Plastics Division/Tyres & Rubber Committee: Serious challenges ahead but industry has “reasons to remain positive”
The plastics recycling industry must continue to send a clear message to governments and policy makers on the need for “fair competition, practical rules and a level playing field”, the Bureau of International Recycling’s World Recycling Convention in Malaga, Spain, has been told.
Outgoing BIR Plastics Division President Henk Alssema made the appeal as he warned the sector was “once again facing serious challenges”. But he believed there were “reasons to remain positive” – such as the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) and its mandatory recycled content requirements.
Addressing the Convention on 27 October, Mr Alssema, CEO, Inviplast (NLD) said: “Although market conditions differ around the world, the main challenges remain the same: weak demand, high costs and pressure on profit.”
After almost eight years in post, initially as Chairman of the Plastics Committee and later President of the Plastics Division, he warned “the circular economy of tomorrow cannot be built if the recycling companies of cannot survive,” before handing the baton to newly elected Division President, Max Craipeau.
Mr Craipeau, Founder & Director, Greencore Resources (Hong Kong, CHN), thanked Mr Alssema for his “extraordinary work and steady leadership” and pledged to build on it. In the session, Mr Craipeau asserted that recycled material should not face discrimination based on its origin but compete on quality and compliance.
“The threat is not recyclers in other countries. The real threat is low-priced virgin plastic,” he said. The suggestion was that trade defence should be aimed at the latter. Mr Craipeau also pledged to open the Division to BIR members in the electronics and ELV sectors, whose plastic fractions need outlets.
Global Plastics Treaty back in negotiations
Alev Somer, BIR’s Trade and Environment Director, said that negotiations for the Global Plastics Treaty had resumed after the election of a new chair of the UN Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) – and there was “a true will from the majority of the countries to have a legally binding treaty”.
Previous negotiations had stalled when primary polymer-producing countries wanted plastic production excluded from the scope of the treaty; questioned who would finance initiatives and sought to exclude some chemicals and polymers. There had also been procedural deadlock as the INC works by consensus, meaning small groups could block outcomes.
Ms Somer said BIR would continue advocating for: design for recycling; global recycled content targets; public procurement to drive investment in recycling; and a cautious approach to chemical recycling. Speaking later in the panel session, Pere Soler, COO, Ferromolins (ESP) emphasised that design for recycling was key to better outcomes for technical plastics used in electronics and ELVs.
Concern around Basel Convention discussions
Recognising the Plastics Treaty was “a very slow-moving mechanism” Ms Somer warned that attention had turned to amending the Basel Convention to tighten rules around recovered plastics. This year, Norway put forward proposals to regulate all plastics, including green-listed material, under the Basel Convention. Discussions for this are tabled at the next COP in April 2027.
Ms Somer explained the proposal – a concern for members – meant that green-listed B3011 ‘clean, recyclable plastic waste’ (such as mixtures of PE, PP and/or PET), which are not currently subject to Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedures, would be moved under PIC.
Increase in European recovered plastics and probable delays
Turning to recycled content requirements and implementation in Europe, Maria Vera-Duran, policy director, Recycling Europe highlighted that, in less than a month, Europe will not be able to export plastic waste to non-OECD countries under the Waste Shipment Regulation (WSR).
“This means that Europe will have more plastic waste available inside its borders to be recycled. If we don’t create the demand inside our borders, then more plastic waste is going to end up being incinerated or landfilled,” she warned.
Recycled content targets in Europe have been introduced through the Single-Use Plastic Directive (SUPD), PPWR and ELV regulations to drive demand:
- SUPD requires 25% recycled content by 2025 and 30% by 2030
- PPWR requires 10-35% recycled content by 2030 and 25-65% by 2040
- ELV regulations stipulate 15% recycled content by 2032 and 25% by 2036
Ms Vera-Duran flagged new rules for the calculation and verification of recycled content under the SUPD came into play in June 2026. These state that plastics must be recycled in the EU or after 21 November 2027 in an OECD country whose waste management system complies with the WSR.
An alternative is a non-OECD third country which has agreements in place to ensure environmentally sound management of waste and EU-equivalent treatment. It must also have a comprehensive national waste management framework including measures such as EPR.
There is concern the European Commission (EC) “might copy and paste” these rules for SUPD for PPWR and others. “So it’s very important to look at the details that apply only today for plastic bottles but could be used for all plastic packaging placed on the European market,” she said. Legislation is in place for PPWR and the EC is now determining how to calculate and verify the recycled content targets.
This is meant to be finalised by the end of December but looks unlikely. “If they don’t finalise this methodology and these rules by the end of the year, the targets might be postponed,” Ms Vera-Duran said. She warned that this was “very dangerous” as the industry “cannot wait any longer” for this demand pull. Questions around equivalent standards
In the panel discussion, Shubham Lakra, president, Bredlak (FRA), explained how India has introduced ambitious recycled content targets for PET bottles. The country now has a 30% target, enforced by an online tracking system. Bottles are collected by informal pickers and taken to collection centres – a system that achieves collection rates of around 95%.
Mr Craipeau and Mr Lakra argued that the quality of such bales, hand-sorted at source, was significantly better than European bales. For Mr Craipeau, who operates in Indonesia, informal collection must not become a pretext for treating recyclates made from them on European- approved technology as second class pellets, ineligible for the SUPD and PPWR targets.