Background: Statistics of the European Union clearly show the enormous amounts of packaging materials presently used for the safety, hygiene, transportation, conservation, presentation and application of all kinds of goods – be they for industrial purposes, construction works, communication systems or individual consumption. Most of them are of carbonic or metallic origins, which are limited resources altogether, and a part of the waste of these packaging materials can lead to environmental negative impacts and may seriously endanger human health as well as animal and plant well-being.
Along with recycling, the main challenge is how to produce, use and dispose packaging products that are totally based on natural renewable raw materials which are biodegradable and can, in turn, be reused in organic agriculture.
All these aspects must be balanced with economic as well as health considerations, as packaging not only is at the basis of important value chains, but it also often constitutes an essential element for health preservation, in food and beverage but also in other industrial sectors and in the sanitary field.The opinion aims at exploring these aspects, and it also comes in the context of a revision of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive, which is currently undergoing and that the European Commission plans to issue in mid-2022.