Page 56 from: November 2012

56 November 2012

‘Plastic recycling is hot,’ declared the Pres-ident of the European Plastics Recyclers
(EuPR) Ton Emans, thus announcing not only

the title of his presentation but also a firm

belief. It is no enigma that the plastics industry

is blossoming, he explained to this year’s Iden-

tiplast congress in Warsaw. Applications have

surged in recent years, with the intensity of

plastics use in popular consumer products such

as vehicles also witnessing a steep increase. ‘A

modern, low-emission car contains at least 12

to 15% plastics nowadays; this trend will con-

tinue to reach new heights of 20% in the near

future,’ he said by way of illustration.

Furthermore, 50% of an aircraft like the Boeing

787 is made from plastics. ‘The European trans-

port industry requires more than 4 million

tonnes of plastics per year,’ noted Mr Emans – a

humble share of the 50 million tonnes con-

sumed annually.

‘We don’t have a problem with plastics; we have

a problem with plastics waste,’ reasoned Mr

Emans. ‘As it stands, Europe has reached 25

tonnes of plastics waste (per year). By 2020, it is

estimated that this will rise to 33 million tonnes,

which equals an increase of a million tonnes year

on year.’ He warned that both landfills and waste-

to-energy plants absorb the main portion of this

volume while only 6 million tonnes are collected

for recycling, a lot of which is exported.

Too ambitious?
When asked during the interactive panel dis-

cussion on the EU’s mission to achieve zero

waste by 2020, only 21% of the Identiplast

attendees believed this was a realistic goal.

Many of them (35%) weren’t sure, while a

larger proportion (42%) agreed the objective

was too ambitious. Quite a ‘pessimistic result’,

judged debate moderator and former BBC

journalist Laura Shields.

But the panellists were considerably more con-

fident. ‘Anything is achievable if you want it to

be,’ said the European Commission’s DG Envi-

ronment policy-maker Helmut Maurer. ‘There

are so many countries in Europe that have

already succeeded in stopping landfilling. Sure,

most of them do rely on waste incineration

plants rather than recycling plants, but chang-

ing that is step two. The point is: if they can do

it, so can the rest – eventually.’

Mr Maurer underlined that a shift in attitude

would do the industry a world of good. ‘I think

we are mainly here today talking about this

because hardly anyone has the will to do what

needs to be done,’ he contended. ‘So, yes, we

may end the chapter of landfilling, but not until

we change our mindset.’

‘Terribly convenient’
It doesn’t just matter that we get there, it also

matters how we reach a future with zero waste,

the policy-maker emphasised. Whereas the audi-

ence figured that a 50-50 balance between recy-

P l a s t i c s R e c y c l i n g

‘Some member states seem to seek refuge in incineration,’ DG Envi-
ronment policy-maker Helmut Maurer told journalist and discussion
moderator Laura Shields.

Plastics
recycling:

the need to ‘think
on a bigger scale’

Heralded as ‘the material of the 21st century’, plastics once again

enjoyed the limelight at the latest Identiplast congress in Warsaw,

Poland. Apart from sharing with delegates various cutting-edge recy-

cling solutions, speakers also provided specialist insights into a num-

ber of other plastics-related topics, including ‘zero landfilling by 2020’.

By Kirstin Linnenkoper

RI-9-Identiplast.indd 56 12-11-12 13:37