Don’t waste Europe’s recycling – POLITICO

European farmers are not alone in their outrage at the threat of low-cost, unfair competition and pricing that risks destroying their livelihoods.

Europe’s packaging recycling industry is facing a similar existential crisis.

We are not burning tires or throwing piles of steaming manure into parliamentary seats, but we are showing signs that European parliamentarians have forgotten which side they are on. I share the frustration of the agricultural fraternity.

In our case, the threat to our industry’s survival is all too real as a result of unfair competition from Asia.

The recycling rate for plastic packaging waste in Europe has historically been around 35%.[1]but there hasn’t been much progress beyond the waste stream of clear bottles that are easy to recycle.

The crux of the problem is that there are no recycled content requirements outside of Europe, and some countries, such as China, even ban recycled content in their food and drink packaging. Therefore, unlike in Europe, plastic waste has little or no value in the majority of countries, so it can flow into Europe at low cost in the form of recycled polymers, and Europe’s recycling infrastructure has , the incentive to increase recycling remains zero or negative.

Negotiations between EU legislators at a critical stage on the new Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) are considering a solution. PPWR aims to establish healthy recycling content and recycling rate requirements for the EU, creating a strong supply and demand market. The adoption of the new rulebook positions Europe to take global leadership in the transition to a circular economy.

But as always, the devil is in the details.

In retrospect, many European and Western countries will end up exporting significant amounts of plastic waste to the East. But the Chinese government, tired of being the world’s trash can, banned imports of plastic waste seven years ago. The EU is currently sending significant amounts of plastic waste in our direction in the form of recycled polymers, and as a result it finds itself becoming China’s trash can.

These imports undermine the EU’s competitiveness and jeopardize the environmental objectives of the EU Green Deal.

Allowing waste from third countries to count towards EU recycling targets would reduce incentives to collect and recycle more waste in Europe. The cost of recycling in Europe is already significantly higher. This is because materials that are easy to recycle are already recycled. This means innovation and investment is needed to scale up collection, sorting and recycling of materials that are more difficult to recycle, such as mixed plastic packaging and textiles. .

But if third country waste counts towards EU targets, there is no incentive to collect and invest in more in Europe. Therefore, without further investment in the EU’s recycling infrastructure, the EU will never be able to achieve its recycling rates, and will also increase the demand for used materials not only in packaging but also in other large sectors such as textiles. Nor will they be able to build up the capacity needed to handle it. And ultimately, the incineration of recyclable plastic waste will continue and increase.

Looking ahead, the European Commission has deliberately required in the new PPWR regulation that recycled content targets be based on waste generated in the EU, to ensure sufficient investment in the EU’s recycling infrastructure. . This reflects the principle that each region must dispose of the waste it generates.

Some multinational industries would like to ease this important requirement to source recycled content from locally generated waste. They insist on applying vague and self-defeating “free trade” rules and are pressing lawmakers to expand the current definition to include waste from non-EU countries.

“It is important to ensure that PPWR first and foremost taps demand for recycled plastics for packaging arising from waste collected and processed within the EU. This will be a major blow to circular value chains, which are trying to turn green targets into concrete investments that create the local green industry jobs that Europe so desperately needs.” Sophie Sicard, European Recycling Industry Chairman of the plastic recycling division of the EuRIC Federation.

The irony is that there are multiple policy proposals that address regional circularity needs without unduly impacting trade flows for finished or fully packaged goods.

the threat is real

Approximately 100 factories based outside the EU are currently registered with the European Commission for food contact applications within the EU, but none have recycled content requirements in their home market — Figure 1 See.

Impact on the industry

Europe’s ability to recycle packaging material would be severely compromised if the policy were to broadly encompass waste from all parts of the world. Not only will future recycling investments be halted, but existing recycling capacity will also be slowed down or stopped. In just a few weeks, we witnessed the bankruptcy of Dutch plastic waste recycler Umincorp and Swedish textile recycler Renewcel. The inclusion of waste from non-EU countries would clearly contradict the objectives of this landmark policy, which aims to wipe out Europe’s waste and establish the world’s first circular economy for plastics. Become.

“For more than 30 years, European plastic recyclers have been creating value and resources from the waste they collect. They are committed to environmental sustainability, respect for workers’ rights and opportunities for local economic growth. This sector needs clear signals of support to continue, or it will disappear. To survive and grow. , all we need to invest is a stable and reliable demand for recycled plastics in Europe.” Paolo Campanella, Director General of the European Waste Management Association (FEAD).

Europe’s plastic recyclers have invested hundreds of millions of euros to meet recycling targets, but are now forced to operate below capacity, with no signs of recovery in sight by 2024. From 2018 to 2022, the sector expanded its recycling capacity for PET by 50 percent and reduced its recycling capacity for other plastic types by around 90 percent in anticipation of the new demand created by Europe’s circular economy.

We are calling on European legislators to do the right thing during what could be the final round of negotiations on new regulations next week. They should develop policies to deal with waste in Europe and insist that only post-consumer plastic waste from the EU counts towards recycled content targets.

We believe that while third-party verification is important, it is simply not sufficient on its own to enable the regional circulation envisioned by PPWR. However, robust validation combined with provisions requiring local waste will yield a superior system for achieving the targeted environmental benefits intended by PPWR.

“The critical situation in the plastics recycling sector reflects the general situation in the industry in the European Union: a worrying situation in a geopolitical situation where not all countries are playing by the same rules. Environmental goals that cannot be achieved without a lack of competitiveness and further legislative action.” Ton Emans, President of Plastics Recyclers Europe.

Our position is shared by everyone who wants a future for our industry in Europe, and we are not alone in this view. Indeed, on February 20, 2024, more than 400 European companies signed the Antwerp Declaration, a European industrial agreement to complement the Green Deal and preserve quality jobs in Europe.

This is the way forward.

PPWR cannot be a game changer unless it reassures the EU plastics recycling industry that we are serious about finding solutions for our own waste and thereby establishing a circular economy. not. Only this is the starting point for achieving a step change in plastic recycling rates.

A healthy recycling value chain in the EU is essential to achieving plastic sustainability, circularity and climate neutrality. Policies adopted by EU legislators must help achieve this.

[1] Source: SystemIQ EU Circularity White Paper 2023