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PET bottle collection, recycling, and recycling capacity incl. utilization (in %) for 2014 to 2018 in the EU as well as forecasted and targeted volumes for 2025. Data for the EU incl. the UK. Values for 2014 -2018 are based on Petcore industry surveys, while forecasts are based on the annual growth rates from these surveys from 2014 to 2018 of 3.6%, 3.1%, and 1.2% for collection, recycling volume, and recycling capacity, respectively (Eunomia, 2020, Petcore Europe, 2016, Petcore Europe, 2017, Petcore Europe and ICIS, 2018). The required targets are calculated as required annual growth rates to reach the pledged volume of 2.066 m tons in 2025, assuming a 95% utilization of recycling plants and the current average recycling efficiency of 69%.
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Scientific analysis and media coverage of rampant plastic pollution has taken a toll on the material's reputation in recent years, fueling talk of a “plastic crisis”. Brand owners have made ambitious pledges to overcome this crisis—but can voluntary commitments turn the tide? In this paper, we analyze the current flow of polyethylene terephthalate...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... 2014, the EU PET recycling industry has seen very little growth, with an installed capacity of 2.2m tons of input material in 2018 (see Fig. 2) (Eunomia, 2020). Extrapolating past growth rates for collection, recycling capacity, and actual recycling volume to 2025 reveal a deficit in all three areas to reach the volumes pledged by industry. This yields four levers to increase the recycling rate: 1) increasing the utilization of existing capacity, 2) expanding the capacity, 3) ...
Citations
... Until then, policies had mostly been technology agnostic. Simultaneously, industry has made substantial pledges to increase recycled material in its products (Kahlert & Bening, 2022). When recyclate has a reasonable value, which would be an intermediate goal of these regulatory interventions, investment in collection and recycling increases, reducing subsequent pollution and macro-littering. ...
To fight plastic pollution and reach net‐zero ambitions, policy and industry set goals to increase the recycling of plastics and the recycled content in products. While this ideally reduces demand for virgin material, it also increases pressure on recyclers to find suitable endmarkets for the recyclate. This may lead to two effects: a multiplication of recycled content in applications already made of plastic and a substitution of non‐plastic materials with cheap, low‐quality recyclate. Both areas of application may be sources of microplastic (MP) pollution. Combined with the inherent degradation of recyclate during its lifecycle, but also during recycling, we expect the increase in recycled content will subsequently lead to an increase in MP pollution. We propose a framework to investigate the risk of MP generation through plastic applications throughout their subsequent lifecycle of production, use phase, and end of life. We apply the framework to two prominent examples of recyclate endmarkets, that is, textiles and wood–plastic, and point out where the degradation effects can cause higher release. To conclude, we outline a research agenda to support policymakers in their decision making on specifying targets for recycling and recycled content.
... Moreover, the proposed Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation [7] sets even higher recycled content targets for all PET-based packaging: 30% in 2030 and 50% in 2040. Nevertheless, food-grade rPET production faced challenges during 2022, a considerable lack of material led to record-high prices of rPET showing that a structured management of rPET is needed to address the high demand in Europe [8]. In 2022, the rPET content for bottles was 24%, which is the average value among the European countries. ...
... Hence, feedstock 2 is largely the same as feedstock 1-only non-PET-tray sorting errors are excluded. Feedstock 3 consists of PET tray categories designated as highly recyclable through mechanical processes: bowls and fresh salad trays (2); clamshells and top-sealed trays with moisture absorber (3b); smearable salad trays (4); jars (10); loose lids and caps (11); clamshells and top-sealed trays for fresh fruit (3); clamshells and top-sealed trays for fruit with PE bubble wrap inlay (3a); clamshells for cookies and bakery products (5); non-food blisters (6); container for eggs (8). The fourth feedstock is largely the same as the third, although non-PET packaging components (such as paper labels or of other polymers, closure films made of other polymers and materials) were removed. ...
The recycling of PET trays is highly challenging. The aim of this paper was to investigate the issues related to the mechanical recycling process and, the correlation between feedstock composition and the quality of the produced rPET. Four feedstocks with different degrees of impurity were mechanically recycled at a laboratory pilot scale. The optical and thermal properties of the rPET products were examined to determine the quality and to seek relations with the starting level of impurities. The final products of the PET trays’ mechanical recycling were found to be affected by the presence of impurities (organics) and multi-material (non-PET) elements in the feedstocks. The rPET products crystallised faster for contaminated feedstocks showed lower molecular mass and higher yellow index values due to thermal degradation. Yellowing is a crucial parameter in assessing the thermal degradation of rPET. Injection moulded samples corresponding to higher contamination levels, reported values of Yellow Index equal to 179 and 177 compared to 15 of mono-PET sample. The intrinsic viscosity decreased from 0.60 dL/g to just above 0.30 dL/g, and losses were more significant for soiled or multi-material feedstocks. A method of improving the final quality would involve the purification of the starting feedstock from impurities.
... One aspect is to develop comprehensive and standardized waste collection and recycling systems nationwide. While progress has been made in increasing recycling rates [177,178], there are still disparities in recycling infrastructure and practices across different areas in the UK [174,[179][180][181][182]. Standardizing collection methods and improving accessibility to recycling facilities can help improve recycling rates and reduce waste sent to landfills. ...
The net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions strategy aims to avoid emissions from all economic sectors by 2050. Although the reduction of GHGs has been considered an urgent issue in all industrial divisions, there are still gaps in climate change mitigation strategies and policies in other sectors, such as waste, accounting for 3–5% of GHG emissions generation which are emitted from landfills, waste transport, waste treatment processes, and incinerators (Clark et al. in Nat Clim Chang 6:360–369, 2016; Masson-Delmotte V, Zhai AP, Connors C P, S. Berger, N. Caud, Y. Chen, L. Goldfarb, M.I. Gomis, M. Huang, K. Leitzell, E. Lonnoy, J.B.R., and Matthews TKM, T. Waterfield, O. Yelekçi, R. Yu, and B. Zhou (eds) (2021) Climate Change 2021: the physical science basis. editor, contribution of working group I to the sixth assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change;). Waste management is a worldwide issue related to the circular economy. The share of the waste sector in the UK for GHG emissions generation is 3.7% in 2021, and landfills are responsible for 70% of the emissions (Rogelj et al. in Nat Clim Chang 591:365–368, 2021). Therefore, a new approach to waste management and disposal strategies is crucial. This paper reviews the key elements and challenges involved in waste management systems, specifically in the UK, including policy and legislation, infrastructure, and technological advancements. The review offers a clear summary of the application of circularity waste management strategies, focusing on the UK’s goal to achieve the net-zero target. This review found that to reach the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and 2050 net-zero goals, the existing waste management hierarchy is no longer appropriate for the global and national setting. The metrics in waste management in the context of the circular economy should be aligned with the optimization of using resources, waste minimization, and increasing product life cycle by considering environmental impacts. Therefore, the circular model can be deployed instead of the hierarchy concepts.
Graphical abstract
... In fact, for the near term to 2025, not enough PET bottles are being collected to meet this policy-driven demand for R-PET (Kahlert & Bening, 2022;Schneider, 2021). We assess the costs of increasing supply through the expansion of DRS and investigate the distribution of these costs among various stakeholders. ...
... Only one study explicitly uses linear demand and supply curves to understand the impact of China's waste import ban on plastics recycling in Japan-but the authors only infer qualitative trends (Kumamaru & Takeuchi, 2021). In most economic studies of plastic waste recovery, the waste sorting (Cimpan et al., 2016) and recycling options (Larrain et al., 2021;Singh et al., 2021;Volk et al., 2021) are investigated independent of common collection models (Valenzuela et al., 2021) and remain divorced from downstream demand conditions (Kahlert & Bening, 2022). A detailed system-wide environmental and socioeconomic study (Bassi et al., 2022) of PET recycling in the European Union (EU) analyzes future scenarios and highlights the role of demand and secondary markets. ...
In the United States, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle collection rates have not increased in a decade. Recycling rates remain abysmal while industry commitments and policy targets escalate the demand for recycled plastics. We investigate the PET bottle recycling system, where collection is a critical bottleneck and recycled PET supply is not meeting the expected demand. We characterize demand for recycled PET (R‐PET), analyze scenarios of expanding deposit return systems (DRS), and quantify cost barriers to improving PET bottle recycling. We find that a nation‐wide DRS can increase PET bottle recycling rates from 24% to 82%, supplying approximately 2700 kt of recycled PET annually. With stability in demand, we estimate that this PET bottle recycling system can achieve 65% bottle‐to‐bottle circularity, at a net cost of 360 USD/tonne of PET recycled. We also discuss environmental impacts, stakeholder implications, producer responsibility, and complimentary policies toward an efficient and effective recycling system.
... The down-shifted emission opens the possibility of adding new codes, and this downshifted emission can even be measured at the same time as diffuse NIR reflectance. The industrial applicability is shown in the example that food-grade PET recyclate is usually at least €300 per tonne more valuable than non-food grade PET recyclate (Kahlert and Bening, 2022). By allowing the plastic packaging waste stream to be sorted into more fractions than currently possible, like distinct fractions of food-grade and non-food-grade PET photonic markers could increase the average value of sorted bales produced at a materials recovery facility, and allow true circularity in plastic packaging to be approached. ...
... Accordingly, if the European Parliament and the Council choose to adopt the proposed Ecodesign Regulation then that instrument may provide the legal teeth which Karl Llewellyn considered were necessary to channel conduct and expectations, and avoid or minimise conflict and disputes within society [1]. While voluntary commitments, declarations, and pledges made by corporate actors are often not fulfilled [105], the proposed Ecodesign Regulation and any delegated acts adopted thereto, could create legal obligations in respect of a wide range of actors across plastic value chains, and such obligations would have a legal bite that could be enforced in the event of non-compliance [36]. However, it should also be noted that while a capacity for legal enforcement is usually necessary to uphold the expectations of society, the aftermath of the Cassis de Dijon case [104] shows that the law is not always able to perform every function necessary to avoid trouble and conflict [24]. ...
The global pollution and waste crisis presents us with environmental and economic challenges which if not properly addressed could destabilise or threaten the survival and welfare of societies. The European Union is responding to the waste and pollution crisis through its circular economy agenda that adopts a broad life-cycle approach to the regulation of plastics from production, consumption, disposal, and recycling. To operationalise its agenda, the European Union seeks to inter alia mobilise all actors towards the objective of improving the economics of plastic recycling. Given the potential for conflicts and disputes to proliferate across a broad range of societal actors and interests, it is perhaps not surprising that when we examine the evolving EU legal and normative framework for a circular plastics economy, we observe a polycentric governance arrangement that includes the EU institutions, the Circular Plastics Alliance (CPA), and European standardisation organisations (i.e. CEN and CENELEC). The normative interactions amongst these governance bodies will not easily be unveiled and understood if we enclose our perspectives and analyses within the limits of traditional legal paradigms that only focus upon the formal law-making processes that flow through the European Parliament, Council, and Commission. However, by applying Karl Llewellyn’s law-jobs theory in this article, it is possible to analyse how a multiplicity of governance bodies perform certain legal functions that are contributing to the development of regulatory order for a European circular plastics economy. This article sets out a number of key findings in relation to the evolving legal and normative framework for a European circular plastics economy pertaining to the role of the CPA in framing problems, theorising solutions, and shaping the pathway of normative development towards a European circular plastics economy. To date, the CPA has identified obstacles to the expansion of the European recycled plastics market, and mapped the areas in need of standardisation if such obstacles are to be overcome This work by the CPA has prompted the European Commission to submit a standardisation request to the CEN and CENELEC calling for the development of harmonised standards to facilitate greater plastic recycling. While compliance with CEN and CENELEC standards would be voluntary, such standards could interact with the EU’s proposed Ecodesign Regulation and any delegated acts adopted thereto, thereby creating legal obligations for a wide range of actors across plastic value chains.
... In most cases, we do not recommend using any substitution factor based on blending limits because there is likely surplus market capacity for absorbing and blending recycled plastics. 75 Until the industry-wide capacity has been reached, recycled plastics could displace their fossil counterparts on a 1 : 1 basis for specic blended applications. However, inferior quality in recycled plastics can also mean more material is required to make a particular product from recyclate relative to using virgin resin (Fig. 4). ...
Technologies that enable plastic circularity offer a path to reducing waste generation, improving environmental quality, and reducing reliance on fossil feedstocks. However, life-cycle assessment (LCA) methods commonly applied to these systems fall far short of capturing the full suite of advantages and tradeoffs. This perspective highlights inconsistencies in both the research questions and methodological choices across the growing body of LCA literature for plastics recycling. We assert that conducting LCAs on the basis of tonnes of waste managed vs. tonnes of recycled plastics yields results with fundamentally different conclusions; in most cases, analyses of recyclable plastics should focus on the unit of recycled product yielded. We also offer straightforward paths to better approach LCAs for recycling processes and plastics in a circular economy by rethinking study design (metrics, functional unit, system boundaries, counterfactual scenarios), upstream assumptions (waste feedstock variability, pre-processing requirements), and downstream assumptions (closed-loop vs. open-loop systems, material substitution). Specifically, we recommend expanding to metrics beyond greenhouse gases by including fossil carbon balances, net diversion of waste from landfill, and quantity of avoided plastic waste leakage to the environment. Furthermore, we highlight the role that plastic waste plays as a problematic contaminant in preventing greater diversion of all wastes to recycling, energy recovery, and composting, suggesting that plastics may hold a shared responsibility for the system-wide greenhouse gas emissions that occur when mixed wastes are landfilled.
... In plastic recycling, similar challenges have been addressed through regulations [52][53][54]. Implementing similar regulations for rubber recycling, such as mandatory recycled content [55] or a tax on the use of virgin rubber [56], could be considered to facilitate the uptake of recycled rubber. However, it is recommended to first study the effects of these regulations, as this topic has not yet been explored in the context of rubber recycling. ...
Innovation is crucial to meet the circular economy goals for tire recycling. Devulcanization, an innovative recycling method of reprocessing tire rubber, offers a pathway towards achieving circular economy objectives. While previous research on devulcanization has primarily focused on technical aspects, this study shifts the focus towards identifying opportunities and barriers for innovation through devulcanization. This research utilizes the Technological Innovation System framework as a basis to analyze the dynamics of innovation within value chains and innovation networks. Across Europe, 36 organizations were identified that develop and utilize devulcanization to transform rubber from end-of-life tires into a valuable resource for new rubber products. In this study, a semi-structured in-depth interview approach was applied to interview 12 organizations that have developed or utilize technologies for the devulcanization of tire rubber. It was found that the development of various devulcanization approaches for diverse types of products has created opportunities for upscaling. To capitalize on these opportunities, organizations need to collaborate throughout the entire value chain of tire production and recycling. Achieving this collaboration requires interventions across the industry.
... The carbon emission reduction potential based on material flow analysis is also investigated [20]. Some reviews focused on CEoP in specific geographies and for particular plastic type, such as packaging plastics [21] and polyethylene terephthalate [22] in the European Union, material flow analysis of plastics in the United States [23], packaging plastics in South Korea [24], PWM of the United Kingdom [25] and Australia [26]. The possibility of establishing a business model for the participation of the informal sector in the mechanical recycling of PW in lowincome countries was also explored [2]. ...
Mechanical recycling is an essential tool in an environmentally and economically sustainable circular economy of plastic (CEoP). The existing mechanical recycling scenario in India is depicted. The semi-structured interviews with the mechanical recyclers were conducted in five clusters to obtain primary data. Results indicated that the plastics waste (PW) is productively recycled into various recycled products. There is a dominance of conventional sorting methods and recycling machineries. Post-consumer (PC) PW requires larger operating expenses and consumes more utilities compared to post-industrial (PI) PW. Recycled products are manufactured according to the demands of customers and technicalities such as recyclability and quality are often neglected. The actions such as the promotion of PI recycling, industrial symbiosis, and incentivization of operating expenses can positively affect the mechanical recycling process. India is having huge potential for the creation of CEoP, nevertheless, substantial investments in research, infrastructure development and a regulatory framework are required for mechanical recycling technologies.
... Plastics emerged as one of the priority sectors addressed by the first EU Circular Economy plan leading to the first EU dedicated strategy on plastics (European Commission, 2018) and a new Directive focused on addressing the impacts of certain single-use plastic items 3 . This action on the EU policy front was matched by pledges by many multinational companies to use more recycled plastics (Kahlert & Bening, 2022). Various national governments in the EU and beyond 4 have put forward commitments on plastics (see OECD, 2022c), while recently there was an agreement by the UN Member States for new legally binding instrument to address plastic pollution (UN, 2022). ...
In recent years, the challenge of plastic waste generation has become a prime concern in the global political arena. At the EU level, a dedicated strategy on plastics was adopted that led to the Single-Use Plastics Directive. In spite of this, plastic waste management data show that achieving a circular economy for plastics in the EU is a long way off. Available studies indicate that plastic waste generation may remain at high levels in the future or even increase in the absence of ambitious circularity policies. The report looks at the challenges associated with plastic waste generation and discusses the potential of using chemical recycling technologies as part of an ecosystem of solutions for increasing the circularity of plastics. It is based on evidence collected through desk-research and inputs provided during a series of stakeholder meetings.
Given the myriad applications of plastics, a mix of recycling solutions, combined with efforts aimed at increasing reuse and waste prevention will be needed. This requires a policy environment that while enabling all recycling options would at the same time provide a level playing field between mechanical and chemical recycling. To achieve such a level playing field, clarification would be needed on how chemical recycling technologies could contribute to achieving recycled content targets. As these technologies scale up, the question about whether there is a need to provide clarity about their position in the waste hierarchy and in the existing recycling definition will also need to be addressed.
There are several data uncertainties about plastic waste feedstocks and composition as well as the emissions and losses in the chemical recycling processes. The publication of methodology guidelines for LCAs comparing different treatment options for waste plastics can support a more informed debate about plastics’ circularity. More integrated assessments considering the full spectrum of plastic waste streams and how they can be treated in the most environmentally friendly way can also contribute to this debate.
