The EU could halve virgin plastic use through replacement with recycled polymers by 2030 if current recycling capacity growth continues, according to Ton Emans, the president of industry group Plastics Recyclers Europe.
Emans told the Plastics Recycling Show Europe today that recycled plastic output in the EU, including the UK, increased to 11.3mn t/yr in 2021 from from less than 4mn t/yr in 2014. If capacity growth were to continue, even at a slower rate of 10pc/yr, output of recycled polymers would reach 26mn t/yr by 2030. This would represent around half of the 52mn-53mn t/yr of waste plastic produced in Europe, Emans said.
Emans points out that around 400 companies currently produce less than 10,000 t/yr and therefore have room for expansion, but under 40 companies are at a mature stage with production of more than 40,000 t/yr.
He called for more legislative changes to boost recycled plastics output. He argued for greater end-of-life consideration, which he said would lead to easier to recycle designs, as well as extending the existing EU producer responsibility extension from just packaging, which makes up around 40pc of plastics, to all plastic products.
Emans also suggested that governments introduce separate collection systems for different kinds of plastics as this would reduce sorting related difficulties. With sufficient legislative support, Europe should plan to mandate more than 50pc recycled polymers in new plastic products as capacity continues to grow, he said.
