EU packaging rules pose challenges for Icelandic fish exports

New European Union packaging rules will have wide-ranging effects on Icelandic exports to Europe, mbl.is reports. The fishing industry faces difficulties finding packaging solutions that meet the rules’ ambitious targets.

The regulation took effect in EU member states on Wednesday and will be introduced in stages, according to Hildur Hauksdóttir, an environmental affairs specialist at the Icelandic Association of Companies in Fisheries.

Under the rules, 40 percent of all expanded polystyrene boxes used to transport fresh fish must be reused by 2030. That proportion is to rise to 70 percent by 2050.

Expanded polystyrene is widely used for fresh fish because it is lightweight, provides effective insulation, withstands moisture and protects the fish during long journeys. The boxes are relatively easy to mould, and several companies in Iceland produce them for the fishing industry.

However, food safety requirements mean the boxes are effectively single-use when used for fresh fish. The material can be recycled and used, for example, as raw material for building insulation, Hildur said. Collecting it and sending it for recycling can be uneconomical unless equipment is available to compress the material.

Although the boxes can be recycled, creating a reuse system for those used to transport fresh fish may not be a suitable solution for Iceland, Hildur said.

The regulation envisages collecting a proportion of the boxes and reusing them to transport fish to markets. For Iceland, this could prove complicated. A system would have to track the boxes across Europe, collect them after use and transport them back to Iceland. The boxes would then need to be cleaned, disinfected and stored until they could be used again.

Hildur said it was unlikely that the entire process would deliver the environmental benefits intended by the European regulation.