— By Elaine Burridge — 

The European Commission must bring forward recycled content targets for plastics in vehicles and reject attempts to postpone or water them down, the European Recycling Industries’ Confederation (EuRIC, Brussels; www.euric-aisbl.eu) has said.

The Council of the European Union and the European Parliament are currently discussing a proposal to revise the End-of-Life Vehicles Regulation (ELVR), which would mandate that new vehicles must contain at least 25% of plastics recycled from post-consumer waste.  

Setting ambitious targets for recovered plastics in vehicles will boost demand and re-incentivise investments in the EU reclaim sector, EuRIC said, noting that plastics recycling businesses are struggling to remain viable due to low demand and prices. 

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According to the trade body, the Joint Research Centre at the European Commission has highlighted that the recycled content targets, 25% of which are closed loop, “provide the best cost-benefit balance, avoid excessive costs and supply shortages, and offer certainty for manufacturing planning”.

“In the absence of a robust mechanism to reward the use of recycled plastics in automotive, the demand for recyclates will remain low and consequently, achieving the 30% recycling rate for ELV plastics will not be possible,” EuRIC warned. 

It is urging the EU legislator to bring forward the minimum 25% recycled plastics content target to four years after the regulation’s entry into force, instead of the six years currently proposed. 

EuRIC is also calling for the ELVR to require “robust” certification of recycled content that covers environmental, human health, and social aspects in order to ensure fair competition on international markets. Especially when it comes to imports from outside of the EU, these requirements are an issue for recycled plastics for food applications as well. “When in doubt, avoid imported goods,” German recycling expert Herbert Snell recently said in an interview with Plasteurope.com.

With the auto industry seen as a considerable contributor to plastics pollution, market players see the mandate for 25% recycled plastics content as an important step towards circularity.

However, many polymers used in car manufacturing pose a challenge for both mechanical and chemical recycling processes, reportedly starting at waste collection and sorting down to ensuring high-quality products.

Another major challenge for carmakers is the availability of recycled material, in particular rPP, since the sector competes with other applications for scarce recyclates.