09/03/2026.- Natural Mineral Waters Europe (NMWE) has joined more than 70 organisations from across the packaging value chain to call for the upcoming Circular Economy Act (CEA) be grounded in Article 114 TFEU, the EU Internal Market legal basis.
Achieving a truly circular economy requires harmonised rules across the EU. Today, national waste management frameworks remain fragmented, with uneven performance: nearly half of EU countries still landfill over 30% of municipal waste, while in some, rates reach 60-80%. Recycling targets are even more challenging, with only nine Member States on track to meet 2025 goals. Such disparities risk undermining Europe’s environmental ambitions and prevent the creation of a well-functioning Single Market for secondary raw materials.
The recent targeted revision of the Waste Framework Directive failed to address these deep structural shortcomings. The upcoming CEA offers a unique opportunity to set common rules that ensure all Member States, not just the front-runners, deliver on their circular economy commitments.
For the natural mineral water sector, a coherent and predictable regulatory framework is essential to drive investment, innovation, and circularity.
We strongly urge the European Commission to maintain the ambition of the CEA and ensure that the Act will be based on an internal market basis helping to strengthen coherence, legal certainty, and progress toward Europe’s circular and climate‑neutral goals.
Read the joint statement here.