The first actions to achieve the target of 10 million tonnes of recycled plastics used in products by 2025 have already been launched. This has been announced by the Circular Plastics Alliance (CPA), the initiative launched in 2018 by the European Commission (EC), which brings together 245 public and private participants covering all the plastics value chains to meet the guidelines of the circular economy in these products.
The actions include a work plan relative to the design for the recycling of plastic products, which lists 19 plastic products to be manufactured by the CPA; a report on collected and sorted plastic waste in the European Union which presents the current situation; and a R&D agenda for circular plastics. The next steps will be taken in January 2021, when the CPA delivers three more actions: a monitoring system to track plastic material flows in Europe; a report on the untapped potential for increased collection, sorting and recycling of plastic waste and the improvements needed to reach the 10 million tonnes target; and a mapping of related investment needs.
Europe is still far from achieving its recycling target
The report published by the CPA estimates that 21 million tonnes of plastic waste are collected annually in Europe from products in the sectors included in the plan itself. Out of the total amount, 7.5 million tonnes are sent to recyclers located in Europe, but only 5.2 million tonnes are recycled, representing a yield of approximately a 70%.
Based on this ratio, it is necessary to sort for recycling about 15 million tonnes per year in order to achieve the target of 10 million tonnes of recycled plastics. Therefore, the CPA will research the untapped potential for increased collection and sorting in Europe in a report that will be published next year.
Other topics of interest: EU must double its capacity to recycle plastic if it is to meet 2030 targets
Challenges in the measuring of quantities and sorting of recycled plastic
The document also reviews the challenges in the current collection and sorting of plastic waste:
- A significant gap between the quantities of plastic and plastic-containing products commercialised in the European market each year and the plastic waste collected during the same period.
- Some of the plastic waste is not recyclable with the current technology and infrastructure. Consequently, an improvement of the technology itself and of the product design is required.
- Some of the recyclable plastic waste is not sorted for recycling. This may be due to a lack of investment in the appropriate infrastructure and equipment or to economic barriers that may lead to a lack of demand for recycled plastics.
Other topics of interest: Why recycling has been declared by BIR as the main solution for the management of plastic waste
CPA calls on authorities to cooperate in waste data collection
At present, there are some limitations on the availability of data, so the CPA will establish a monitoring system that will track the collection, sorting and recycling of plastic waste, as well as the use of plastics. This system aims to improve the information available on plastic waste sorted by type of polymer and market segment.
However, the CPA notes that, in the initial phase, this monitoring system will collect data directly from recyclers and converters but will have to be based on estimates and statistics on the plastic waste collected and from sorting centres. According to a survey carried out by the group, comparable data cannot be collected from centres in Europe because of the diverse organisation of the local collection schemes. The CPA is, therefore, requesting the help of the authorities of the member states with the collection of comparable and consistent data on the waste collected in Europe.
