-consumer plastic waste is used as input, should be taken into account in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2022/1616 for the purposes of calculation, reporting and verification of data on recycled plastic content in beverage bottles .

(8)

Recycled plastic from post-consumer plastic waste that is obtained by any other recycling method, including chemical recycling during which the chemical structure of the material is changed, or that is produced from a mixture of pre- and post-consumer plastic waste, should also be taken into account in the calculation, verification and reporting of data on recycled plastic content in beverage bottles to be carried out for the purposes of Directive (EU) 2019/904. Where plastic waste undergoes a recycling process whereby the polymers are broken down and the resulting substances, often combined with primary raw materials, are used to produce new polymers and possibly other products, it is necessary to apply mass balance accounting because the proportions of the eligible material in the outputs are generally not known. Mass balance accounting ensures that the weight of the material stemming from post-consumer plastic waste at the input is equal to the weight of the material stemming from post-consumer plastic waste that is attributed to all outputs and losses.

(9)

During chemical recycling, the chemical structure of the input post-consumer plastic waste is broken, and the resulting material is generally not yet a polymer until it is repolymerized. Material stemming from post-consumer plastic waste should therefore be referred to as ‘eligible material’. Depending on the stage within the recycling process, ‘eligible material’ can have the status of waste or non-waste.

(10)

Where mass balance accounting is applied at a given step in the supply chain, it should also be applied at all subsequent steps as its use at an earlier stage implies that the proportion of the eligible material is not known in all individual inputs and therefore cannot be known in the output.

(11)

At stages in the supply chain at which both input and output materials consist of polymers, such as after repolymerisation in the case of chemical recycling, a mixing of materials with known proportions would result in outputs with known proportions. At such stages, an additional reallocation of attributed amounts of eligible material is therefore not necessary and should not be allowed.

(12)

Pursuant to Directive (EU) 2019/904, Member States are to report to the Commission information on recycled plastic content in PET bottles to demonstrate the attainment of the target for that content (the ‘target’). While recycled content refers to the amount of recycled material, the target is expressed as a percentage, namely, as the proportion of recycled plastic in the PET bottles. To demonstrate their attainment of the target, Member States should therefore report not only the sum of the weight of recycled plastic content in PET bottles, but also the sum of the weight of all plastic parts of the bottles in order to make it possible to calculate the proportion of recycled plastic content.

(13)

Given that the objective of the targets is to promote the market uptake of recycled plastic, with the aim to ensure the circular use of plastics, it is appropriate to consider only the plastic parts when calculating the weight of the beverage bottles. As the non-plastic parts of a common beverage bottle are estimated to constitute at most 5 % of its weight, for instance in the form of a paper label, the exclusion of non-plastic parts of the PET bottles from the calculation is considered to have no significant impact on the assessment of whether the target has been attained.

(14)

Directive (EU) 2019/904 specifies that PET bottles include caps and lids. However, for the purposes of calculation and verification of the recycled plastic content target, labels and sleeves should also be considered as parts of PET bottles. Firstly, a PET bottle, in the format in which it is commonly sold to consumers, consists of its body, cap, lid, and a label or a sleeve. Labels and sleeves are used to communicate information to consumers including for branding and advertising purposes. While sleeves commonly provide a 360 degree coverage around the bottle, other labels commonly cover only a smaller part of the bottle. Secondly, labels and sleeves are often attached to the bottle at the same production stage as caps and lids. The weight of labels and sleeves should therefore be included in the weight of PET bottles, and any recycled plastic contained in labels and sleeves should be included in the weight of recycled plastic in PET bottles.

(15)

For the purpose of calculating and verifying recycled plastic content in PET bottles, the term ‘recycled plastic’ should be defined to include only material derived from post-consumer plastic waste. This distinction is important because sufficient market incentives already exist for the recycling of pre-consumer plastic waste. Plastic waste originating from the packaging of products that are placed on the market but that have passed their expiry date before consumer sale should be considered as post-consumer plastic waste. In contrast, plastic materials and waste generated during the manufacturing processes, including all secondary processing, testing, storage and transfers prior to the placing on the market of the product, should not be considered as post-consumer waste.

(16)

The recycled plastic used for the purpose of calculating and verifying the attainment of the target should be obtained from post-consumer plastic waste that has been recycled (including sorted) in an environmentally sound manner. Upholding high environmental standards for recycling is essential in order to preserve the environmental added value of promoting recycled content and to avoid situations in which inadequate waste collection and management practices as well as pollutant emissions undermine the sustainability benefits of substituting virgin with recycled materials.

(17)

Regulation (EU) 2024/1157 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4) distinguishes between countries to which the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Decision of the Council on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Wastes Destined for Recovery Operations (‘the OECD Decision’) (5) applies and those to which it does not apply. As of 21 November 2026, exports of plastic waste to non-OECD countries will be prohibited until 21 May 2029 under that Regulation with the possibility for non-OECD countries to apply for derogations after that date.

(18)

In light of the different level of standards and capacities of infrastructure regarding the management of plastic waste in countries to which the OECD Decision applies, and considering the uncertainty of the impact of the prohibition on plastic waste trade flows, recycled plastic from countries to which the OECD Decision applies should only start to be counted in the mandatory recycled content target for PET bottles as of 21 November 2027. At that date, the Commission should have delivered its assessment and adopted its decision pursuant to Article 45(5) and (6) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1157, after having assessed the arguments of the affected third countries. This timeframe will also allow Member States to adjust their data collection and reporting.

(19)

Post-consumer plastic waste that has been recycled (including sorted) in countries to which the OECD decision does not apply, should only be allowed to count towards the target if agreements or arrangements with the EU have been concluded which ensure the environmentally sound management of plastic waste. This requirement is additional to, and without prejudice to, other applicable EU legal requirements, such as those established under Regulation (EU) 2022/1616.

(20)

Notwithstanding the rules set for the calculation of the recycled content targets, the importation of recycled plastic for the manufacture of plastic beverage bottles is possible in accordance with the applicable Union rules.

(21)

Regulation (EU) 2022/1616 establishes a reporting chain throughout consecutive manufacturing steps that includes reporting of the percentage of recycled plastic in each batch of material that contains recycled plastic and is intended to come into contact with foods. To keep administrative burden on economic operators minimal, that information should also be used for the calculation of recycled content in PET bottles, even if the definitions of ‘plastic’ and ‘recycled plastic’ that are applicable for Regulation 2022/1616 differ slightly from those that are applicable for this Decision. The information provided under Regulation (EU) 2022/1616 is to be complemented by information about the origin of the material in order to reflect the geographical scope of this Decision. Economic operators that place PET bottles on the market should calculate the weight of recycled plastic in those bottles based on the percentage of recycled plastic content indicated in the addition to the declarations of compliance under Regulation (EU) 2022/1616.

(22)

For the purposes of Article 13(1), point (e), of Directive (EU) 2019/904, the proportion of recycled plastic in a PET bottle is to be calculated when it is placed on the market of a Member State (‘the final calculation point’). Currently, the recycled plastic content cannot be analytically measured in a reliable manner at the final calculation point. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the recycled plastic content at earlier stages of the supply chain, through additional calculation points, to allow for an accurate calculation at the final calculation point. A calculation point is required whenever material that has been at least partly obtained from eligible material changes its chemical or physical composition, in particular when that material is mixed with other material, such as virgin polymers, virgin additives or material stemming from plastic waste that is not post-consumer plastic waste. At different calculation points along a recycling pathway, different methods to calculate the weight of eligible material or attributed amounts in the outputs may apply depending on the process stage and the applied recycling method.

(23)

Economic operators in the recycled plastic supply chain who apply mass balance accounting should not be allowed at any time to overdraw their account of attributed amounts of eligible material, meaning that the account should not have a negative balance. A negative balance of attributed amounts would imply that the economic operators have sold more eligible material than they have actually produced or purchased.

(24)

For the application of mass balance accounting, it is necessary to establish rules on how the input eligible material can be allocated to the outputs in case of multi-output processes. The rules laid down in this Decision reflect the so-called ‘fuel-use excluded’ approach, meaning that at each calculation point economic operators should deduct eligible material that is processed into fuels or losses from the calculation of recycled content, in order to comply with Article 3(17) of Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (6). This applies also for dual-use outputs, i.e. intermediate outputs that can be further processed into both fuels and non-fuel products, that are in liquid or gaseous form. The relative share of eligible material in dual-use outputs that will become a fuel should not count as recycled content. Dual-use outputs in solid form, such as char, should be taken completely out of the calculation of recycled content because they are expected not to be processed into high-value non-fuel products in practice at a relevant scale in the foreseeable future.

(25)

In order to increase the transparency of the process, chemical traceability is applied, meaning that the ‘fuel-use excluded’ allocation rule should be complemented by additional provisions to ensure that the attributed amount of eligible material does not exceed the amount of eligible material that can theoretically be present in a product.

(26)

Attributed amounts of eligible material should not be shifted across different facilities of a company or across different companies as this would add complexity to calculation and verification of attributed amounts. That should however not prevent physically moving material with attributed amounts between different facilities of a company or between different companies without reallocating their attributed amounts, provided that the material is accompanied by the necessary documentation to ensure compliance with this Decision, in particular to ensure traceability and provide the basis for calculation in case of subsequent mixing with other materials.

(27)

In order to ensure the environmental benefits of meeting minimum targets for recycled plastic content and to prevent circumvention that could undermine those benefits, Member States should introduce provisions to verify the data and information they collect from the economic operators placing PET bottles on the market. Economic operators should produce and provide, for each batch of material containing attributed amounts of eligible material, a declaration to their customers that includes relevant information on the attributed amounts. Economic operators that do not introduce any material changes should only transmit the declaration they receive from their suppliers. In addition, operators processing material that does not consist of polymers at both the input stage and the output stage should be subject to third-party verification. This verification should cover all information relevant for the allocation of eligible material under mass balance accounting, such as process-specific amounts and categorization of inputs and outputs, boiling point curves, and evidence that eligible material remains on the recycling pathway. The certificates issued by verifiers at the last step of a chemical recycling process should be handed down the supply chain, usually up to the fillers, in order to enable Member States to collect them from the economic operators placing beverage bottles on the market.

(28)

Where the processing of materials with attributed amounts occurs in a third country and the resulting material is imported, Member States should verify the accuracy of the information accompanying the material to ensure the rules of this Decision have been complied with.

(29)

The rules for the calculation and verification of the target and the format for reporting data and information on recycled plastic content are closely linked as they refer to the same recycled plastic in the same bottles. In order to ensure coherence, the rules for calculation and verification of the target and the format for reporting data and information should be laid down in one legal act.

(30)

The format for reporting data and information takes into consideration the measurement methods and reporting formats for packaging and packaging waste set out in Commission Decision 2005/270/EC (7), which are also based on weight and material.

(31)

The monitoring of recycled plastic content in PET bottles constitutes a cross-border digital public service in the meaning of Regulation (EU) 2024/903 of the European Parliament and of the Council (8). This Decision introduces new binding requirements affecting that the aforementioned digital public service, and is therefore, as such, is subject to the interoperability assessment obligation under set out in Article 3 of that Regulation (EU) 2024/903. Accordingly, an interoperability assessment has been carried out, and the resulting report is to be published on the Interoperable Europe Portal.

(32)

Plastic waste should be processed by the recycling method that to the greatest extent reduces the negative impact on the environment, taking into account the required quality of the recyclate and the economic viability of the different technologies. Taking this into account, mechanical recycling methods are in general preferable to chemical recycling methods from an environmental point of view, and waste that can be recycled mechanically should in principle not enter into chemical recycling if mechanical recycling can produce recyclates with similar quality or performance characteristics. The Commission monitors the development of the available recycling technologies, taking into account their economic and environmental performance. In order to account for relevant technological developments in the recycling sector, including but not limited to the roll out of chemical recycling methods to full commercial scale, the Commission should accordingly review the methodology, including the rules for allocation of attributed amounts, established in this Decision, and should consider aligning it with the provisions set out in Article 7(8) of Regulation (EU) 2025/40 of the European Parliament and of the Council (9), where appropriate.

(33)

To ensure the effective achievement of the Union’s objectives for a competitive circular economy, and of its waste management policies, and to promote investments in the de-fossilisation of the chemical industry, as reflected in the European Chemicals Industry Action Plan, the methodology for calculating, verifying and reporting recycled plastic content developed pursuant to Union laws such as Article 7(8) of Regulation (EU) 2025/40 should take into account the specific legal basis and objectives, and reflect the characteristics of relevant materials and recycling technologies. Therefore, the methodology established in this Decision for determining the recycled content of PET bottles should apply only to that product category. The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee established by Article 39 of Directive 2008/98/EC,

(1)

‘recycled plastic’ means plastic which was post-consumer plastic waste before recycling, and which has been produced by recycling (including sorting), as defined in Article 3, point (17), of Directive 2008/98/EC, in the Union. As of 21 November 2027, it shall also cover post-consumer plastic waste that has been recycled (including sorted) in:

(2)

‘post-consumer plastic waste’ means waste that has been generated from plastic products that have been:

(3)

‘beverage bottle’ means a single-use plastic beverage bottle with a capacity of up to three litres, including its cap, lid, label and sleeve, if any, but excluding the following bottles:

(4)

‘PET bottle’ means a beverage bottle which is manufactured from polyethylene terephthalate as the major component;

(5)

‘economic operator’ means any of the following operators, that are part of the supply chain leading to the placing of beverage bottles on the market or that place beverage bottles on the market:

(6)

‘recycling technology’ means recycling technology as defined in Article 2(3), point (1), of Regulation (EU) 2022/1616;

(7)

‘eligible material’ means post-consumer plastic waste and material stemming from post-consumer plastic waste;

(8)

‘supply chain’ means the series of processes or activities involved in the production and distribution of beverage bottles;

(9)

‘calculation point’ means a point in the supply chain at which the content of eligible material for a given material is determined;

(10)

‘batch’ means batch as defined in Article 2(3), point (20), of Regulation (EU) 2022/1616;

(11)

‘mass balance accounting’ means a set of calculation rules used to determine the attributed amount throughout a supply chain and in the outputs, where the eligible material is used together with other material as input into the process;

(12)

‘attributed amount’ means the weight of eligible material that enters a process and that is allocated to the outputs of the process for a given period;

(13)

‘output category’ means a grouping of outputs into any of the following categories:

(14)

‘facility’ means one or more manufacturing plants at the same site, under the management control of the same economic operator, where activities, products and services are managed, including all associated infrastructure, equipment and materials;

(15)

‘verification’ means the process by which a verifier attests that an economic operator meets the requirements regarding calculation of data on to the recycled content of beverage bottles;

(16)

‘verifier’ means a conformity assessment body as defined in Article 2, point (13), of Regulation (EC) 765/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council (12), which is accredited in accordance with that Regulation;

(17)

‘recycling pathway’ means a process, including its different steps, which preserves the potential of eligible material being processed into a non-fuel;

(18)

‘mechanical recycling’ means a recycling technology that recovers collected plastic waste through mechanical and physical processes, including by sorting, grinding, washing, separating materials, drying, extruding and re-crystallisation to produce plastic without changing the chemical structure of the plastic waste input;

(19)

‘maximum acceptable boiling point’ means, in a case where the eligible material or parts thereof will be fed into one single steam cracker, the maximum acceptable boiling point of that steam cracker or, in a case where the eligible material or parts thereof will be processed by different steam crackers, the weighted average of the maximum acceptable boiling points of all the individual steam crackers.