WASHINGTON, DC (May 1, 2026) — In response to a private letter sent by 138 corporations urging European leaders to delay and weaken the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR),  Lindsey Jurca , Greenpeace USA Senior Campaigner, said: “Strip away the legalese, and what you have is a polluter’s wish list. US-headquartered McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Kraft Heinz, Mondelez, McCormick, Molson Coors, and Ball Corporation are asking EU leaders to delay a PFAS ban on food packaging, ditch the 2030 phase-out of single-use plastics, and dismantle the reuse targets at the very heart of the regulation. Four months before the law takes effect, these companies are crying ‘legal uncertainty’ and ‘European competitiveness’ as a smokescreen for what this really is: a coordinated campaign including US-headquartered polluters to drag Europe back to the lowest common denominator they’re used to at home.

“PFAS harms should alarm people on both sides of the Atlantic. These are forever chemicals linked to cancer, immune damage, and reproductive and developmental harm. Europe is finally acting to keep them out of packaging that touches our food, while McDonald’s and Coca-Cola are actively lobbying to delay the move. There is no version of corporate responsibility that includes lobbying to keep toxic chemicals in kids’ Happy Meals.

“Taking a page out of the playbook Big Plastic has run in the U.S. for years, the signatories hold up recycling as the solution — claiming it’s superior to reuse — despite the fact that, on average, less than 43% of the EU’s plastic gets recycled. Coca-Cola alone produces more than 110 billion single-use plastic bottles a year, most of which will never make it inside a recycling plant. It takes a special kind of nerve to pollute at that scale, watch their bottles wash up on shorelines, and then tell Europe that reuse ‘doesn’t work.

“August 12 is a test of whether Europe lets American polluters influence its rules. European leaders should hold the line. The world is watching. A future free of plastic pollution and toxic forever chemicals is possible, but rides on governments brave enough to stand up to corporate bullies.”

Contacts:

Tanya Brooks, Senior Communications Specialist at Greenpeace USA, [email protected].

Greenpeace USA Press Desk: [email protected]  

Greenpeace USA (Inc.) is part of a global network of independent campaigning organizations that use peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future. Greenpeace USA is committed to transforming the country’s unjust social, environmental, and economic systems from the ground up to address the climate crisis, advance racial justice, and build an economy that puts people first. Learn more at www.greenpeace.org/usa.