Mind the gap: EU recycling targets in jeopardy warns European Court of Auditors

08 Oct 2020 --- The European Court of Auditors (ECA) is warning there is significant risk the EU will not meet its plastic packaging recycling targets for 2025 and 2030. The review found that new and more accurate recycling reporting rules and a tightening of plastic waste export rules will reduce the EU’s reported recycling rate.

Packaging like yogurt pots and water bottles accounts for around 40 percent of plastic use and over 60 percent of plastic waste generated in the EU. Plastic has the lowest packaging recycling rate in the EU at slightly over 40 percent, ECA highlights.

To address this growing waste problem, the European Commission adopted the Plastics Strategy in 2018, including updating the 1994 Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (PPWD) and doubling the current recycling target to 50 percent by 2025 and 55 percent by 2030.

Only way is down
The PPWD update introduces more rigorous criteria for calculating recycling rates. Current figures are far from accurate or comparable across Member States, ECA is warning.

The new calculation methods should provide a more reliable picture of the actual share of plastic packaging being recycled.

ECA warns that current EU recycling figures are inaccurate and inconsistent across Member States.“The new reporting system will lead to a drop in the EU plastic packaging reported recycling rate from 42 percent at present to around 30 percent,” Samo Jereb, the ECA member responsible for this review, tells PackagingInsights.

“The gap between the EU’s recycling rate and the new targets is therefore all the bigger. Bridging this gap will be harder as the new Basel convention will make exporting plastic packaging waste to third countries much harder.”

According to Jereb, one-third of the EU’s reported plastic packaging recycling rate is currently achieved through export for recycling.

The EU must reverse the current situation and recycle more plastic waste than it incinerates to reach its recycling targets.

“By resuscitating single-use habits amid sanitary concerns, the COVID pandemic shows that plastics will continue to be a mainstay of our economies, but also an ever-growing environmental threat,” Jereb adds.

Filling framework flaws
Over recent years, the EU has been striving to address flaws in its packaging waste framework. The Commission plans to revise the packaging design rules (“essential requirements”), deemed unenforceable in practice.

The revisions could result in better packaging design for recyclability and incentivize reuse, the auditors note.ECA indicates one-third of the EU’s plastic packaging recycling is achieved through exports.

Similarly, new EU rules intend to harmonize and reinforce Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes to promote recyclability. For instance, via fee modulation systems or deposit-return schemes (DRS) and not only for lighter packaging.

“The Plastics Tax will also lead to much greater scrutiny of the reported data on recycling, which should make it more accurate and reliable. The increased focus on the issue of plastic packaging waste that a tax would generate could help trigger actions to improve recycling,” Jereb explains.

Basel convention concerns
The challenge of ramping up recycling capacity in the EU is exacerbated by the soon-to-be-applied Basel convention, setting stricter conditions for shipping plastic waste abroad.

Member States are highly reliant on non-EU countries to manage their plastic packaging waste and reach their recycling targets. Nearly a third of the EU’s reported plastic packaging recycling rate is achieved through shipments to non-EU countries for recycling, ECA reports.

However, most plastic waste shipments will be banned from January 2021. The bans, combined with the lack of capacity to treat this waste within the EU, constitutes another risk to achieving the new targets, the auditors warn.

Regulatory penalties could meet Member States who fail to achieve EU recycling targets.The bans also risk increasing illegal shipping and waste crime, against which the EU framework is too weak, ECA adds.

Opportunities and penalties
The EU’s ambition to improve its plastic packaging recycling reflects the scale of the environmental challenge that plastics pose.

With its new approach, the EU has the opportunity to gain a first-mover advantage and reinforce its position as a global leader in plastic packaging recycling, EPA points out.

However, given the challenges and gaps to be overcome, EU Member States may not meet the new targets.

Regulatory penalties could await Member States who fail to achieve EU recycling targets. “The EU can launch infringement procedures for non-compliance with EU law, but there have not been any financial penalties applied to date for breaches of PPWD,” Jereb tells PackagingInsights.

According to a groundbreaking report by The Pew Charitable Trusts and SYSTEMIQ, on the current trajectory, annual flows of plastic into the ocean could nearly triple by 2040, equating to 29 million metric tons of plastic leakage into the oceans at the cost of US$100 billion to the global economy.

By Joshua Poole