Plastics recyclers in Europe have faced a tough past couple of years. The future, however, may be less bleak, Beatriz Santos, associate editor of Sustainable Plastics, says.
“The Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, PPWR, was adopted by the European Parliament at the end of April after years of negotiations. Alongside the Single Use Plastics Directive, it sets targets for recycled content which are sure to increase demand already by 2025 and even more by 2030. This year, for the first time, an EU committee started discussing adopting a fuel-exempt mass balance allocation method for recycled content. That could put Europe at the center of chemical recycling investments,” she said during the June 5 Sustainable Plastics Live webinar discussion co-moderated by Karen Laird, editor of Sustainable Plastics. View the recording below.
Erema’s CEO Manfred Hackl and KBR’s senior technology manager of plastics recycling Przemek Olszynski joined the discussion to share their perspectives ahead of the world’s largest plastics recycling show, PRS Europe.
“The whole plastic recycling industry is [at PRSE], not only the current recycling industry but also everyone who would like to step into it or to learn from the plastic recycling industry,” Hackl said in response to why it is important to attend the show. Commenting on the importance of the PPWR legislation, Hackl said “it is the first time that there is a rough estimation of recycled content in products. That’s something the plastics recycling industry has always wanted to have, because it gives more stability... That is sure to be good for investment, for the industry, for R&D.”
For Olszynski, “the PPWR is the true enabler of the circular plastics industry in Europe. This is the basic tool that should be creating demand…The fact that packaging will have to be made recyclable will help mechanical recyclers a lot. For us in the chemical recycling segment, [the PPWR] is key because of the [recycled targets] on contact sensitive packaging, where we are supposed to be doing most of the job…This should create demand for circular polyolefins of at least half a million pounds by 2030, in the EU alone."