As the European Union prepares its forthcoming Circular Economy Act, it’s a good time to check back in with FBCA’s Senior Policy Director for European Affairs, Konstantinos Malandrinos. With discusions centering around how policy can strengthen competitiveness, resource efficiency, and circular value chains across Europe, the Act is expected to play a central role in creating a more coherent market for secondary raw materials and supporting the transition to a more circular European economy.

Against this backdrop, FBCA's Senior Policy Director for European Affairs, Konstantinos Malandrinos, participated in The Parliament's Circular Economy Forum 2026 in Brussels, where policymakers, industry representatives, and civil society organisations gathered to discuss the next phase of Europe's circular economy agenda.

At the The Parliament's Circular Economy Forum 2026 Konstantinos highlighted the importance of looking beyond packaging design alone and ensuring that collection, sorting, and recycling systems are able to deliver circular outcomes in practice. He emphasised that effective recycling depends on strong collaboration across the value chain and on collection systems that enable valuable materials to remain in circulation.

For food and beverage cartons, a successful circular economy requires continued progress across the entire system, from product design and material innovation to collection infrastructure, sorting performance and recycling capacity. As the Circular Economy Act develops, FBCA will continue engaging with policymakers and stakeholders to help ensure that Europe's circular economy framework supports both resource efficiency and resilient food packaging system.

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