RECYCLING
EU study sees “multiple economic benefits” / "Complicated" recovery keeps plastics low
Recycling is not simply about finding new uses for spent material, the European Enviroment Agency (Brussels / Belgium; www.eea.europa.eu) stresses in its recent report “Earnings, jobs and innovation: the role of recycling in a green economy”. The 28-page volume, available as a PDF, shows that recycling can have “multiple benefits” for many areas of the European economy, providing raw materials as well as creating jobs while encouraging business opportunities and innovation.
The report notes that recycling already covers a “reasonably large” share of EU material consumption. Remarkably, on the list of materials recycled, plastics are squarely at the bottom, with a share of only 2%, compared with 41% for paper and cardboard, 42% for iron and steel, 10% for aluminium, 28% for other metals, 9% for copper, 8% for concrete, and 4% for E&E. The low position of plastics also extends to the EU’s maximum potential scenario.
The poor figures for plastics are blamed on the “complicated sorting procedure” and the lower quality of the recyclate. Moreover, recycling competes with incineration as the report points out that “significant amounts of energy can be recovered from plastics.” As regards recycling technology, the EU report spotlights some of the most practised methods of collecting and recycling plastics, including infrared sorting technologies, although it does not go into extensive detail.
On the whole, the EU says that revenues from recycling are “substantial and growing fast.” From 2004 to 2008 – the last year for which comprehensive figures are available – the turnover of seven recycling categories, including plastics, in the EU member states nearly doubled to more than EUR 60 bn. Due to the economic downturn, the report says recycling declined sharply at the end of 2008 and the first half of 2009 but “seems to have recovered markedly” since then.
Along with EU waste directives, which have created obligations to recover “increasing percentages of waste,” the authors credit Asian demand with boosting the European recycling economy. Among other factors, the report points to rising unit prices of metal and plastic waste up to 2008 and “the increasing amount of recyclables sorted and placed on the market.” Another economic benefit of recycling, the EU says, is the annual 7% increase in employment in the sector between 2000 and 2007.
New recycling technologies are essential to improve recycling rates along the path to a green economy, says the environment agency. To accelerate the pace, the EU eco-innovation initiative launched last year is making nearly EUR 200m available to finance projects up to 2013, with recycling receiving a large share of the funding. The report warns, however, that although new technologies will be able to deliver “huge benefits,” recycling is not a fix for excess consumption.
e-Service:
European Environment Agency report “Earnings, jobs and innovation: the role of recycling in a green economy” as a PDF document
The report notes that recycling already covers a “reasonably large” share of EU material consumption. Remarkably, on the list of materials recycled, plastics are squarely at the bottom, with a share of only 2%, compared with 41% for paper and cardboard, 42% for iron and steel, 10% for aluminium, 28% for other metals, 9% for copper, 8% for concrete, and 4% for E&E. The low position of plastics also extends to the EU’s maximum potential scenario.
The poor figures for plastics are blamed on the “complicated sorting procedure” and the lower quality of the recyclate. Moreover, recycling competes with incineration as the report points out that “significant amounts of energy can be recovered from plastics.” As regards recycling technology, the EU report spotlights some of the most practised methods of collecting and recycling plastics, including infrared sorting technologies, although it does not go into extensive detail.
On the whole, the EU says that revenues from recycling are “substantial and growing fast.” From 2004 to 2008 – the last year for which comprehensive figures are available – the turnover of seven recycling categories, including plastics, in the EU member states nearly doubled to more than EUR 60 bn. Due to the economic downturn, the report says recycling declined sharply at the end of 2008 and the first half of 2009 but “seems to have recovered markedly” since then.
Along with EU waste directives, which have created obligations to recover “increasing percentages of waste,” the authors credit Asian demand with boosting the European recycling economy. Among other factors, the report points to rising unit prices of metal and plastic waste up to 2008 and “the increasing amount of recyclables sorted and placed on the market.” Another economic benefit of recycling, the EU says, is the annual 7% increase in employment in the sector between 2000 and 2007.
New recycling technologies are essential to improve recycling rates along the path to a green economy, says the environment agency. To accelerate the pace, the EU eco-innovation initiative launched last year is making nearly EUR 200m available to finance projects up to 2013, with recycling receiving a large share of the funding. The report warns, however, that although new technologies will be able to deliver “huge benefits,” recycling is not a fix for excess consumption.
e-Service:
European Environment Agency report “Earnings, jobs and innovation: the role of recycling in a green economy” as a PDF document
16.01.2012 Plasteurope.com [221251-0]
Published on 16.01.2012