Plastic Recycling : New study: Recycling and circularity of flexible plastics will continue to grow

According to the latest study by Plastics Recyclers Europe (PRE) Flexible Films Market in Europe: State of Play, the installed plastic recycling capacity for flexible polyolefins experienced a remarkable growth of 8% between 2018 and 2020, reaching a total of 2.7 million tonnes with an estimated 200 recycling facilities. This capacity is made up of a large number of small to medium-sized plants, averaging 10,000 tonnes, with the largest plants reaching over 40,000 tonnes.

These positive developments have been driven by concurrent improvements in the collection, sorting and recycling of flexible plastics, leading to the increasing use of recyclates in a broader range of end-use applications.

Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland and the Benelux countries account for two-thirds of the total installed capacity, with strong growth in the more populous countries. In addition, the volume of recyclates in 2020 is estimated at 1.9 million tonnes, representing 17% of the total market demand for flexible films. The applications with the highest use of recycled material are heavy-duty sacks and refuse sacks, accounting for 38% of the total.

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“Legislation will continue to be one of the key enablers of a smooth transition toward a fully circular economy for flexible plastic films,” commented Ton Emans, President of PRE and the Chair of the Polyolefin Films Working Group. “Moreover, value-chain collaboration is imperative and will determine the success of this transition,” he added.

Future market developments will therefore be strongly influenced by the proposal for a Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, which will be crucial in decoupling the prices of recycled polymers from their virgin counterparts and providing more legal certainty to the industry. As a result, this will further stimulate investment in the flexible plastics sector.

For the industry to meet its targets, an additional 7 million tonnes of installed recycling capacity for flexible plastics will be needed by 2030. Achieving this target will require a holistic approach and continuous improvements at all stages of the value chain, with improved design for recycling, collection and sorting efficiencies being key to increasing the supply of high-quality recyclates.