Europe must 'urgently' establish harmonised criteria for defining when recycled plastics cease to be considered waste following chemical recycling, in order to support growth in circular plastics, according to industry group Cefic.
The European Union’s circular economy framework is evolving, but a critical gap remains, including a dedicated framework for chemical recycling, European chemicals industry group Cefic said. The Draft Implementation Act establishes EU-wide 'end-of-waste' criteria for plastics from mechanical and solvent-based recycling, but it does not include plastics from chemical recycling.
End-of-waste criteria set rules on when plastic waste ceases to be waste and can be considered raw materials again. The EC hopes that clarifying this will create a supply of high quality recycled materials and stimulate demand for secondary materials and circular products, while bringing down feedstock costs.
A harmonised end-of-waste criteria for chemical recycling is needed if the EU is to unlock circular plastics and enable all recycling routes, Cefic said.
The group said that that while mechanical, solvent-based and chemical recycling are complimentary, they differ fundamentally in terms of technologies, value chains and outputs.
Chemical recycling involves the controlled transformation of the chemical structure of polymers, converting plastic waste into specification-controlled secondary raw material intermediates such as oils, waxes, gases, oligomers and monomers. Chemical recycling technologies are specifically designed to address waste streams that are difficult or impossible to recycle mechanically into secondary raw materials for production of higher quality and technical performance requirements, such as packaging for contact sensitive materials. These waste streams include mixed plastic fractions, degraded polymers, thermoset materials, residues of mechanical recycling operations and composite or certain multilayer structures.
“In the absence of harmonised EU-wide criteria for chemical recycling, member states continue to apply different interpretations of when waste ceases to be waste. This fragmentation creates uncertainty for operators and barriers to investments and cross-border trade. As a result, the current approach risks leaving a key recycling route without the regulatory clarity needed to scale,” Cefic said.
In a position paper Cefic calls on the Commission to:
- Establish harmonised EU wide end-of waste criteria for chemical recycling technologies to ensure the functioning of the internal market and provide regulatory certainty for investment.
- Base end-of-waste criteria for chemical recycling on a consistent and technology neutral application across all chemical recycling routes.
- Ensure that once “waste ceases to be waste” the resulting materials are subject to applicable product and chemical legislation.
- Recognise that End-of-Waste may be achieved at different stages of the chemical recycling route.
- Adopt an output and intended use approach grounded in Article 6 (1) of the Waste Framework Directive.
“Without a dedicated and harmonised framework, regulatory fragmentation will continue to slow down innovation, disrupt cross border value chains and delay investment in chemical recycling capacity in Europe,” Cefic said.
Meanwhile Plastics Europe says that clarity on plastics recycling is required under the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) which establishes a minimum recycled content in plastic packaging.
Plastics Europe said that when it comes to the sustainability criteria for plastic recycling technologies, these are to be set out by the Commission which means that the assessments will “directly shape how recycling technologies can scale and contribute to meeting recycled content targets under the PPWR.” Plastics Europe adds that the legal text for the assessments “indicates that the assessment should take into account economic, and environmental performance, output quality, feedstock availability, and energy use.”
In this context Plastics Europe said: “[We] caution against developing sustainability criteria for recycling technologies that would result in a ranking between technologies, as such an approach would not support long-term circularity objectives. Instead, the criteria should be clear, implementable, and serve as eligibility conditions that enable recycling technologies to contribute to recycled content targets.”
It added: “Mechanical, solvent-based and chemical recycling technologies address different needs with the plastics packaging waste management system […] The combined use of these technologies ensures the best overall societal and environmental performance, particularly regarding greenhouse gas emissions, compared to alternatives such as energy recovery of incineration.”
Read more here:
- Dramatic slowdown’ in shift to circular plastics in Europe
- Consortium looks at recycled plastics supply chain for automotive
- Plastics treaty: science and business call for agreement at Geneva negotiations
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