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recyclate over virgin resin has increasingly come down to brand owners’ desire to be seen as “environmentally friendly” and “green” and not down to financial incentives. This is primarily due to sustainability becoming increasingly more important to consumers, and plastics receiving consider- able negative press. A change in consumer spending patterns being driven by the “Millennials”, willing to pay more for products from companies with a proactive approach to minimizing their environ- mental impact, will see those companies gain market share. Those that establish good brand reputation today, will benefit from the increasing spend- ing power these young consumers will have in the future.


Developments in mechanical recycling technology are changing the shape of the plastics recycling industry and increasing the ability to recover more plastics in a closed-loop, helping to retain maximum value. However, currently large vol- umes of recyclate are still going to lower value applications due to quality


high as 96%, as they encourage consumer participation in the recycling system by giving financial incentives. In the last year, several countries including the United Kingdom, have set about implementing a deposit-return scheme, which should see PET collections rates increase. As it is at the forefront of


Figure 1: PE recycling rates by country 2017 Source: AMI Consulting 2018


issues and inconsistent supply. New opportunities are available for those who wish to take advantage of this changing and develop- ing industry. Rigid packaging provides


the largest demand for recycled material mainly because of the widespread collection and reuse of PET. Industrial packaging for logistics, such as boxes and crates, is also an important application area. Other rigid packaging applications include thin wall packaging and blow moulded contain- ers for storage of liquids at


both industrial and consumer level.


Although polyethylene is


currently the most recycled polymer in Europe, PET has the highest capture rate of plastics waste. This is due to the main source of PET waste coming from the post- consumer collection of PET drinks bottles, which are widely collected in many countries with longstanding and robust collection systems in place. Where there is container-deposit legislation implemented, PET drink bottle collection rates reportedly reach as


Europe’s plastics processing sector, it follows that Germany has the largest plastics recycling capacity – over 1.5 million tonnes in 2017. Germany is followed by Spain, the UK, Italy and France. The Netherlands, although only having capacity of 544,000 tonnes, has a well-developed recycling industry and imports large volumes of waste to supply it. In order to accurately


assess recycling rates and the fulfilment of targets, a cohesive, systematic approach will need to be adopted between all countries in Europe. Without this, discrepancies in reporting have the potential to skew and distort true recycling figures and therefore make the EU 2030 target of recycling 55% of plastics packaging mean- ingless.


Plastics Recycling in Europe 2018 report


AMI Consulting’s study, Plastics Recycling in Europe – capacities, capabilities and future trends, pub- lished in June 2018, gives an evalua- tion of current capacity in Europe and volumes of additional capacity required by 2030 for the following polymers: PE, PP, PS, PET and PVC. The report analyses the current industry situation and forecasts where


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the industry will go in the future. The volume of recyclate consumed by end use application is given with an evaluation of future demand, along with a discussion as to whether the industry can absorb the volumes of recyclate that will have to be pro- duced to meet targets. This study looks at the global flows of plastic waste and recyclate, to


enable an analysis of the supply and demand balance. With this in mind, the report seeks to evaluate the implications of the new Chinese waste import ban on the European recycling industry, along with European legislation.


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Order a copy of Plastics Recycling in Europe 2018 here.


September/October 2018 | PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD 13


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