The European Recycling Industries’ Confederation (EuRIC) strongly welcomes the call made by Plastics Europe for a mandatory EU recycled content target for plastics packaging of 30% by 2030, and looks forward to working with the entire packaging value chain to support an ambitious revision of the  Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (PPWD).

As consistently stressed^[1] by EuRIC, European recyclers strongly support mandatory and quantitative recycled content targets for packaging production as an efficient policy instrument to steer the demand for high-quality recycled materials and invest throughout the packaging value chain – from design to end-of-life collection and recycling.  

For Paul Mayhew, President of EuRIC Plastics Recycling Branch, “this call made from the voice of plastics manufacturers is a major step forward towards more circularity in the field of packaging and a recognition that binding recycled content targets in EU legislation are a powerful market signal to scale-up circular value chains. It has proved to be an extremely efficient tool for beverage bottles in pulling the demand for food-grade rPET and de-correlating prices from the ever-fluctuating oil market. Extending such an obligation to plastic packaging at large will give the long-term certainty the packaging value chain needs to scale-up and be in a position to supply high-quality recycled polymers”, he added.

With substantial room to improve the uptake of raw materials from recycling (RMR) in a number of plastic packaging types, the recycling industry looks forward cooperating with the plastics industry to meet such a target by 2030.

Emmanuel KATRAKIS, Secretary General of EuRIC, stressed that “transitioning towards a circular economy is key to achieve climate-neutrality. Binding recycled content targets for plastics and other materials will play a key role in achieving that goal. On top of push-and-pull measures, a comprehensive policy framework that gives an edge to circular value chains in the EU and globally is absolutely essential”, he concluded.

^[1] See for instance EuRIC position paper on the Assessment for the revision of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (PPWD) 94/62/EC.

A variety of associations involved in the used clothing trade around the world have joined forces to dispel myths about the industry. The truth is that the used clothing industry is gaining momentum with tremendous environmental, social, and economic benefits. The industry is working towards a circular economy by offering sustainable solutions for used textiles that will benefit everyone and help to reduce the major environmental impacts caused by the global fashion industry.

EuRIC welcomes the publication of the Fit for 55 Package, which sets in stone the EU’s ambition to cut Greenhouse Gas emissions (GHG) by at least 55% below 1990 levels by 2030 and reach climate neutrality by 2050.

The substitution of extracted raw materials with Raw Materials from Recycling (RMR) saves massive amounts of GHG and energy, on top of being intrinsically resource efficient, and thus has a key role to play in supporting energy intensive industries to decarbonise and become more circular.

Using recycled steel, copper, or aluminium scrap saves respectively 58%, 65%, and 92% of CO2 when compared with extracted raw materials¹. To exemplify the magnitude of these savings, in 2018, the use of 93.8 million tonnes of recycled scrap in steelmaking enabled the saving of 157 million tonnes of CO2. This is equivalent to the emissions released by the automobile traffic in France, Great Britain and Belgium all together.

For Ms. Cinzia Vezzosi, President of EuRIC, “Climate policy and the circular economy goes hand-in-hand. Recyclers expect from the implementation of the Fit for 55 Package a high-level of ambition linked to the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) to support investments in climate neutral and circular industrial value chains. With only 12% of raw materials used by Europe’s industry coming from recycling², strong incentives such as mandatory recycled content or a better framed EU ETS are urgently needed to increase the demand for circular materials usage and send strong signals to the market”, she stressed.

Last but not least, it is equally essential to ensure that the right framework is in place to accelerate the transition towards a circular and climate-neutral economy, while protecting the competitiveness of Europe’s energy intensive industries. In that respect, reciprocity is important to meet the EU’s circular and climate objectives. “European recyclers call for the CBAM to adequately price the carbon footprint of imported semi-finished metal products, but also to level the playing field for raw materials (be them mined or recycled), which are sourced from non-European countries often under environmentally and socially poor conditions”, she added.

EuRIC looks forward to work with the European Parliament and the Council to support an ambitious implementation of the Fit for 55 Package.

¹ EuRIC Metal Recycling Factsheet
² Circular material use rate, EUROSTAT

Metal recycling is indispensable to reach EU’s climate neutrality objectives by 2050 (EU Green Deal) and shifting from a linear to a circular economy (Circular Economy Action Plan 2.0). Metals can - thanks to their intrinsic properties and market value - be indefinitely recycled and for this reason they play a key role in Europe’s sustainable transition. Metal recycling, is not only the most resource efficient option but also the most climate and energy efficient route when compared to the production of metals using primary raw materials¹. Last but not least, given their high value, metals are not littered but collected and recovered to close new material cycles. As a result, metal ores and metal scrap, meeting quality specifications, are commodities priced and traded globally which could help the globe to further close the loop of materials in global value chains and avoid littering related problems.

Europe’s metal recycling industry – which is composed of SMEs and large players – is one of the fastest growing industry, providing local, non-outsourceable jobs. It offers a unique infrastructure of facilities spread all over Europe, that supplies steel mills and smelters located in and outside Europe with quality grade metal scrap which is resource and climate efficient. Metal recyclers’ priorities, as outlined in EuRIC metals strategy, are threefold:

1. Creation of a well-functioning internal and global markets for metals
2. Rewarding metal recycling environmental benefits
3. Increase the intake of commodity-grade metal scrap in metal production

¹Compared to primary production, steel, aluminum and copper recycling save respectively 58%, 92% and 65% of CO2 emissions (FEDEREC, 2017).Compared to primary production, steel, aluminum and copper recycling save respectively 58%, 92% and 65% of CO2 emissions (FEDEREC, 2017).EuRIC Circular Metals Strategy

In regard to the forthcoming Commission’s policy framework, related to bio-based, biodegradable and compostable plastics, EuRIC is pleased to share its position about biodegradable plastics, especially on packaging, and with this document help to clarify some questions regarding the impact and challenges of these plastic types on mechanical recycling (incl. opportunities and recommendations).

Nowadays, fossil-based plastics account for the biggest market share and correct plastic management of this common plastics through mechanical recycling offers an opportunity for material circularity - with still a lot of untapped potential¹- while curbing plastic waste and minimizing environmental pollution and combating global warming.

As an alternative to solve plastic waste accumulation through recycling, which applies for both fossil-based and bio-based plastics, there are materials in the market like biodegradable plastics (BDPs), especially used in packaging applications, which aim to tackle the problem of plastic waste accumulation at the production phase. However, and despite the fact that BDPs can theoretically shorten the life cycle of plastics, due to lack of infrastructure and a misconception by the consumer about what biodegradability means, most of BDPs are not properly disposed at their end-of-life (EoL) and they are mixed with traditional plastics. This creates a negative impact on the efficiency of conventional plastic sorting systems across EU and jeopardizes recyclates quality because BDPs - contrary to bio-based plastics - do not fit in the sorting and recycling infrastructure and therefore they do not contribute to but hamper transitioning towards a circular economy for plastics. Therefore, BDPs should not be considered as a silver bullet to the plastic waste problem but just as another waste to be properly managed. Even when BDPs are properly disposed at their EoL, problems may rise during composting, which is the reason BDPs are not allowed in the bio-waste of many Member States. As a consequence, BDPs from packaging are removed from the bio-waste and incinerated at waste to energy plants.

For the correct functioning of the circular economy, it is EuRIC’s recommendation that all plastic products must be designed according to the design-for-recycling principles, which means that the collection, sorting and recycling of the material must be possible within the existing infrastructure and this needs to be determined by extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes. For BDPs or other new types of polymers of which their production is more environmentally friendly than conventional plastics, it is necessary to manage their EoL in an efficient manner to effectively protect the circular economy and the environment because, unless very limited exceptions, right now, choosing for BDPs in the name of environmental protection is just wishful thinking.

^{1 In Europe, approximately 29 million tonnes of plastic waste were collected in 2018, from which around 9 million tonnes of post-consumer plastic waste were sent to recycling.}