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European recycling rates edge up again

PlasticsEurope’s 18th report into plastics recovery and recycling, prepared jointly with the EuPC plastics converters and EPRO plastics recycling and recovery organisations, shows that post consumer plastics recovery across the EU reached 50% in 2007.

The report, “Compelling Facts about Plastics 2007”, shows plastics recovery across 27 EU member states plus Norway and Switzerland increased to reach the 50% level in 2007 from
49% in 2006”.

The overall figure includes a recycling rate that increased to 20.4%, and a stable energy recovery rate of 29.2% European demand for plastics stood at 52.5m tonnes.

Nine countries – Switzerland, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Belgium, Austria, The Netherlands and now also Norway – each recovered more than 80% of the plastics used and are “near to their vision” of realising complete diversion from landfill, says the report.

However, it also points out that half of the EU Member States still recover less than 30%, saying that it has been slow political decision processes and long lead times for introduction of energy recovery options that are largely to blame.

Mechanical recycling grew by 11% and energy recovery by 3% in 2007, with driving factors for this growth being increasing virgin material prices, along with improved collection and sorting technology.

The report points out that packaging, accounting for 63% of end-of-life quantities, takes the lion’s share in recovery. Across the whole of Europe, 28.2% of all post-consumer packing was recycled, up from 26.2% in 2006.

Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Lithuania and Portugal, however, failed to meet the present minimum 15% post consumer recycling rate requirement.

The amount of post-consumer PVC recycled has also increased dramatically, up by 80% over 2006 to 149,500 tonnes. The PVC recycling target set within the Vinyl 2010 programme is to recycle 200,000 tonnes, in addition to the amount already recycled in regulated waste streams in 2000.