European Bioplastics forecasts growth despite headwinds, calls for political backing

07 Dec 2022 --- European Bioplastics (EUBP) is revealing a “significant” increase in bioplastic production capacity from approximately 2.23 million metric tons in 2022 to 6.3 million metric tons in 2027. At the 17th EUBP Conference, the organization is spotlighting that the bioplastics industry is predicted to gain momentum after a period of stagnation in 2020 due to challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The positive development of bioplastics production capacity needs to be seen within the wider global context of a climate crisis, rising energy costs and disrupted value chains,” says Hasso von Pogrell, managing director at EUBP.

“Yet, despite these challenges, bioplastics production capacity is growing. Once again, this shows the resilience and importance of our industry.”

EUBP shares that packaging remains the largest field of application for bioplastics, with 48% of the total market share. Moreover, in terms of geographical division, Asia remains a central production hub, with slightly over 40% of bioplastics produced in that region. 

European production
Presently, a fourth of the global production capacity is still located in Europe, according to EUBP data.

However, Europe’s share and the share of other world regions are expected to decrease significantly within the next five years. In contrast, Asia is predicted to pass 60% by 2027.

“We will see an impressive increase in bioplastics production over the next few years. However, the big question is, does Europe still want to play a significant role in the world league of bioplastics, or does it give up its leadership in innovative sustainable materials?” questions Von Pogrell.

“Investment into infrastructure and research requires the right political and economic framework conditions. Therefore, the European policymakers should use the many initiatives related to the European Green Deal to acknowledge and promote biobased and compostable plastics,” he continues.

Accelerating bioplastic developments
EUBP shares that the development of bioplastics is driven by rising demand combined with the emergence of more sophisticated applications and products.

Due to a strong development of polymers, such as PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoates), polylactic acid (PLA), biobased PAs (polyamides), as well as a steady growth of biobased PP, the production capacity will continue to increase significantly and diversify within the next five years.

The land used to grow the renewable feedstock for the production of bioplastics is estimated to be 0.8 million hectares in 2022 and continues to account for only just over 0.01% of the global agricultural area of 5 billion hectares. Along with the estimated growth of global bioplastics production in the next five years, the land use share for bioplastics will increase to less than 0.06%.

“This share is still minimal in relation to the available agricultural area. Thus, there is no competition between the renewable feedstock for food and feed and the production of bioplastics,” says Von Pogrell.

“Over 90% of the global agricultural area is used for pasture, feed and food. This is also crucial in the political debate regarding land used for biobased industries.”

Edited by Radhika Sikaria