Research firm Eunomia has brought forward data suggesting Spain is manipulating its single use plastic bottles collection rates.
In a new report commissioned by environmental groups Zero Waste Europe and the Spanish Zero Waste Alliance, Eunomia has calculated that 2021 figures released by Spain’s packaging producer responsibility organisation (PRO), Ecoembes, are largely inflated.
Ecoembes claims a 71% separate collection rate for small plastic bottles in 2021, but Eunomia’s calculations put the rate at only 36%, well below the ambitious 70% target mandated by Spanish law for 2023.
The European Union’s Single Plastics Directive legislation imposes a 77% separate collection rate target by 2025, and of 90% by 2029. Spain has transposed those targets into national law, and additionally implemented interim targets of 70% by 2023 and 85% by 2027. Its legislation requires that a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) be set up if the 2023 interim target is not met.
Calculations
Three key figures are needed to calculate the separate collection rate in Spain: (1) the total amount of PET plastic bottles below 3 litres placed on the market, (2) the amount of bottles collected from municipal yellow bins, and (3) the amount of bottles collected ‘fuera del holgar’, i.e. material collected from large employers, hospitals, airports, concert venues, etc., by a private contractor. The separate collection rate is calculated by adding (2) and (3) and dividing the sum by (1).
Bottles placed on the market
Ecoembes reports that a total of 154 kt of PET bottles up to 3 litres were declared as placed on the market in 2021.
Eunomia disputed this figure noting that it does not account for ‘free riding’- PET bottles placed on the market without being officially reported - something ‘all stakeholders agree on’, the research firm says in its report.
Assuming 15% of the total as a ‘credible figure’ for undeclared material, Eunomia’s estimate of (1) is raised to 178 kt. Making just this input change to the formula would reduce the separate collection rate reported by Ecoembes to 62%. This is already below the 70% target for 2023 established in Law 7/2022.
Bottles collected from municipal yellow bins
Ecoembles reports that a total of 63 kt of bottles were collected by municipal services in 2021. Given that the number of PET bottles collected from municipal yellow bins is not currently measured directly, a method must be established to calculate it. Eunomia says Ecoembles’ use of unknown assumptions in its method casts the results into doubt.
According to Eunomia, a weight equivalent of at most 47 kt of PET bottles was collected by municipal services in 2021. The consultancy arrived at this figure by taking the total weight of mixed plastic packaging collected at municipal sorting plants (376 kt) and accounting for moisture, content, and dirt losses (down to 313 kt), sorting a third into PET bales (down to 104 kt), removing non-PET contamination and non-bottle PET (down to 72 kt), removing non-beverage bottles (down to 60 kt), and finally removing beverage bottles larger than 3 litres (down to 47 kt).
Combined with the higher estimate for placed on the market, this change further reduces the collection rate to 53%.
Bottles collected ‘fuera del holgar’
Ecoembles reports that a total of 47 kt of bottles were collected by private operators in airports, concert venues, etc., in 2021.
Eunomia argues that Ecoembles reporting of ‘fuera del hogar’ material is not transparent, lacking published audits or detailed underlying data. Moreover, reported tonnages are ‘unfeasibly high’ relative to the better understood and analysed municipal yellow bin stream. A small number of Autonomous Communities also appear to account for a very large proportion of the reported tonnage, suggesting a lack of consistency in approaches to reporting, Eunomia added.
The research firm said all the avenues it explored to try to obtain estimates for bottles collected ‘fuera del holgar’ place its estimate in a range of between 9,000 and 18,000 tonnes. Taking 18,000 tonnes as the conservative estimate, the collection rate is finally reduced to 36%.
