The European plastics recycling industry is grappling with a significant downturn, with Plastics Recyclers Europe (PRE) sounding the alarm about ongoing challenges that could force more recycling companies to close in 2024. This decline is largely attributed to a range of market issues, including reduced demand for European recyclates, decreased domestic investment in recycling infrastructure, and an increase in imports of recycled plastics from outside the EU.
Earlier this year, industry experts warned of challenging conditions with little prospect of recovery. PRE now reports that these difficulties have been compounded by the influx of imported polymers, which often make “questionable” recycled content claims without robust verification and traceability. This increase in imports disrupts the market for EU-produced recyclates, presenting a barrier for European recyclers who struggle to compete.
PRE calls for stricter entry standards for imports that fail to comply with EU environmental regulations. Citing recommendations from Mario Draghi’s report on EU competitiveness, PRE argues that setting fairer market conditions will be essential for advancing a circular economy, achieving EU environmental targets, and protecting the competitiveness of European industries during the green transition.
Despite EU legislation setting ambitious recycling goals, PRE emphasizes the importance of swift and effective enforcement. The organization, however, cautions that meeting these objectives would require a significant expansion in recycling capacities, projected to need a doubling by 2030. For this reason, PRE urges European institutions to take decisive action to establish a unified circular market for plastics and a consolidated approach to plastic waste management.
With the newly elected EU institutions in place, PRE is hopeful that the new EU Circular Economy Act and Clean Industrial Deal will foster a positive regulatory environment for recyclers. However, PRE stresses that urgent action is needed to resolve ongoing issues in the plastics sorting and recycling infrastructure. Without this support, PRE warns that the future of Europe’s plastic recycling industry remains uncertain.
Highlighting the scope of the challenge, PRE’s January report revealed a decline in the growth rate of installed European plastics recycling capacity, reaching 12.5 million tonnes in 2022—a sharp drop in growth from 17% to 10% year-on-year. This trend could jeopardize Europe’s ability to meet its legislative recycling targets, as disruptions that began in 2020 continue to impact the market.
The European plastics recycling market now faces a critical juncture, where urgent policy intervention and industry support are needed to stabilize the sector and build toward a sustainable, circular economy for plastics.
