European plastics industry: increased recycling rates

Archiv – The European plastics industry ‘€’ comprising PlasticsEurope, EuPC, EuPR and EPRO ‘€’ has published its 18th report on trends in production, demand and recovery of plastics called the ’Compelling Facts about Plastics 2007’ .
In 2007, 9 countries (representing 29% of the population in EU27+NO/CH) recovered more than 80% of their used plastics.Europe | The European plastics industry ‘€’ comprising PlasticsEurope, EuPC, EuPR and EPRO ‘€’ has published its 18th report on trends in production, demand and recovery of plastics called the ’Compelling Facts about Plastics 2007’ . In 2007, 9 countries (representing 29% of the population in EU27+NO/CH) recovered more than 80% of their used plastics.
In the 27 EU Member States plus Norway and Switzerland (EU27+NO/CH), recovery of plastics reached 50% – up 1% on 2006 ‘€’ mainly due to strong growth in recycling. This was achieved in a year with good growth in demand – 3% – to a total of 52.5 million tonnes across EU27+NO/CH, again exceeding GDP growth. The decoupling in EU27+NO/CH of the growth in used plastics and the volume of plastics waste going to disposal continued, as used plastics going to disposal remained stable at 12.4 million tonnes/year.
Of all plastics used by consumers, 24.6 million tonnes ended up as post-consumer waste, up from 23.7 million tonnes in 2006. 50% of the post-consumer used plastic was recovered and 50% went to disposal. Of the quantity recovered, 5 million tonnes were recycled ‘€’ as material and feedstock ‘€’ and 7.2 million tonnes were recovered as energy. The overall material recycling rate of post-consumer plastics in 2007 was 20.4%, with mechanical recycling at 20.1% (up 1.2% points from 2007) and feedstock recycling at 0.3% (down 0.3% points from 2007).
The energy recovery rate remained stable at 29.2% reflecting how the sensitivity and planning complexity of this resource management technology has led to slow progress in society. In 2007, 12.4 million tonnes of plastics were wasted in landfill.
In 2007 the volume of post-consumer PVC waste being recycled across Europe, mainly through the Recovinyl system as part of the industry Vinyl 2010 voluntary commitment, reached 149,500 tonnes. This represents an 80% increase on 2006 levels, when 83,000 tonnes were recycled and continues the strong growth in PVC recycling seen in the previous two years which saw the volume of Vinyl 2 010 sponsored recycling doubling each year. The Vinyl 2010 target for 2 010 is for the recycling of 200,000 tonnes of post-consumer PVC waste (in addition to regulated waste streams and to the volumes recycled in 2000). There are now collection and recycling systems for PVC products in many European countries.
In addition to the well known applications such as bottles and industrial packaging film, new important developments are ongoing, like the Recovinyl initiative under the Vinyl2010 programme of the PVC industry (covering pipes, window frames, roofing membranes, and flooring). Another stream which is explored in an number of Member States is the ’mixed packaging plastics’