A survey commissioned by Eastman has found that most German and French consumers are concerned about the use of imported plastic waste in products with recycled content.
The Harris Poll, a US-based market research and analytics company, surveyed 1,010 German and 1,010 French adults ages 18 and older between Feb. 22 and 27.
It found that 64% of the Germans surveyed and 59% of the French would be ‘bothered’ if they learnt recycled products were being made with imported plastic waste.
"When asked about the practice of importing waste to create recycled products, more than half of German (59%) and French (56%) consumers say that brands who import plastic waste to create products with recycled content are greenwashing," said Allison Ewell, Vice President, Strategy and Go To Market at The Harris Poll. "This suggests a strong preference for the use of domestic waste to create recycled products."
As for their reasons, 64% of the Germans and 63% of the French surveyed said importing waste to make recycled products offsets the good being done by making recycled products. More than half, 55% and 61% respectively, said they are concerned about the health and safety impacts of those products.
Imports of plastic waste into the European Union has increased significantly in the past years. PET has been particularly affected, with imports increasing by 20% from Q2 2022 to Q2 2023. In an analysis commissioned by Eastman and Plastics Recycling Europe (PRE), Systemiq showed that PET imports to Europe could slash the continent’s recycling rate.
This topic has gained particular importance during the final PPWR talks. In a last minute move pushed by France, the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation text no longer allows post-consumer plastics from outside the EU to contribute to recycled content targets. The text has not yet received the support of the European Commission due to this last minute change.
PRE has been vocal that allowing imported plastic to count towards recycling targets ‘without control and verification mechanisms would further impact an already shrinking and threatened market’.
Systemiq’s analysis also shows that reducing or stopping future investments in Europe's recycling systems would also lead to European greenhouse gas emissions more than doubling by 2040.