Europe’s installed capacity to recycle flexible polyethylene has increased significantly in recent years, according to figures provided by Plastics Recycling Europe (PRE).
According to PRE, since 2015, the installed capacity to recycle flexible PE has grown from approximately 1.5 million tons per year to 2.3 million tons per year.
With an extrusion capacity of 7.4 million tonnes for flexible PE, said PRE on February 13, the EU recycling rate for the materials is about 31%.
In an analysis of 174 plastic recyclers across Europe, five countries from Spain, Germany, Italy, Poland and France contribute to PE recycling on the continent.
Spain with 18% of the total recycling capacity topped the list, followed closely by Germany with 17%, Italy with 13%, Poland with 10% and France with 6%. The five countries, according to PRE, represent almost 2/3 of the recycling capacity installed throughout the continent.
Regarding the sources of flexible PE plastic waste, commercial and retail waste contribute 43% of waste, followed by “production waste”, agricultural waste and household packaging.
Commenting on the figures, Ton Emans, President of PRE and Chairman of the PE working group, said that the plastics recycling sector has been very dynamic in Europe in recent years.
According to Emans, Europe’s Circular Economy Package and Plastics Strategy, as well as China’s ban on waste imports, have spurred investments in sorting and recycling plants.
“The Commission’s Plastics Strategy and the Chinese import ban already have a positive impact as we see an acceleration of new projects across Europe,” he said.
This is especially the case for household flexible plastic waste, according to Emans.
While the latest technological advances allow efficient sorting, washing, extrusion and filtration of plastics, Emans noted that a lot of effort was still needed in terms of “design for recycling.”
“Multilayer materials remain unrecoverable and, therefore, it is necessary to move to monomaterial alternatives that can be recycled. This will allow new developments in the recycling of flexible plastics in Europe,” he added.