EuPC warns Plastics Europe: Recycled content targets rely on entire value chain

14 Sep 2021 --- European Plastics Converters (EuPC) has warned Plastics Europe that its call for a mandatory EU recycled content target of 30 percent by 2030 is “legitimate and achievable,” but only if the whole value chain shares the responsibility. 

EuPC urges policymakers to avoid placing risks of structural change unilaterally on plastic converters without closely looking into alternative possibilities to increase recycled content in packaging.

Plastics Europe is a pan-European association representing plastics manufacturers active in the European plastics industry. It welcomes the revision of the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive and regards the legislation as key to the transition to a circular economy for plastics.

The association also supports the European Commission’s proposal for a mandatory EU recycled content target for plastics packaging, which it believes should be set at 30 percent for plastics packaging by 2030.

Supply chain concerns
However, EuPC’s president Renato Zelcher argues the introduction of product-related mandatory recycled content could cause supply bottlenecks, as is the case in the recycled PET EU market currently.

“As long as recyclates required by the market are not yet available in sufficient quantities and qualities, there is a big risk of quality impairments and marketing bans for our plastic packaging,” says Zelcher.

“In the food packaging sector, for example, the technical and legal prerequisites for the use of recycled materials are not yet in place. This would seriously jeopardize the economic existence of thousands of medium-sized plastics processors and packaging users in Europe and their investments into circularity.”Plastics Europe wants a mandatory 30% recycled content target for EU plastics packaging by 2030.

Zelcher stresses the circular economy is a shared responsibility and calls for a fair distribution of legal obligations along the value chain and recognition of chemical recycling by the EU and national authorities.

“To safeguard against supply bottlenecks, plastics producers should be obliged to put a correspondingly high proportion of recyclates or circular polymers on the EU market. Legal substitution quotas for virgin plastics are also the means of choice for this. Appropriate concepts are already being worked on,” he adds.

Recognizing chemical recycling
EuPC says it “fundamentally welcomes” innovations in recycling and advocates for open and fair competition between technologies without “ideological blinkers.”

Chemical recycling offers opportunities for the circular economy, it argues, especially where waste streams are mixed and contaminated to the extent that waste can no longer be efficiently sorted and recycled mechanically.

Moreover, chemical processes can deliver recyclates in virgin material quality, helping to close the supply gap in areas like recycled polyolefins for food packaging.

“The mechanical-physical processes cannot do that, at least not yet, but there are innovations here as well,” EuPC indicates. “In the sense of fair competition for the most ecological and economic solution, chemical recycling should be recognized as soon as possible.”

Mastering mechanical recycling
EuPC reiterates plastic packaging manufacturers in Europe are committed to the European Commission’s circular economy targets. The use of recycled plastics in packaging reduces dependence on fossil raw materials and CO2 emissions in packaging production.EuPC urges policymakers to officially recognize chemical recycling as integral to the circular economy.

“To make the closing of the cycle as economical and climate-efficient as possible, we mainly rely on the further expansion of established mechanical recycling in the packaging sector through appropriate design-for-recycling and high-quality collection and sorting of waste,” adds EuPC’s Managing Director Alexandre Dangis.

“Under no circumstances should efforts to expand the separate collection and design-for-recycling be pushed back in the hope that new technologies will make them obsolete in the foreseeable future.”

The European Commission has not yet put forward a proposal for recyclate use quotas but is currently examining various regulatory approaches to increase recyclate use. A first proposal is expected by the end of the year at the earliest.

“We demand that all approaches are subject to an unbiased scientific impact assessment to avoid economic damage as well as ecological mistakes,” continues Dangis.

“Plastic converters are open to discuss and work with polymer producers further and all relevant stakeholders in the months to come in combination with the ongoing work of the EU Commission.”

By Joshua Poole