Plastics Europe has published its biennial ‘The Circular Economy for Plastics: A European Analysis’ report.
The data provides an overview of European plastics production, conversion, consumption, and waste management, and includes an analysis of plastics production from non-fossil sources, and recycling technologies in 2022.
Overall, the report confirms that the transition towards higher circularity increased significantly between 2018 and 2022.
The use of post-consumer recycled plastics increased by 70% to 6.8 million tonnes (Mt), while the plastics recycling rate reached 26.9%. Circular plastics content in new products hit a new high of 13.5% in 2022.
19.7% of Europe’s total plastics production was circular, 13.2% of which was mechanically recycled post-consumer, 5.4% pre-consumer, 1% bioplastics, and 0.1% chemically recycled.
Germany was the top country for circular production in absolute terms, followed by Italy, Spain, UK, Poland, Netherlands, and Belgium. In relative terms, Italy showed the best results with 29.4% of its production being circular, followed by the UK with 22.4%, Spain 20.1%, Poland 19.2%, Germany 13.3%, France 11.9%, Netherlands 6.7%, and finally Belgium with 2.8%.
Plastics production via mechanical recycling has increased by more than 57% since 2018 (7.7 Mt in 2022). Chemical recycling, on the other hand, accounted for only 0.1% of European plastics production (~0.1 Mt).
“The continent-wide roll-out of chemical recycling, as a complementary solution to mechanical recycling, is essential to meet ambitious mandatory recycled content targets for applications and industries that require high-quality plastics,” said Virginia Janssens, Managing Director of Plastics Europe. She added that a ‘green light’ and ‘clarity’ from EU policymakers on the acceptance of chemical recycling and adoption of the fuel-exempt mass balance attribution method are urgently needed ramp up investment in the technology.
Despite the overall progress, the report identifies issues and challenges that need to be addressed. Incineration, for example, increased by more than 15% since 2018 (16 Mt in 2022), and about 25% of plastics waste is still sent to landfill (7.6 Mt in 2022). The report also confirms the growing competitiveness gap between Europe and the rest of the world. Europe’s share of global plastics production dropped from 22% in 2006 to 14% in 2022.
“Whilst the data confirms the shift to circularity is firmly established and picking up pace, it is frustrating that we still incinerate so much plastics waste when this potential feedstock is desperately needed by our industry to accelerate the transition,” Janssens said. “Without urgent action to increase the availability of all circular plastics feedstocks we cannot maintain the current rate of progress and realise the ambitions of our ‘Plastics Transition’ roadmap and the EU Green Deal.”
The report says that increased investment in sorting and recycling capacities, including in chemical recycling, is needed to maximise recycling rates. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes to increase separate waste collection and other mandatory measures to incentivise mixed waste sorting will also be very important, according to Plastics Europe. Fostering market demand for circular plastics resins can also play a vital role in encouraging the necessary investment, the association said.