Faerch A/S
FAERCH
FAERCH, headquartered in Holstebro, Denmark, is a leading provider of sustainable food packaging plastic solutions.
ID: 244037895173-94
Lobbying Activity
Response to EU taxonomy - Review of the environmental delegated act
5 Dec 2025
Established in 1969, Faerch is a leading provider of circular, rigid food packaging with integrated recycling capabilities, and leads the market with the post-consumer recycled content in our polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic trays. Headquartered in Holstebro, Denmark, we employ 5,500 people across 25+ plants in Europe. Placing approximately 24 billion rigid plastic packaging pieces on the European market annually, Faerch holds a 20% market share in its segment. Owned by A.P. Møller Holding, and a part of their Nyttig Virksomhed portfolio, we are committed to creating a positive societal impact while remaining financially sound and profitable. As a plastic producer, we recognise that as long as our value chain is linear, we are contributing to a large waste problem. To be part of the solution, we have built our own recycling plant for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) food packaging, sourcing materials from post-consumer household waste in the Benelux. Post recycling, the recycled materials are fed back into our packaging production. As the worlds first integrated recycler of food trays, we achieve industrial-scale circularity with EFSA-approved recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET). Our experience highlights that while the Taxonomy is conceptually sound, its translation into operational reality is complex and hinders its effectiveness, leading to the following key implementation challenges: Operational usability and group-level ambiguity: Difficulty in applying the criteria across multi-site manufacturing groups due to unclear aggregation rules for alignment. Vagueness and complexity: Lack of clear implementation guidance and overly complex, often technical, screening criteria (TSC) and minimum safeguards (MS), necessitating subjective judgment calls. Data gaps and DNSH bottleneck: Full alignment is practically impossible due to reliable data gaps along the value chain, particularly for "Do No Significant Harm" (DNSH) requirements, which also suffer from inconsistent interpretation by auditors. Limited comparability and outdated scope: Complex rules and incomplete sectoral coverage limit comparability between companies' reporting and exclude many genuinely sustainable activities, with criteria becoming outdated due to slow updates. Greenwashing risk: The distinction between "eligible" and "aligned" can be misunderstood by customers, creating a risk of unintended greenwashing when companies market themselves as "Taxonomy-eligible." With these implementation challenges in mind, Faerch calls for the following changes : Clear guidance, guidelines and best practices, both for companies using the Taxonomy and auditors, in order to streamline the process and facilitate comparability. Updated criteria that reflect the latest state of technology, such as for example chemical recycling criteria. A clarification of the Technical Screening Criteria, the minimum safeguards and the DNSH criteria to ensure their usability, taking into account the availability of required information.
Read full responseResponse to Circular Economy Act
6 Nov 2025
Established in 1969, Faerch is a leading provider of circular, rigid food packaging with integrated recycling capabilities, and leads the market with the post-consumer recycled content in our polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic trays. Placing approximately 24 billion rigid plastic packaging pieces on the European market annually, Faerch holds a 20% market share in its segment. Headquartered in Holstebro, Denmark, we employ 5,500 people across 25+ plants in Europe. Owned by A.P. Møller Holding, and a part of their Nyttig Virksomhed portfolio, we are committed to creating a positive societal impact while remaining financially sound and profitable. As a plastic producer, we recognise that as long as our value chain is linear, we are contributing to a large waste problem. To be part of the solution, we have built our own recycling plant for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) food packaging, sourcing materials from post-consumer household waste in the Benelux. Post recycling, the recycled materials are fed back into our packaging production. As the worlds first integrated recycler of food trays, we achieve industrial-scale circularity with EFSA-approved recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET), boasting a capacity of 60 kilotons of post-consumer household waste recycled back into circular feedstock for food packaging. Anchored through our Science Basted Targets Initiative (SBTi) targets, we aim to be net zero by 2040. The majority of our emissions are related to the use of plastic resin; hence, we aim to recycle more PET than we produce by 2030 and use circular recycled materials in our own products. The Circular Economy Act (CEA) is about seizing opportunities to strengthen Europes competitiveness and reduce external dependencies, all the while protecting our environment. Circularity is key to this transition, and Faerch fully supports the EUs vision to lead in this space by 2030. Having championed circularity in rigid plastic food packaging for decades, Faerchs recommendations build on the key conditions necessary for our business model to succeed: the price of virgin versus rPET; access to feedstock; outlets for rPET; and trust in verified recycling processes. Based on these, we are pleased to present our recommendations for the CEA across three main pillars. First, to create a truly Single Market for waste and circular materials. This can be achieved by aligning Extended Producer Responsibility schemes to reward circularity, clarifying and harmonising End-of-Waste criteria for plastics to ensure market access, and accelerating EFSA approvals for food-grade recycled plastics. Second, to ensure a viable business case for circular secondary raw materials through both demand- and supply-side measures. Demand can be boosted through recycled content targets, harmonised design-for-recycling requirements, certification and verification standards, and incentives for PCR content. High-quality supply can be ensured through verified EU environmental and quality standards, including harmonised customs codes, penalties, and enforced mirror clauses. Finally, it is essential to streamline reporting and administrative processes to reduce the current verification and administrative burdens on the sector.
Read full responseResponse to EU rules for the calculation and reporting of recycled content in single-use plastic bottles
14 Aug 2025
Faerch welcomes the draft and strongly supports the proposed framework, particularly the recognition of mass balance accounting, which is a necessary methodology for transitioning to a circular economy and scaling up chemical recycling. We also welcome the clear requirement for using actual operational production data to calculate recycled content. The continued ban on negative credits and the transfer of credits between facilities or companies, as carried over from the previous draft, is essential for safeguarding the integrity and traceability of recycled content claims. We fully support aligning the definition of post-consumer plastic waste with the definition set out in Article 3(48) of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR). This alignment is important, as the PPWR will establish the recycled content targets for 2030 and 2040. To ensure legal coherence and reduce administrative complexity, we recommend adopting a consistent definition across both instruments. Please see our feedback attached.
Read full response8 Jul 2025
Faerch strongly supports the inclusion of waste incineration and landfilling under the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), as a critical step to drive decarbonisation in the waste sector and promote higher-value circular practices. Incineration and landfilling are the most carbon-intensive waste treatment options. By adequately pricing their CO emissions under the ETS, the EU can create a strong economic signal to prioritise waste prevention, reuse, and recycling. This policy shift could deliver emissions reductions of up to 32 million tonnes of CO by 2040, representing a significant contribution to the EUs climate targets. In addition, the transition from incineration to recycling is expected to generate up to 21,000 new jobs, reflecting the higher labour intensity of recycling activities. Including these treatment options under the ETS would also incentivise the extraction of remaining recyclables from residual wastematerials that are essential to scaling up the EUs secondary raw materials market, as outlined in the Clean Industrial Deal. Please find attached our coalition paper, as well as the study Waste Incineration under the EU ETS: An Assessment of Climate Benefits.
Read full responseResponse to Industrial Decarbonisation Accelerator Act
7 Jul 2025
Established in 1969, Faerch is a leading provider of circular, rigid food packaging with integrated recycling capabilities, and leads the market with the post-consumer recycled content in our polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic trays. Headquartered in Holstebro, Denmark, we employ 5,500 people across 25+ plants in Europe. Placing approximately 24 billion rigid plastic packaging pieces on the European market annually, Faerch holds a 20% market share in its segment. Our goal is to be the global leader in sustainable rigid food packaging and recycling solutions, for the most demanding direct contact applications, in a truly circular environment. To that end, we are actively taking responsibility for mitigating climate change and reducing our impact on society. We welcome the opportunity to contribute to the call for evidence on the upcoming Industrial Decarbonisation Accelerator Act (IDAA). We would particularly like to share our views on the two following points: 1) Include plastic recycling as an Energy Intensive Industry 2) Enhance Power Purchasing Agreements
Read full responseResponse to Single Market Strategy 2025
31 Jan 2025
Established in 1969, Faerch is a leading provider of circular, rigid food packaging with integrated recycling capabilities. Our tailored packaging solutions help food manufacturers and retailers in optimising production efficiency, streamlining supply chains, and reducing total ownership costs. As the worlds only integrated recycler of food trays, we achieve industrial-scale circularity with EFSA-approved recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET), boasting a capacity of 60 kT of post-consumer household waste recycled back into circular feedstock for food packaging. Faerch places approximately 24 billion packaging pieces on the European market, holding a 20% market share in its segment. We aim to recycle as much as its production volume by 2030 by expanding capacity in Europe to handle 200,000 tonnes of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) tray waste annually. Faerch is pleased to contribute to the 2025 Single Market Strategy, supporting the creation of a more integrated, modernised, and forward-thinking EU Market. A harmonised Single Market is essential for the success of a circular economy, enabling the seamless movement of goods and materials across borders, reducing trade barriers, and promoting innovation. To ensure Europe's leadership, the Single Market Strategy priorities must focus on enhancing economic competitiveness, achieving climate neutrality and prioritising full circularity as a core criterion. With that objective in mind, we would suggest addressing the following issues in priority (elaborated upon in the attached file): 1. Harmonise the regulatory framework across EU Member States 2. Standardise and expand Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes 3. Increasing demand for recycled materials to enhance EU competitiveness 4. Streamlining reverse logistics and fostering cross-border collaboration 5. Reinforcing traceability and transparency in EU supply chains 6. Effective enforcement 7. Raising consumer awareness and engagement
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