Page 80 from: Recycling International – March/April issue 2023

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PLASTICSMARKET ANALYSIS

Lack of stability
hampers trade

Consumption and demand levels are deflated

with the uncertain economic outlook playing a

big part in driving sentiment.

The European plastic market is moving
without any clear direction in the
absence of a stable economic outlook.
Since the beginning of the year, most
plastic-consuming industries have been
without a clear forecast of finished
product orders. In the absence of this
demand, production facilities are run-
ning at minimum operational levels.
High costs around Europe have also
affected consumption habits and most
waste management companies are say-
ing there is less material in the market
to be collected.

LICENCE DELAYS
Normally, where scrap availability is
lower, plastic prices remain high. But
this time, on top of the geopolitical
issues in Europe and specifically the
war in Ukraine, the demand for scrap
from the international markets has also
been quiet. The main reason for low
demand has been a delay in the
approval of licences from importing
countries. Countries such as Turkey,
Malaysia, and Indonesia issue a yearly
licence, mostly covering a calendar
year, with recyclers required to apply
for new licences just before their exist-
ing ones expire. In January and
February, only limited numbers had
achieved renewal with many recyclers
awaiting licence approval.
The devastating earthquake in Turkey
and Syria laid low the south-eastern
part of Turkey which is a major region
for importing plastic scrap. The whole

region is at a standstill and trying to
recover from its enormous loss. The
absence of business activities in this
area, until the situation gets normal,
will affect the movement of scrap from
Europe destined for this part of Turkey.

GREEN FOCUS IN INDIA
India, where the shipment of plastic
scrap from Europe can only happen
under the notification regime, respond-
ed to the European Commission’s
desire to restrict waste shipments orig-
inating from the EU. India is changing
its views over plastic waste and the
mindset of Indian bureaucracy is now
moving towards more circularity.
Whereas earlier officials were against
the import of scrap, they now think it
creates jobs and resources, hence the
more liberal approach.
In March last year, the United Nations
Environment Assembly agreed to
negotiate a legally binding global
instrument on plastic pollution by the
end of 2024. The first session of the
Intergovernmental negotiating com-
mittee (INC) took place from 28
November to 2 December last year in
Uruguay. More than 1 400 in-person
and virtual delegates from 147 coun-
tries took part in the meeting, which
set the foundations for shaping the
global agreement to end plastic pollu-
tion. The first round was largely
focussed on what the governments
have been doing until now. Waste
management associations are trying to
secure a separate voice. Gemini will be
representing the recycling industry’s
views in the negotiations through the
Business Coalition for the Plastic
Treaty. The United Nations
Environment Programme and Ellen
MacArthur Foundation are organising

workshops for government representa-
tives to understand the different views
on recycling and extended producer
responsibility. The next negotiation
round is in Paris at the end of May.
The European Parliament is busy nego-
tiating its initial decision over a ban on
plastic waste exports to different mem-
ber states and expects to finalise the
text later this year. Some trade associa-
tions are in favour and others have
raised fears about this proposal. The
main concern was that non-hazardous
‘green-listed’ waste should be treated
as a commodity and allowed to be
recycled in countries with the best
facilities and where it is economically
possible for the scrap to be incorporat-
ed into the manufacturing process.

LESS CIRCULARITY
Circle Economy (CE), in partnership
with Deloitte, released the Circularity
Gap Report for 2023 in February. In
2017, CE identified an urgent need to
accurately measure the circular econo-
my as no global baseline measurement
existed. In January 2018, the first
Circularity Gap Report was published
during the World Annual Forum in
Davos, indicating that our world was
only 9.1% circular. That low number
has been declining each year and the
2023 report came up with a figure of
7.2% for circularity of the global econ-
omy. It is now being argued by recy-
clers that if green-listed plastic exports
are banned, it would further negatively
affect circularity.

CONTRIBUTED BY
Surendra Borad Patawari, ceo of
Gemini Corporation

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