Single-use fast-food packaging hangs in the balance

LILLE, France — Throwaway fast food packaging is under notice in the EU. Or, at least, it was. 

Brussels is working on new rules to slash the amount of packaging waste mounting up across the bloc. That includes a ban on single-use packaging for customers eating in fast food restaurants, like french fry wrappers and paper cups that typically end up littering city streets.

The proposed EU rules largely echo legislation already in place in France, where, since January, fast-food customers eating on-site are served french fries and fizzy drinks in reusable plastic containers, rather than single-use paper cups and cartons.

Green-minded lawmakers and campaigners want to see that model expanded and applied across the bloc, arguing it will cut down on packaging waste and help the bloc achieve its circular economy goals.

But that’s sparked fierce pushback from fast-food giants and paper packaging lobbyists, who have spent the past year, and a lot of money, lobbying MEPs to make sure the EU doesn’t follow in France’s footsteps. The model would rely heavily on plastic for its reusable packaging, they argue, and involves high energy and water usage.

“Is this really the path we want to take for the future? A circular economy dominated by plastic?” David Schisler, treasurer of the European Paper Packaging Alliance, wrote in an op-ed last week.

The European Parliament, which is expected to cement its position on the EU proposal on Wednesday, has taken some industry concerns on board and already watered down key provisions during negotiations between political groups.

That’s a lobbying coup for McDonalds and the EU paper packaging industry, NGOs warn, saying a weak final outcome will undermine the bloc’s efforts to cut down on waste.

“If [the final legislation] is less ambitious than the French law, then there is a very real risk that the progress achieved through the [French] law will be called into question,” said the Rethink Plastic Alliance.

A French revolution

The picture from France is mixed, with businesses saying they’re still adapting to the new rules — and experiencing some teething pains.

The basic idea is simple: For customers dining in, replace paper cups and wrappers with reusable containers which they return to restaurant staff after their meal to be washed and provided to the next customer.

The French government estimated the legislation will avoid nearly 130,000 tons of single-use cups and meal packaging — that’s if customers bring back the packaging.

In Lille, one of the most common complaints among fast food staff is that customers leave with their reusable cups and burger containers — or even throw them in the trash out of habit. 

“We have huge amounts of losses,” said Gautier Caillot, a manager at burger chain Big Fernand. “It’s extra costs actually instead of having less … The cups, for example, I have to re-buy them every time because people take them.”

Caillot added that the new rules have increased the workload for the restaurant’s limited staff, who have to wash the reusable cups and plates.

Those concerns were echoed by several other fast food chains, including McDonalds, but staff also predicted that consumer behavior will change over time.

“People will start to get used to it. These are new laws so they’re not used to it,” said Timothée Despaquis, a Five Pizza franchise manager. “It’s a bit annoying for the restaurant at the beginning, with the time it takes to put everything in place, [but ultimately] it’s very good for us, very good for them, it’s good for the planet.”

Fast food customers interviewed by POLITICO were either positive or unbothered by the move to reusable packaging. That reflects a statistic on McDonalds’ own website, which claims 83 percent of surveyed customers “approved of the implementation of the new tableware at McDonald’s France.”

A successful McCoup?

Customers’ warm welcome of its reusable packaging rollout in France hasn’t stopped McDonalds from leading a coordinated attack on measures from Brussels that would apply similar rules across the EU — with apparent success.

In an interview with POLITICO, Serge Thines, McDonald’s senior director of international government relations, painted a different picture of the French rules and the impact of an EU-wide roll-out, complaining of costlier energy bills, annoying building permits for new dishwashers and higher water usage.

He also warned that the rate of return on the reusable containers is too low, pushing instead for recyclable paper packaging.

It’s the same tune the company — and the EU paper packaging industry — have seen singing since Brussels’ proposal was published back in December. One report backed by McDonalds claims the EU’s proposed reuse legislation could require investments of up to €20 billion.

Through research papers and metro billboards, lobbyists have been pushing hard — and successfully — to get MEPs to amend the text to exempt the takeaway industry from certain reusable packaging targets and to delete the ban on single-use packaging that would turn the French exception into an EU reality.

Amendments to the text submitted by the Parliament’s lead negotiator on the file, Renew Europe’s Frédérique Ries, would exempt the takeaway food and drink sector from reusable packaging targets. A series of other amendments that are up for a vote on Wednesday would also delete or further weaken requirements on packaging for fast food, including a proposal to remove the ban on single-use packaging for customers eating in restaurants.

It’s likely to be tight, with lobbyists and civil society working right up until the last minute to make their concerns heard. Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius on Tuesday beseeched MEPs to back the Commission’s packaging ambitions, stressing “recycling is not enough.”

But the direction of travel is already clear, campaigners warn.

The industry’s lobbying efforts “which have been intensively deployed over the last few months of negotiations, have reduced the ambition of the text without proposing a credible alternative to tackle the growing problem of packaging waste,” a coalition of NGOs, including Zero Waste Europe, warned in a statement Tuesday.