Why the EU pellet loss compromise is smart policymaking

In the current debate on Europe’s industrial future, competitiveness and regulation are too often framed as being at odds. At Plastics Europe, we believe the opposite can be true: smart, evidence-based policy solution — designed with industry input and rooted in practical realities — can drive environmental progress while supporting economic resilience.

The recent political agreement on the European Commission’s proposed legislation to prevent plastic pellet losses reflects this pragmatic approach to policymaking. It demonstrates how policies can be effective without being excessively burdensome, for example, by building on proven best practices and voluntary industry action. The European institutions now need to endorse the compromise reached in trialogue in early April.

Plastics remain an essential material for the European economy and the green transition — from renewable energy infrastructure to electric vehicles and medical technologies. Despite the societal benefits enabled by plastics, there is a pressing need to reduce the volume of plastics pellets released to the environment. This is a complex challenge that successive European Commissions have worked to address. One example comes from Ursula von der Leyen’s presidency, which included a 30 percent reduction in microplastics released to the environment from various sources, including pellets, by 2030. These targets are ambitious but can be achieved when policy solutions are designed to work in the real world and considered through the current Commission’s prism of competitiveness.

Plastic pellets play a vital role in the value chain, as they make conversion into products more energy and resource efficient. But if not properly handled, they can unintentionally escape into the environment. Hence, the Commission’s proposal for a regulation to prevent plastic pellet losses.

How the pellet loss reduction proposal has been developed, and currently stands, is encouraging. It recognizes that solutions must be comprehensive and coordinated across the full value chain — from production and transport to storage, conversion and recycling. Equally, it acknowledges the diversity in how companies handle pellets. Factors like company size, facility design, level of automation, resin type and staffing all influence which mitigation measures are most effective.

Given the considerable operational complexity of preventing pellet losses, there was a real risk that well-intentioned policymakers in Brussels’ offices would default to overly prescriptive solutions. Measures that could have been, at best, counterproductive when applied on-site or during transportation, and, at worst, would put European industry at a further competitive disadvantage versus the rest of the world. Instead, the recent political agreement seems to allow for tailored, risk management approaches backed by third-party auditing and certification — methods we know work from our experience with Operation Clean Sweep®, a voluntary initiative from the industry. A regulation that builds on voluntary action sends a strong message: Europe can reward and de-risk first movers and can build upon industry’s best practices.

This is especially important as Europe’s plastics industry faces severe competitiveness pressures. Production in Europe is declining fast due to high energy costs, cheaper imports and regulatory uncertainty, which are halting novel investments in Europe. This current downward trend is undermining Europe’s sustainability and circularity ambitions — along with thousands of high-skilled jobs and the EU’s strategic industrial autonomy.

Smart regulation — like the pellet loss compromise — can help ease some of these pressures. It can provide predictability, level the playing field across the value chain, and ensure that environmental protection, societal progress and industrial policy go hand-in-hand.

For the environment, it marks a significant step forward by moving from voluntary efforts by some to mandatory requirements for all, ensuring consistent action across the entire value chain. Such a shift will enhance environmental protection, increase accountability and oversight, and establish more robust enforcement and a continuous improvement process. For economic operators, it enables them to meet these new obligations in an efficient and effective manner tailored to their specific circumstances. This approach also rewards early movers who have already invested in on-site pellet loss prevention measures and are well positioned to comply with the expected new regulatory requirements.

That is why we believe that the political agreement awaiting policymakers’ endorsement is a win-win. We now urge the European Parliament and Council to swiftly endorse the compromise reached on this file. Finalizing the legal text will give companies the certainty they need to invest in long-term solutions and help meet societal and environmental goals without sacrificing the EU’s industrial base.

This proposal can be a model for future policymaking; one that delivers positive societal impact and helps de-risk (future) investments in Europe, without unintended consequences. It shows that with the right approach, Europe can and should be both clean and competitive. At a time when the European plastics industry is in fast decline — marked by production site closures, thousands of job losses and growing imports — any positive signal is worth celebrating. Hopefully to be continued; and fast.