A new report has argued that the European Union (EU) can achieve a plastics recycling target of 62 per cent by 2020 if it implements a number of resource efficient changes.

The report was commissioned by industry group Plastics Recyclers Europe (PRE) with research from BIO Intelligence Services, and was released on Thursday (12 September).

It claims that in 2012 only 24 per cent of Europe’s plastics were collected for recycling, a figure it calls ‘no longer acceptable’. Indeed, Tom Emans, President of PRE, argues: “In the long run, economic growth, demographic changes and growing scarcity of raw materials will not allow Europe the luxury of wasting 76 per cent of all plastic materials used. Urgent measures are needed in order to increase recycling rates for plastics.”

Plastic recycling levels poor

The report first examines the existing plastics recycling situation. It finds that improvements in waste collection, technological advancements by recyclers and behavioural changes among the public at large have contributed to an overall growth in volume of recycled plastics.

However, it points out that the recycling rate for plastics is still low when compared to other materials, and that there is therefore much room for improvement. Indeed, a recent report from the European Recovered Paper Councilfound that European nations recycled 71.7 per cent of their paper in 2012. The same report found that 74 per cent of steel was recycled, alongside 70 per cent of glass and 67 per cent of aluminium.

‘Vision for Resource Efficiency’

The report then sets out to determine ‘the best pathway to increased recycling’ and introduces what it terms the ‘Vision for Resource Efficiency’ (VRE). It considers three possible options and judges them on whether they maximise environmental, economic and social benefits. The three pathways are:

• Baseline: no further major changes in waste management systems in the period to 2020;
• Implementation: full implementation of all existing EU waste legislation including a 50 per cent municipal solid waste plastics recycling rate by 2020;
• Vision for Resource Efficiency: all recyclable plastics are made available to recyclers, a 62 per cent recycling rate is achieved, residuals are recovered for energy production and landfilling is prohibited for any recyclable plastics by 2020.

It concludes that the latter option is preferable in attempting to ‘move Europe towards sustainability for plastics’.

By adopting the VFE, the report argues that a number of benefits would be brought to the plastics recycling sector and the wider economy. These would include diverting 24 million tonnes of plastic waste from landfill, recovering energy from 7.5 million tonnes of residual waste, as well as putting 11 million tonnes of plastic recyclates on the market.

PRE also states that such a move would eventually support 360,000 jobs (including 120,000 directly employed by recyclers), save over €4.5 billion (£3.7 billion) by replacing virgin plastics, and avoid 26 million tonnes of CO2 emissions.

Recommendations

In order to achieve this, the report urges European governments and institutions to ban the landfilling of plastic waste and improve the ecodesign of products by giving greater consideration to the recyclability of the product and the level of recycled content used in its production.

It then argues that plastic waste should be collected separately from other streams, before being efficiently sorted in order to create an appropriate quality for recycling. Sorted plastic waste should then be sent to certified plastics recyclers.

The report’s final suggestion for implementing the VFE is to send plastics that are left over from the recycling process to energy recovery.

Shailendra Mudgal, Executive Director of BIO Intelligence Service, commented on the plastics recycling situation, both in the present and future: “The use of natural resources in the world is expected to quadruple by 2050 and at the current rate of depletion, the world cannot satisfy demand for resources from virgin materials alone.

“Recycling has been at the centre stage of the environmental policy for several decades and the use of waste as resource has been highlighted again by the EU Resource Efficiency roadmap.

“I hope that this study will contribute in developing new ideas and an ambitious strategy for plastics recycling in the EU and help the EU in moving forward towards a resource efficient society.”

PRE President Tom Emans added: “This study… aims to put forward the most suitable scenario in order to further improve the sustainability of plastics via recycling in Europe in the period to 2020. Enhancing plastics recycling will save scarce resources, create jobs and reduce environmental impacts.”

Read the PRE plastics recycling report.