More than 500 jobs, hundreds of kilotonnes of CO₂ reduction and billions in investment at stake
Petition handed over to Stientje van Veldhoven, Minister of Climate and Green GrowthTHE HAGUE, 16 June 2026 – A broad coalition of Dutch companies, brand owners, packaging producers and the trade associations Holland Bioplastics and Verpakkingsunie Nederland today presented a petition to members of the House of Representatives and the standing committee for Climate and Green Growth. The coalition calls on politicians to use, before 12 August, the policy scope that the European Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) offers for biobased and compostable packaging.
According to the Coalition for Compostable & Biobased Packaging Innovation, a great deal is at stake. If the Netherlands fails to use the available scope within the PPWR, innovative packaging solutions risk disappearing from the market, more than 500 jobs are at risk, and investments in new production facilities are postponed or halted.
The coalition consists of more than twenty Dutch companies that develop, produce or apply biobased and compostable packaging, supported by trade and knowledge organisations.
Innovation at risk of grinding to a halt
In recent years, the Netherlands has deliberately invested in developing sustainable packaging solutions that help reduce fossil raw materials, lower CO₂ emissions and build a circular economy. Many of these innovations were made possible in part by Dutch and European subsidy schemes.
Just as these solutions are ready to scale up further, the current policy implementation of the PPWR threatens to leave a significant share of these innovations without a full place within the Dutch packaging and waste system.
That risks not only the loss of jobs and investment, but also the loss of considerable climate and environmental gains.
Four concrete consequences
According to the coalition, a failure to act has four direct consequences:
- more than 500 jobs at innovative Dutch companies come under pressure;
- hundreds of kilotonnes of potential CO₂ reduction are lost;
- millions of euros in public innovation and subsidy funding deliver less societal return;
- plans for new production sites and factories are postponed or halted.
Not an exemption, but scope within the PPWR
The coalition is not asking for exemptions or deviations from European regulations. According to the initiators, the PPWR explicitly offers scope for national choices around specific compostable applications and the design of waste and processing systems.
The petition calls on the government to actively use that scope and to give both the technical cycle (reuse and recycling) and the biological cycle (composting) a full place within Dutch circular policy.
A call to politicians
"The debate is not about recycling or composting. The debate is about deploying the right solution in the right place," the coalition states. "The Netherlands has the knowledge, the companies and the innovations to lead in the biobased economy. It would be a missed opportunity if precisely these innovations disappeared while they contribute to fewer fossil raw materials, lower CO₂ emissions and more circularity."
With the petition, the coalition asks the House of Representatives and the cabinet to actively use the policy scope within the PPWR before 12 August, keeping room for innovative biobased and compostable packaging solutions.
