Hai mai notato che i prodotti che acquisti hanno istruzioni diverse per la raccolta differenziata per ogni paese? A partire da agosto, tutti gli imballaggi dei prodotti e la raccolta dei rifiuti dovranno utilizzare un sistema di etichettatura a livello dell’Unione. Ecco la proposta progettuale finale pubblicata dal Centro comune di ricerca dell’UE.

Here is a link to the news article from the JRC: [From evidence to action: publishing the Technical Proposal for EU Harmonised Waste Sorting Labels](https://policy-lab.ec.europa.eu/news/evidence-action-publishing-technical-proposal-eu-harmonised-waste-sorting-labels-2026-01-26_en).

The mandate for an EU-wide labeling system is part of the 2024 Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR). These designs were based off of the Nordic pictographic system, then modified after several rounds of feedback from over 16,000 EU citizens, waste management agencies, and private-sector stakeholders. The system will help reduce the complexity of different countries’ waste sorting systems and improve recycling rates across the Union.

It should not be in the hands of consumers the responsibility to recycle. Recycling should be part of the product life-time, but the lobbies made it easier to push the cost to consumers. This is outrageous and create the illusion that it is solving the problems.

I don’t care I have a black sack and all colors go inside.

I’m unsure how the transition will work. See, we have our “PMD” (or PMC) in Belgium, which includes literally any kind of plastic *packaging* other than expanded styrofoam, basically any kind of metal other than aluminium foil, and drink cartons. These all make one thing.

Are we going to need to redesign everything we have in trash collection? We’re already saying picking up trash in front of homes is too expensive as is lol

This is a much better system than what we have currently. Currently the main bins in homes are paper, plastic and mixed (at least here), but such a division isn’t too clear.

Cardboard goes into paper… except not really. In some countries cardboard can only be thrown into the big paper trash containers. I forgot where exactly I heard this so don’t cite me. Also composites of paper and plastic exist… where do those go? Paper? Plastic? Mixed? And why does aluminium go into the plastic bin? And sometimes it’s said that “metal” goes into plastic – so where do I throw away iron/steel? Plastic or metal?

Oh and here we actually call the plastic bin “ambalaža” (packaging)… but the plastic bags themselves say “plastika” (plastic)… ??? They also have those symbols for certain kinds of recyclable plastics printed on them (including the “other plastics” symbol). So what now? Only some plastic or all plastic or plastic and composites and metal* or what? Not to mention not all products print those symbols… and don’t expect a regular person to understand the difference between PP, PC, PE, PET just by looking at the piece of plastic.

This system here really focuses on what trash households produce (composites are extremely common, but never marked, not on products or bins! unsurprising as there’s no standard markings for them) and forcing local implementations to be properly specific.

LOL cork gets its own category