Rethink Plastic provides feedback on the evaluation of the Single-Use Plastics Directive

The Rethink Plastic Alliance submitted its feedback to the European Commission’s Call for Evidence on the evaluation of the Single-Use Plastics Directive (SUPD)

Read RPA’s feedback

The priority for the Rethink Plastic Alliance is to ensure that the evaluation of the Single-Use Plastics Directive (SUPD) further reinforces—rather than undermines—the ongoing environmental objectives and pollution-prevention measures. Overall, the Directive has delivered clear and positive outcomes, notably through effective product bans and design requirements such as tethered caps, which have proven implementable, visible, and impactful in reducing litter and preventing pollution at source. At this stage, a broad revision would be premature, as more time is needed to gather consolidated, harmonised, and comparable implementation data across Member States. Preserving regulatory stability, while strengthening monitoring and reporting, is therefore essential to preserve legal certainty, maintain investment signals, and safeguard the environmental benefits already set in motion.

Article 15 regarding the evaluation framework is oriented toward improving effectiveness—through the possible introduction of binding reduction and collection targets—indicating that any future revision should logically reinforce, rather than weaken the Directive’s level of ambition.

In this response, we identify priority gaps – in line with Article 15 – that must be addressed in case the Directive is revised, in order to strengthen existing achievements. These include:

  • safeguarding definitions to prevent harmful material substitution,
  • reinforcing consumption-reduction and ban provisions,
  • improving design and marking implementation,
  • strengthening Extended Producer Responsibility toward prevention and reuse,
  • and delivering independent, prevention-focused awareness-raising.

Targeted improvements in these areas would support a future-proof evolution of the SUPD while safeguarding its core environmental ambition.

Read RPA’s feedback
Previous Rethink Plastic and Break Free From Europe evaluations of the SUPD

The Rethink Plastic Alliance, together with the wider Break Free From Plastic movement, has carried out five in-depth yearly assessments of the Directive’s transposition and implementation across EU Member States, which all answer this question at different points in time. The most recent of these reports was published in December 2024. 

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