What future for plastic recycling in a circular and toxic-free economy?
Recycling, and particularly plastics recycling, is not a panacea to our overuse of natural resources. We cannot continue our addiction to plastics and simply recycle our way out of the biodiversity and climate crisis. Having said that, recycling does have an important role to play in closing the loop, once prevention and reuse options - such as refillable packaging - have been exhausted.
The EU’s linear economy produces 58 million tonnes of plastic per year. The EU’s linear economy generates 30 million tonnes of plastic waste, of which only 30% is collected for recycling. Out of this 30%, 4 million tonnes cannot be processed because of contamination and additive contents, as well as mixed, low-grade plastic streams. Then, only 5 million tonnes of plastic are actually recycled, 5 out of the 58 million tonnes we started counting.
The solution to realising a circular and toxic-free economy is complex but attainable, and plastic recycling is a key element here. We need an integrated value chain approach as well as rigorous standards.
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. We say:
- Foster plastic waste recycling by setting circular design principles for plastics in the different sets of EU legislatio.
- Remove market barriers to the uptake of recycled pastics.
- 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.
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