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collections from households. This situation has improved since the publication of the first edition of the report in 2021, with kerbside collection systems for flexible films having been expanded, improved, or introduced for the first time in a number of countries.


In the UK, we have just seen the publication of the final report of the Flexible Packaging Fund’s FlexCollect project following more than 3 years of collection trials. Mandatory collection is to be introduced from April 2027 in England. The project established that flexible plastic packaging can be incorporated into all collection service types with relative ease, using collection bags or loose in dry mixed recycling collections when appropriate sorting infrastructure is available.


However, even where flexible consumer packaging films are being collected, there is no guarantee that consumers place the films in the recycling bags provided. CEFLEX have done extremely valuable work through their country-based compositional analysis projects. Results show that significant volumes of flexible consumer packaging films end up in residual waste streams.


So, would you say collection and sorting are the main bottlenecks here?


Yes. Initiatives are underway across Europe to change this situation, starting with improved collection, as well as changes to the predominant way in which films are sorted at MRFs.


Here, a focus on sorting films by size rather than by polymer and colour means that a considerable proportion of films smaller than A4 are not being sorted for recycling. In particular, there is no established recycling stream for polypropylene films. Multi- material, multi-layer consumer packaging films can, in many cases, not be recognised by sorting equipment and are thus being discarded.


To drive change, it is essential to understand what makes a flexible film recyclable, and industry organisations, including CEFLEX and RecyClass, are the driving forces behind the establishment of guidelines and recommendations to facilitate ‘design for recyclability’ and improvements in the collection, sorting, and recycling infrastructure for flexible films.


Are improvements in collection and sorting also observed for the industrial and agricultural film segments?


For agricultural films, we are seeing continuous improvements in collection, with new national collection schemes having come into force since 2021. In other national schemes, the range of products covered has been extended, for example, in France and Germany.


For industrial films, collection rates have traditionally been comparatively high due to the nature and thus commercial value of these post-use films, so the level of improvement is more gradual. Increases in volumes available for EU27+3 recyclers will mainly be driven by declining exports of post-use films.


February 2025 saw Europe’s new Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation come into force. What are its implications for the recycling of flexible films in Europe?


The PPWR requires that all packaging be made recyclable from 2030, and ‘recycled at scale’, i.e. recycled in practice, from 2035. This will require a renewed focus on Design for Recycling principles and will further drive a trend towards mono-material packaging.


In addition, there is a recycled content target of 35% by 2030, and 65% by 2040, reduced to 10% and 25% respectively for contact-sensitive packaging. The latter target will prove to be difficult to achieve for flexible packaging, given the lack of food-contact approved recyclates resulting from mechanical recycling. Here in particular, it is hoped that chemical recycling will be able to make a valuable contribution.


From 2030, we will see packaging bans for single-use plastic grouped packaging used at point-of-sale, which will, with some exceptions, affect collation shrink film. There will also be bans on single-use plastic packaging for unprocessed fruit & vegetables weighing less than 1.5 kg, and on very lightweight plastic carrier bags, to name just the most relevant product sectors.


For transport packaging, reuse targets of up to 100% are of great concern, especially for those producing and using palletisation films. These provisions were included in the PPWR without a prior impact assessment. An exemption for these packaging formats by means of a delegated act is currently being addressed as a “priority.” Studies assessing potential impacts have been published, and legally binding exemptions are expected in the second half of 2025.


You mentioned that a key additional element of your 2025 report is a detailed look at the contribution chemical recycling can make to increasing recycling rates of flexible films. Could you please elaborate on this?


We have analysed the potential contribution of physical and chemical recycling technologies to the recycling of flexible consumer packaging films in particular. Regarding physical recycling technologies, there are no commercially operating facilities employing solvent-based purification/dissolution technologies in Europe at the time of writing.


For chemical recycling, we estimate the volume of flexible consumer packaging films processed via pyrolysis, hydrothermal and other technologies in 2025 to be below 100 kt p.a., increasing to around 600 kt p.a. by 2033 in a best-case scenario given current market conditions.


So, a contribution will clearly be made. However, unless investments into collection, sorting and mechanical recycling are significantly ramped up over the coming years, this will not be sufficient to achieve the ambitious recycling targets demanded by the PPWR.


Unfortunately, the current operating environment is characterised by loss of recycling capacity, although collection


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