Europe on course to circular source plastics goals
25 Mar 2024
Europe is almost half way towards its goal of using a quarter of its plastics from circular sources, claims the sector trade association for the continent and the UK.
Plastics Europe’s biennial report found that that circular plastics account for 13.5% in new plastic products manufactured in the region. This is nearly half way towards the end goal of the ‘Plastics Transition’ roadmap of using 25% of plastics from circular sources in new products by 2030.
However the organisation’s The Circular Economy for Plastics: A European Analysis report warned of obstacles to completion including growing rates of incineration resulting from energy recovery of plastics waste used as circular feedstock that could have been recycled.
Plastics Europe MD Virginia Janssens said: “It is frustrating that we still incinerate so much plastics waste when this potential feedstock is desperately needed by our industry to accelerate the transition.”
At present, nearly 27% of European plastics waste is recycled – more than is put into landfill; an important milestone. Recycling however forms only one aspect of circularity, which also include aspects such as maintenance refurbishment, reuse and others.
Plastics Europe warned that growing demand for plastics manufactured from circular feedstocks, would require massively upscaling the collection and sorting of post-consumer plastics waste, plus greater access to biomass and captured carbon.
The data revealed too that use of circular plastics varies by sector, with packaging, building and construction and agriculture sectors ahead of automotive, electricals and electronics.
Mechanical recycling provides the largest source (13.2%) but just 1% derived from bio-based feedstock, while merely 0.1% was chemically recycled.
Said Janssens: “To incentivise the necessary investments and ramp up the deployment of chemical recycling in Europe we urgently need a green light and clarity from EU policymakers. We need legislative acceptance of chemical recycling and the adoption of a Mass Balance attribution method based on a fuel-use exempt model.”
Plastics Europe represents more than 100 companies across all 27 EU member states but also the UK, together with Norway, Switzerland and Turkey.
