A survey exploring the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on recycled plastic materials (rPM) has been issued by the European Plastics Converters trade association (EuPC) – a group that represents plastics reprocessors and recyclers across Europe.
The survey follows the results of the EuPC’s third survey in February and will provide a comprehensive view on the use of rPM in Europe prior to and during the Covid-19 pandemic. The survey is open to all plastics converting companies in Europe and can be accessed on the Polymer Comply Europe website.
After the success of the first two editions of the survey conducted in 2017 and 2018 with more than 860 participants from all over Europe, the full publication of the EuPC’s third survey report was postponed in order to include up-to-date information on how Covid-19 would impact the use of plastic in Europe.
Results for both surveys will now be published in November 2020 and the results from previous editions are available to access for free on the website of Polymer Comply Europe.
The EU has made a lot of progress in recent years surrounding the issue of plastic waste and the uptake of recycled polymers and the new survey will explore the full extent of the impact of Covid-19 on the plastics supply chain.
Over the past two years, the EU has begun to make plastic waste a priority with its launch of its Plastics Strategy in 2018, which aimed to build markets for recycled plastic to pull plastic through the system, while reducing plastic waste and limiting the use of single-use plastics. This was followed with a vote in the European Parliament to ban some single-use plastics in March 2019, which would stop products such as straws and cotton buds being sold on the EU market.
Looking ahead, a tax on plastics is due to begin in January 2021. This tax sets a cost of €800 per tonne of non-recycled plastic packaging waste, which will be paid by member states into the EU’s general budget to support its €750-billion coronavirus recovery fund agreement. Clamping down on plastic waste has been a common theme in latest deals made within the EU including the European Green Deal and the Circular Economy Plan.
You can view EuPC’s survey on the effects of Covid-19 on the use of recycled polymers on the Polymer Comply Europe website.
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