Groundbreaking Pilot to Recycle Ceramic Packaging: A Model for Circular Innovation
As the EU tightens its regulations on packaging waste and industries seek sustainable alternatives to plastic, ceramics are gaining ground as a natural, reusable solution. In a major step forward, France has launched a nationwide pilot project to test the separate collection and recycling of ceramic packaging and products. Coordinated by Ecomaison in collaboration with Citeo, Ecominéro, and Léko, the initiative aims to create a scalable model that integrates ceramics into existing recycling streams. With strong reuse potential and a minimal environmental footprint, ceramic packaging could become a key player in Europe’s circular economy.
The Mounting Plastic Waste Crisis
Plastic waste has become a pressing global issue for industries and policymakers. Worldwide, plastics production has surged twentyfold since 1964, reaching 311 million tonnes in 2014, and it is on track to double again in the next 20 years and nearly quadruple by 2050. This exponential growth in plastics use has led to an equally alarming rise in waste: each EU citizen generates almost 180kg of packaging waste per year, much of it plastic. In France alone, plastic waste amounts to roughly 66–67kg per person annually, placing the country among Europe’s highest per-capita plastic consumers. Most of this waste is not effectively recycled, with only about 5% of plastics recycled and vast quantities ending up in landfills or polluting oceans. These trends underscore the urgent need for sustainable packaging alternatives that can reduce environmental harm.
Plastic waste has become one of the most urgent environmental challenges of our time.
New EU Rules: All Packaging Recyclable by 2030
Policymakers at the EU level have accelerated this transition with stringent new requirements. The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), which entered into force in February 2025, mandates that all packaging placed on the EU market be recyclable by 2030. The regulation also sets targets for using recycled content in plastic packaging and emphasizes reducing excess packaging and promoting reuse.
Notably, certain materials with inherent environmental advantages, including ceramics, are exempted from recyclability obligations. This exemption, outlined in Article 6 of the PPWR, applies to materials such as ceramic, lightweight wood or porcelain, since they are placed on the market in very small quantities—each category accounting for less than 1% of the total packaging weight in the EU. Cermer exemplifies this sustainable approach by producing ceramic food containers according to the highest environmental standards. Their products are not only inherently inert but also benefit from the excellent environmental performance of both the materials and the production process. This comprehensive policy push – part of the EU Green Deal’s circular economy strategy – aims to drastically cut packaging waste and encourage greener alternatives in every sector.
Ceramic Packaging’s Environmental Advantages
Ceramic food packaging has emerged as a prime example of the kind of sustainable, natural alternative that meets these new expectations. Made from clay and mineral-based glazes, ceramics are inert, non-toxic, and derived from abundant natural resources. Unlike plastic, they contain no chemicals that can leach into food or the environment, and they pose zero pollution risk if they do enter ecosystems. Moreover, ceramic containers are extremely durable – they are designed for long life and repeated use. In fact, consumers often give ceramic packaging a second life in their homes: studies show that over 95% of European consumers choose to reuse ceramic food containers as everyday kitchen or tableware after the product inside is finished. This vastly outperforms typical single-use packaging and even surpasses reuse rates of glass jars. By reusing ceramic jars and dishes for cooking, storage, or serving, households naturally extend the material’s lifespan and prevent waste generation in the first place.
Ceramic packaging accounts for just 0.013% of all packaging waste in the EU.
Crucially, ceramics do not require a dedicated new recycling stream to handle end-of-life, thanks to their material nature and existing waste infrastructure. When a ceramic package finally does break or wear out, it can be disposed of with other inert materials. Ceramic packaging actually makes up only 0.013% of all packaging waste in the EU . Given this extremely low volume and the fact that ceramics are a single-material (mono-material) product, experts advocate simply integrating their recycling into established ceramic and construction waste channels. In other words, a broken ceramic jar can be collected alongside ceramic tiles or pottery scraps and then crushed for reuse as construction aggregate or as raw material for new ceramics. This approach is already feasible: recycled ceramic waste can be processed into mineral powders for applications like road building, bricks, or even new ceramic production. By piggybacking on existing inert waste recycling systems, ceramic packaging avoids the need to create an entirely new recycling scheme – further saving resources and energy.
France’s Pilot Project on Ceramic Packaging Recycling
While reuse is the primary benefit of ceramic packaging, French stakeholders are also exploring how to best collect and recycle ceramics that do enter the waste stream. In October 2024, a national pilot project was launched in France to develop a recycling and reuse pipeline for ceramic products and packaging. The initiative is coordinated by Ecomaison – a state-approved eco-organization – in collaboration with three other producer responsibility organizations: Citeo (for household packaging), Ecominéro (for building materials), and Léko (a packaging recovery scheme) They have teamed up with industry bodies like the French Ceramic Industries Confederation (CICF) and the Federation of DIY and Home Improvement Stores (FMB) to involve both producers and retailers as well as partnered with local authorities in select regions.
France is testing how ceramics can enter the recycling stream—without reinventing the system.
Under this pilot (running from October 2024 through June 2025), three local municipalities are testing separate collection of ceramics at public waste drop-off centers (déchèteries). Dedicated containers have been put in place to gather discarded ceramic items – everything from broken dishes and mugs to ceramic food packaging and even horticultural pots – apart from general trash. The program’s organizers are closely measuring the volumes of ceramic material collected and evaluating the quality for recycling. A key goal is to identify the most suitable recycling processes for this material and to pinpoint synergies with existing recycling streams for inert materials (since ceramics behave similarly to construction debris like bricks or concrete). For example, one avenue under study is the transformation of collected ceramic waste into high-mineral content powders that could be used in industries such as construction or chemicals. This would effectively turn ceramic trash into a valuable raw material resource.
Equally important in the pilot is the consumer engagement and communication effort. The project includes a public awareness campaign to encourage people to return unwanted ceramics either at recycling centers or at participating retail points (such as garden centers, given a focus on ceramic flower pots). Clear signage, special collection bins, and sorting instructions have been introduced to ensure ceramics are separated correctly and not contaminating other waste streams. By educating consumers on how and where to discard ceramics, the pilot aims to optimize collection while reinforcing reuse (for intact items) and recycling habits. Overall, this French pilot is an ambitious first step toward a circular economy solution for ceramics, seeking to prove that even a material comprising a tiny fraction of packaging waste can be systematically recovered and repurposed.
Outlook: Scaling Ceramic Solutions Across Markets
The success of ceramic packaging in reducing waste and its promising recycling integration are attracting attention beyond France. Industry groups and policymakers across Europe are watching closely. CERMER (Spain’s ceramic packaging association) is following the French pilot’s progress and outcomes with great interest, evaluating whether a similar model could be scaled up in other countries.
With EU-wide packaging rules emphasizing recyclability and reuse, ceramics present a compelling case as a sustainable packaging alternative that aligns with circular economy goals. CERMER’s mission is to support innovations that combine environmental performance and practicality for industry. Should the French experiment demonstrate viable collection and recycling of ceramic packaging on a larger scale, it could pave the way for broader adoption of ceramics in food packaging across Spain and other EU countries. In the meantime, CERMER remains committed to championing ceramic packaging’s reuse advantages and monitoring new developments – confident that this age-old material can play a modern role in solving our plastic waste challenges.
