PETCORE EUROPE NEWS

Single-use plastics: Presidency reaches provisional agreement with Parliament

Yesterday, during the third and last trilogue regarding the “Proposal for a Directive on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment”, commonly known as Single-use Plastics Directive Proposal, the European Parliament and Council reached a provisional agreement which is expected to be signed today by the national Environment Ministers.

ICIS and PETCORE EUROPE PET Recycling Survey 2017 - Harmonized European-wide collection is the way forward.

Out of 3.308.300 tonnes of PET bottles placed in the European market in 2017, 58.2% - in total 1.923.100 tonnes (+2.9 % compared to 2016) - were collected. This conclusion comes from the Annual Survey on the European PET Recycle Industry, conducted by ICIS and commissioned by PETCORE EUROPE.

On the 11th December 2018, 13 organisations from the entire plastics value chain hosted their first annual event “The EU Plastics Industries – Towards Circularity” and presented the status of their voluntary commitments and pledges in front of the media, NGOs and representatives of the European Commission.

PET is the polymer champion in circularity and PET trays are already great performers in terms of use of recyclates; in the EU market, PET-based trays contain on average around 55% of recycled plastics but this is just the first step already achieved towards circularity.

There is a growing trend in the collection of PET trays for specific recycling activities. Nonetheless, more work must be done. Besides separate collection and proper sorting of trays and other PET sheet-based products, design for recycling is a major tool to boost their circularity.