Europe’s Plastics Packaging Recycling Rate Literally Stagnated

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster):  PlasticsEurope in collaboration with EPRO has released the findings of the research carried out by Conversion on recycling rate across European region. The research points out that recycling of plastics packaging has almost stagnated over the two-year period under study.

According to the research results, the recycling rate in Europe has stagnated over the period from 2014 to 2016. The rate has recorded only a marginal rise of just 1.4% from 39.5% in 2014 to 40.9% in 2016. However, packaging has helped to lift overall plastics recycling rates in the region.

All EU 28+2 countries surpassed the EU minimum recycling target of 22.5% in 2016. Out of this, a total of 26 countries managed to achieve recycling rates in excess of 30%. The number of countries that surpassed 40% recycling rate in 2016 stood at 15. The plastics packaging recycling rate of 40.9% suggests that 6.8 million tonnes out of the total generated 16.7 million tonnes of plastic packaging waste was recycled in 2016.

ALSO READ: Europe's Plastics Recycling Capacity Witnessed Tremendous Expansion

Nearly 64% of the post-consumer plastic packaging waste was generated from households, whereas trade and industry segment accounted for the balance 36%. The recycling rate for household segment remained more or less stagnant, rising marginally from 37.7% in 2014 to 37.8% in 2016. On the other hand, recycling rate for trade and industry segment registered notable increase from 42.8% to 46.5% over the two-year period.

The research states that Germany, Netherlands, Finland, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden are the only countries in the European region to include all kinds of plastic packaging in their collection schemes for households. Also, only some parts of Austria and the UK collect all plastic packaging, whereas most regions focus on collection of rigid plastic packaging. The research also finds that France has taken adequate measures to expand the EPR systems that focus on rigid plastics to include all plastic packaging.