PlasticsEurope und IK Industrievereinigung Kunststoffverpackungen signed the Circular Plastics Alliance Declaration
Last week, more than 100 companies and associations from the entire plastics value chain joined the Circular Plastics Alliance. With the signing of the declaration in Brussels, all participants reaffirm the EU Commission’s goal of using ten million tonnes of recycled plastic in new products by 2025 and send a strong signal in the direction of a recycling economy.
Further cornerstones are improvements in the formulations and design of plastic products in the direction of optimised recyclability. The aim is to ensure that significantly more recycled materials can be found in products in the future than is currently the case. An important step in this direction is also the identification of previously unused potentials within the value chain and in waste management with which EU-wide progress can be achieved in the collection, sorting and recycling of plastic waste.
An important pillar in this respect is to gain detailed insights into the plastic material flows through to waste. To this end, the Plastics Value Chain, under the aegis of PlasticsEurope, regularly produces the plastics material flow chart for Germany and Europe.
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We were glad to participate in the Circular Plastics Alliance (CPA) meeting last week and signed the Declaration. Ensuring higher rates of reuse and recycling is the overriding focus of our Voluntary Commitment – Plastics 2030”, said Dr. Rüdiger Baunemann, Managing Director PlasticsEurope Deutschland. “By joining the CPA, PlasticsEurope confirms its intention to work collectively with the other signatories towards the ambitious aim that by 2025 10 million tonnes of recycled plastics will find their way into new products on the EU market.”
Strategy to improve circular economy
In the EU Plastics Strategy, the EU Commission had set the target of using around 10 million tonnes of recycled plastics in plastic products by 2025, which corresponds to around 20 percent of the use of new goods in the EU (as of 2017). Last year, the Commission launched a campaign calling on plastics recyclers and major distributors of plastic products in particular to communicate their individual targets for the use of recycled materials in the form of pledges by September 2018.
EU-Kommissar Frans Timmermans vor der Plenum Circular Plastics Alliance
As a result of this action it turned out that recyclers would be able to provide about 11 million tonnes of recycled material by 2025. On the part of the distributors of plastic products, commitments amounting to 6.4 million tonnes were available. In order to bridge the “gap” of 3.6 million tonnes with the targeted 10 million tonnes, the EU Commission, i.e. DG GROW, which is responsible for industry, has set up a complex process to develop potential reserves with the “Circular Plastics Alliance”.
Plastics Strategy with „Carrot and stick”
Since February, 30 European associations from the entire value chain, including EuPC and Petcore Europe, have been working together under the leadership of Vice-President Katainen on a declaration presented on 20 September. The declaration covers the Alliance’s programme in the areas of collection and sorting, design-for-recycling, recyclate use, research and development and monitoring.
Dr. Jürgen Bruder, Managing Director of IK Industrievereinigung Kunststoffverpackungen added “We also participated in the work on behalf of EuPC. The Commission calls this alliance “Carrot”. However, if the target of 10 million tonnes is not achieved, sticks will be the order of the day. What this means should be clear to everyone: binding recycling quotas. After all, such quotas for beverage bottles were recently decided within the framework of the “Single Use Plastics” directive.”
For more detailed information we recommend the EU-Info on the Circular Plastics Alliance.