Revisions to the European Commission’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (PPWD; see Plasteurope.com of 13.03.2018) aim to devise a way to reuse or recycle all packaging on the EU market by 2030. Industry association PlasticsEurope (Brussels / Belgium; www.plasticseurope.org) has recently said that the revisions made to the PPWD are “a key piece of legislation for the transition to a circular economy for plastics”, and added that its members support the commission’s proposal for a mandatory EU recycled content target for plastics packaging. It is now calling for a mandatory target of recycled content in packaging to be 30% by 2030.

“We welcome the revision of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive EU legislation that is key to the transition to a circular economy for plastics. European plastics producers support the European Commission’s proposal for a mandatory EU recycled content target for plastics packaging, and are today calling for a target of 30% for plastics packaging by 2030.”

The association advises that ramping up chemical recycling is essential to achieving the mandatory target: “For example, our members’ planned investments in this vital technology and infrastructure range from EUR 2.6 bn by 2025 to EUR 7.2 bn by 2030 in Europe.” Just a few months ago, European plastics producers had planned to spend big on the development and expansion of chemical recycling (see Plasteurope.com of 29.07.2021). Earlier this year, the association had formed “PolyREC”, a system to monitor, verify and report plastics recycling and uptake data across Europe (see Plasteurope.com of 24.03.2021). And in January this year, market research firm Smithers had released an analysis of chemical recycling’s potential (see Plasteurope.com of 12.01.2021).

Trade association European Plastics Converters (EuPC, Brussels / Belgium; www.plasticsconverters.eu), however, warns PlasticsEurope of the consequences of placing risks of structural change unilaterally on the shoulders of plastic converters (their customers) without looking into alternative possibilities to increase recycled content. “In the food packaging sector, for example, the technical and legal prerequisites for the use of recycled materials are not yet in place. This would seriously jeopardise the economic existence of thousands of medium-sized plastics processors and packaging users in Europe and their investments into circularity.”

EuPC thus calls for a fair distribution of legal obligations along the value chain and a recognition of chemical recycling by the EU and national authorities. EuPC president Renato Zelcher said, “To safeguard against supply bottlenecks, plastics producers should be obliged to put a correspondingly high proportion of recyclates or circular polymers on the EU market. Legal substitution quotas for virgin plastics are also the means of choice for this. Appropriate concepts are already being worked on.”