NEWS IN BRIEF...
ReCover, the new recycling business segment of packaging firm Coveris, is opening an industrial film recycling plant with de-inking capabilities in Louth, Lincolnshire, UK. With the capacity to produce 5,000 tpa of rPE, ReCover Louth uses printed waste feedstock from within the Coveris Group, its customers’ production waste, and other suitable post-indus- trial waste films.
www.coveris.com
Wipag, a member of the Otto Krahn Group, has broken ground on a new 39,000 m² site for recycled carbon fibre compounds in Gardelegen, Germany. The €10m investment includes a compounding line and fibre prep equipment. After start-up in Spring 2024, it is anticipated that more than 3,000 tpa of high-quality carbon fibre compounds will be produced at the site.
www.wipag.com
Auditors’ report casts doubt on EU circularity
A report by the European Court of Auditors (ECA) published in July claims that overall, the EU has made very little progress in its transition to a circular economy. Between 2015 and 2021, the average circularity rate for all 27 EU countries increased by only 0.4%. Seven of them – Lithu- ania, Sweden, Romania, Denmark, Luxembourg, Finland and Poland – even regressed during that time. The auditors have therefore concluded that the EU’s ambition of doubling its share of material recycled and fed back into the economy by 2030 appears very challenging. To aid the circular
transition, the European Commission issued two Circular Economy Action Plans. The first, from 2015, contained 54 specific actions. The second, issued
IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK
in 2020, added 35 new actions and set the target of doubling its circularity rate by 2030. By June 2022, nearly all EU countries had a national circular economy strategy or were in the process of developing one. The EU set aside more than €10bn in funding between 2016 and 2020 to invest in green innovation and help businesses transition. However, the member states spent much of this money on managing waste rather than preventing it through
circular design, says the report. The EU action plans included a range of meas- ures designed to facilitate innovation and investment, but the auditors found limited evidence that these measures were effective with many having only modest impact in helping businesses produce safer products or access innova- tive technologies to make their production processes more sustainable. �
www.eca.europa.eu
RecyClass issues updated design guidelines IMAGE: RECYCLASS
Following stringent testing commis- sioned by cross-industry initiative RecyClass, a new set of Design for Recycling Guidelines has been issued for all plastic packaging streams. A number of different components have been evaluated via independent testing facilities using standardised methods to better understand the behaviour of common packaging technologies during recycling process- es. Notable additions to the guidelines include a new design criterion for laminating adhesives, and recommen- dations on the use of EVOH in PS packaging, adhesives for labels in
6 PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD | July/August 2023
HDPE rigid packaging, and ethylene- acrylate copolymers in PE films. RecyClass says that the update will also close the current gap in disparities with the recommendations given by the Association of Plastics Recyclers in the US. “With the efforts of all the value chain players and through scientific data, RecyClass contributes toward the stand- ardisation of design for recycling guidelines, testing protocols and methodologies to support the plastic industry on its circularity journey,” said Paolo Glerean, Chairman of RecyClass. �
https://recyclass.eu
www.plasticsrecyclingworld.com
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