What future for plastic recycling in a circular and toxic-free economy? – New report
By 
By Recycling, and particularly plastics recycling, is not a panacea to our overuse of natural resources. However, it does have an important role to play in closing the loop, once prevention and reuse options have been exhausted. In a new ECOS report, we set out our recommendations for dealing with plastics recycling and how to close the loop for plastic waste.
We cannot continue our addiction to plastics and simply recycle our way out of the biodiversity and climate crisis, but recycling does have an important role to play. Unfortunately, the reality of plastics recycling today is far away from where it needs to be.
The EU’s linear economy produces 58 million tonnes of plastic per year and generates 30 million tonnes of plastic waste, of which only 9 million are collected for recycling. Out of this, 4 million tonnes cannot be processed because of contamination, additive contents and mixed, low-grade plastic streams. As a result, just 5 million tonnes of plastic are actually recycled.
In addition, most plastics are collected from industrial sources, so are not considered post-consumer plastic. Finally, half of the plastic waste collected for recycling is exported to be treated in countries outside of the EU, sometimes even dumped in developing countries, or mysteriously ‘lost’ at sea.
The solution to realising a circular and toxic-free economy is complex but attainable, and plastic recycling is an important element here. We need an integrated value chain approach as well as rigorous standards.
This ECOS paper provides clear recommendations for policy-makers, standardisers and product designers on how to deal with the complex issue of plastic recycling, and close the loop for plastic waste:
- Foster plastic waste recycling by setting circular design principles for plastics in EU legislation – principles such as toxic-free by design, banning all substances meeting the criteria from the Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) Regulation and substances of very high concern (SVHC) from the REACH Regulation, ban substances hampering reuse and recycling, while increasing transparency through ‘plastic passports’;
- Remove market barriers to the uptake of recycled plastics through a tax on the use of virgin plastics and an effective ban of plastic exports; increase plastic recycled content for longer-lasting products, while debunking the chemical recycling myths and eliminating dubious accounting practices;
- Mandate the review of European standards or the creation of new standards based on an ambitious EU regulatory direction, capitalising on the existing CEN and CENELEC standards;
- Require product manufacturers to consider the full lifecycle of their plastic products, including the sorting and recycling steps, from the design stage on.
Read the full paper HERE.
