Trends in recycling
The plastics industry – comprising PlasticsEurope, EuPC, EuPR and EPRO – has published its 18 th report on trends in production, demand and recovery of plastics called the Compelling Facts about Plastics 2007. Recykling is one of the most important parts in this document.
The reporting of recycling performance in this report is done on a Member State level. It reflects the amount of material collected for recycling, whether this material later crosses borders within the EU, is sent overseas to countries such as China or India, or stays in its country of origin.
Within Europe there is much cross-border movement of material for recycling, which reflects the trade within the EU. For example the proportion of imported waste treated by recyclers in Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands is in the range of 3 5-45%.
Export of post-consumer plastic waste from EU27+NO/CH continued to increase to an estimated total of 0.65 million tonnes in 2 007 (up 3 0% over 2 006). This represents 13 % of all waste collected for recycling – which is comparable to other materials. Ensuring that recycling of exported waste takes place in certified and authorised facilities is of the utmost importance for the credibility of the EU as well as for consumer confidence.
The collection rate for mechanical recycling of postconsumer plastics waste increased 1 % over 2 006 to 20.1% in 2 007. This represents an increase of 0.5 million tonnes, giving an EU27+NO/CH total of 4.9 million tonnes. This increase is fuelled by higher polymer prices and improved collection and sorting technology. The recycling capacity of the European recycling industry is estimated to be still higher to enable all collected material to be treated in Europe.
A big part of this increase was achieved through the increase in packaging streams such as PET bottles, industrial packaging film and PVC products via the programme Vinyl 2 010. As there is still the potential to collect more from these streams across Member States, it is important to continue efforts to drive these streams towards their full potential.
Crates and pallets are two streams where recycling is well above 90%. This successful “closed loop” is threatened by changes in the EU legislation linked to the heavy metal content of these products. Without the derogation extension to continue to recycle and keep the heavy metals safely in the plastic a huge quantity of recyclable plastics could be obsolete. Industry is working towards a controlled scheme to monitor the renewal of the derogation.
In addition countries like the UK are seeking increased recycling from the mixed plastics stream (i.e. the household plastics stream excluding bottles). The plastics industry is engaged in this initiative and supports extended ecoefficient recycling. However infrastructure and demography varies across Member States, and therefore solutions will not be the same in different countries. For example Austria and the Netherlands have taken the opposite decision to the UK and decided not to collect mixed plastics but instead to recover this stream through energy recovery.
A packaging application with a good recycling track record is the plastic bottle. Such bottles can be made of PET, PE, PP or PVC. 43% of all used PET bottles were collected for recycling in 2 007. This amounts to 1 .2 million tonnes/year. The EU27+NO/CH countries demonstrate huge variations, from below 1 0% for some countries to nearly 70% for countries such as Austria or Belgium based on no deposit system. In countries with deposit systems recycling rates of over 90% are being achieved. If the performance of e.g. Belgium could be matched, then the potential exists to increase recycling by about 1 million tonnes/y across
EU27+Norway and Switzerland. The system in Belgium is based on co collection of bottles, metal containers and drink cartons. Bottles are separated out in sorting plants.
Recyclers then reprocess the separated plastics. As the quantity of recycled bottles increases, the traditional markets for reprocessed material, fibre and strapping, become saturated. Work is underway in a number of countries to close the bottle loop i.e. to use the reprocessed PET and HDPE for new bottles and also for food applications.
This bottle- to-bottle recycling will open up a big market for recyclates if the requirements for e.g. food approval can be met. EFSA – the European Food Safety Agency - has published guidelines for applicants for the safety evaluation of recycled plastics to be used in contact with food. The new European regulation on plastics (EC 2 82/2008) requires that recycled plastics used in contact with food should only be obtained from processes which have been assessed for safety by EFSA.
