Europe Lags Behind in Plastic Bottle Collection Target Set by EU

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster):  The results of the latest study conducted by London-based Independent Commodity Intelligent Services (ICIS) indicates that Europe lags behind in meeting the 90% plastic bottle collection target set by the EU for 2030. The 2019 study report highlights insufficient collection infrastructure, lack of adequate collection strategies and excessively high contamination rates.

The region reported overall recycling rate of 46% in 2019, which is marginally higher when compared with 44% in 2018. Although there has been a marginal improvement in recycling rate, still only less than half of the bottles put into the market are not recycled, noted Helen McGeough, Senior Analyst-Plastic Recycling at ICIS.

As per the report, a total of 2.2 million tons of postconsumer PET bottles were collected for recycling in 2019. This is almost 5% higher when compared with the prior year. However, contamination levels too registered increase over the previous year. The average yield across the region dropped from 71% in 2018 to 69.5% in 2019.

The Chinese waste import ban has resulted in more materials being absorbed into the domestic waste stream. This in turn has contributed to overall surge in contamination level in 2019, the report said.

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