Plastics Recyclers Europe (PRE) has published its 2023 mapping of installed capacities across the continent (EU 27 member states plus the UK, Switzerland, and Norway).
Following the trend from 2022, growth in installed plastic recycling capacity continued to slow down in 2023 to 6% year-on-year. The previous year the growth rate stood at 10%, down from 17% in 2021.
Total installed recycling capacity reached 13.2 million tonnes, up from 12.5 million tonnes in 2022. PRE estimates Europe’s installed chemical recycling capacity at 150,000 tonnes, with pyrolysis being the dominant technology.
Overall, the association estimates that Europe would require an installed capacity of 16 million tonnes by 2025 to reach the recycled content targets set on the PPWR.
“The challenges the EU's plastic recycling sector faced in 2022 have been confirmed by the latest figures for 2023,” said Ton Emans, President of Plastics Recyclers Europe. “Additionally, investments have halved, with only €500 million in 2023 compared to €1 billion that were injected in 2022.”
Industry in numbers
For the first time, turnover decreased 12.5% compared to 2022, reaching an estimated €9.1 billion. The report looks at 850 different recycling sites across Europe, employing around 30,000 workers.
Polyolefin films continue to lead in installed recycling capacities, with more than 3.5 million tonnes in 2023, or 26%. PET followed with 24% share, HDPE and PP rigid with 13% each, PVC with 9%, mixed plastics with 6%, ELV-WEEE plastics (end-of-life vehicles and electrical and electronic equipment waste) 6%, and finally PS and EPS 2%.
ELV-WEEE plastics registered a 15% growth rate in 2023, pushed by a new 25% recycled content target proposed by the EU.
Within this segment, one-third of the recycling infrastructure is devoted to end-of-life vehicles (ELV), mainly bumpers, whereas the remaining two-thirds refer to Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE).
Amongst WEEE, the most treated categories in the recycling plants are Small Domestic Appliances (SDA) and Cooling Freezing Appliances (CFA), followed by IT equipment, lighting equipment, and other specific categories.
Countries
Germany, Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, and France remained the countries with the highest installed capacity in EU27+3, accounting for 60% of the total. They are followed by the Netherlands, Poland, and Belgium.
Spain has the highest installed recycling capacity for polyolefin films, partly thanks to its strong agriculture sector, followed by Germany and Poland.
Spain, Germany, and Italy concentrate half of the total recycling capacity in Europe for HDPE. Germany, Benelux, and Spain have 50% share for PP.
Germany, Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, and France devoted between 20% and 30% of their recycling capacity PET. Germany has Europe’s highest installed capacity to recycle PVC, followed by the United Kingdom, Benelux, and France.
France, the United Kingdom, and Germany have more than 100,000 tonnes each to recycle ELVWEEE plastics. Spain and Germany remained the leading countries with the most extensive recycling infrastructure devoted to PS and EPS segments in 2023.