PRE report shows growth in European plastic film recycling capacity

Brussels-based Plastic Recyclers Europe (PRE) has released a report titled “Flexible Films Market in Europe: State of Play 2023,” which reveals installed flexible polyolefin recycling capacity grew 8 percent from 2018 to 2020, reaching a total of 2.7 million metric tons with an estimated 200 recycling facilities. 

This capacity includes many small to medium plants, averaging 10,000 metric tons, with the biggest facilities reaching more than 40,000 metric tons. 

These positive developments were propelled by simultaneous improvements in collecting, sorting and recycling flexible plastics, which have led to the growing uptake of recyclates in a wider range of end applications. 

Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg account for two-thirds of the total installed capacity, with major growth registered in the countries with larger populations, the report notes. In addition, the amount of recyclates in 2020 stood at an estimated 1.9 million metric tons, representing 17 percent of the overall market demand for flexible films. Applications with the highest uptake of recycled material are heavy-duty sacks and garbage bags. 

“Legislation will continue to be one of the key enablers of a smooth transition toward a fully circular economy for flexible plastic films,” says Ton Emans, president of PRE and the chair of the polyolefin films working group. “Moreover, value-chain collaboration is imperative and will determine the success of this transition.” 

PRE says future market trends will be highly influenced by the proposal for the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation. The proposal will be crucial in decoupling recycled polymers’ prices from their virgin counterparts and bringing more legal certainty to the industry and will consequently drive investments in the flexible plastic sector, the organization says. 

For the industry to achieve its set targets, PRE says an incremental installed recycling capacity of 7 million metric tons for flexibles will be required by 2030.