Flexible PE recycling in Europe to accelerate the transition towards a circular economy

Plastics Recyclers Europe published a paper identifying the prerequisites for increasing recycling of flexible polyethylene into a high-quality raw material while ensuring a sustainable and cost-effective process.

LLDPE/LDPE is the second biggest resin produced in the EU and consequently demonstrates a high recycling potential, but today’s recycling rate of resin is around only 31 per cent, caused by the fact that reaching for higher targets and quality of the recycled material is hampered by a number of challenges.

Ton Emans, President of Plastics Recyclers Europe, said: “Plastic film waste is still perceived as a demanding and difficult stream to treat, however, we in Europe have proven that even stretch film recycling is possible.”

“Nonetheless, to reach for the additional quantities from post-consumer packaging we need a strong commitment of the value chain to work towards making this material fully sustainable.”

The main bottlenecks specified in the paper refer to low collection rates and low quality of input materials and lack of design for recycling, as well as the continuous development of recycling technologies.

The industry’s efforts to resolve these issues will have to be further strengthened by an adequate legislative framework that will create conditions for further expansion.

The Member States and region will equally have to thoroughly implement the EU legislation.