EU Unveils New Bioeconomy Strategy, Industry Group Hails “Essential Elements” for Growth
Brussels, Belgium – The European Commission’s newly released bioeconomy strategy is receiving praise from the European Bioplastics (EUBP), who see it as a crucial step towards a thriving market for bio-based materials. The strategy, announced recently, focuses on implementation, simplification, and market expansion – priorities EUBP strongly supports.
The EUBP acknowledges Europe’s leading position in biopolymer innovation, but points to notable hurdles hindering industry growth, including a fragmented landscape of standards, inconsistent recognition of biologically-derived content, and insufficient market demand. They believe the announced measures are “essential elements” for establishing a coherent single market for bio-based materials.
A key component of the strategy, according to EUBP, is the European Alliance for Materials of Biological Origin, which projects a demand of €10 billion by 2023. Combined with the forthcoming Bioeconomy Investment Deployment Group, this alliance is expected to mitigate investment risk and facilitate financing for pioneering facilities, ultimately bolstering production capacity within Europe.
Though, EUBP is urging the Commission to swiftly translate these commitments into concrete legislation impacting products, packaging, waste management, environmental regulations, and climate policy. They emphasize the need for consistent recognition of bio-based content, biodegradability, compostability, and design for circularity – alongside existing efforts in reuse and recycling – to avoid conflicting policy signals.
The strategy’s reaffirmation of the principle of cascading use – prioritizing high-value material applications of enduring biomass over energy uses – also garnered support. EUBP stressed the importance of robust sustainability criteria,traceability,and equitable access to secondary biomass flows to ensure both environmental integrity and industrial resilience. Any future sustainability criteria for biomass, they argue, should build upon existing RED criteria and incentivize defossilization, rather than creating new barriers.
Furthermore, EUBP advocates for expanding solutions for end-of-life management, such as biodegradability and compostability for specific plastic applications, citing benefits like improved biowaste collection and composting quality. They also call for clear and applicable product labeling to reduce consumer and industry confusion, offering to collaborate with the Commission on practical implementation strategies.
For more facts on the EU bioeconomy strategy, visit https://environment.ec.europa.eu/publications/bioeconomy-strategy_en. Details on the European Bioplastics institution can be found at https://www.european-bioplastics.org/.