Expanded Separate Collections Needed as ENVI Votes on EU Policy : FEAD: €10bn Investment in Recycling Needed to Meet Plastics Strategy
In light of the ENVI Committee’s upcoming vote on the Plastics Strategy, FEAD has highlighted crucial points that need to be touched upon in order for the Plastics Strategy to be fully effective.
FEAD, the federation representing the European private waste and resource management industry, welcomed MEP Mark Demesmaeker’s draft own-initiative report, but said that up to €10 billion worth of investments will be needed to innovate and expand the separate collection, sorting and recycling capacity at EU level.
According to FEAD, the industry is prepared to make the necessary investments if there are legislative measures ensuring a significant uptake of plastic recyclates, which it said is becoming more necessary by the minute in view of the Chinese ban on imports of certain waste streams.
It argued that a strong demand for recycled plastics would only result from concrete binding actions accompanied by economic measures to bridge the price gap detrimental to plastics from recyclates.
FEAD members welcomed the amendments calling for mandatory rules on recycled content which will stimulate the demand for secondary materials and therefore help drive the necessary investment in waste collection, sorting and recycling. From this perspective, FEAD supports the idea of a reduced VAT for products with recycled content, which will allow recycled plastics to compete with virgin polymers.
The organization added that quality standards, as an additional tool to further build trust and demand for the use of recycled plastics, should only be introduced in parallel with binding recycled content measures.
This, it said, would ensure that investments for achieving higher quality standards will be economically justified.
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