The Circular Economy Act (CEA) presents a key opportunity to strenghten Europe’s leadership in circularity and strategic autonomy. The Permanent Materials Alliance (PMA)— representing the aluminium, glass and steel packaging industries—strongly supports the initiative and calls on the European Commission to shape the CEA around a resourcefocused, material-efficient, and industrially resilient circular economy.

As the European Commission prepares to revise the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) Regulation, it is essential to minimise its negative impact on Europe’s aluminium sector. This letter outlines the key priorities that must be addressed to prevent further harm—and stresses that if CBAM continues to do more harm than good, aluminium should be removed from its scope entirely.

We welcome the growing public awareness around circularity and recycling. The context is urgent: nine in ten people worldwide consider plastic waste a major environmental issue, on par with climate change. Yet awareness alone is not enough — changing behaviour is key. Evidence shows that convenience and incentives are crucial to improving recycling habits, with 71% of people supporting adjustments to deposit fees by container size, reflecting a clear preference for fair and impactful solutions. This study positions Deposit Return Schemes (DRS) as more than a collection mechanism: they serve as a bridge between consumer behaviour and genuine circularity, while also highlighting an awareness gap that must be addressed to achieve a fully circular system.