Recycled plastic market

Subject: Recycled plastic market

The EU’s work on reducing the impact of certain plastic products on the environment and achieving a more sustainable economy (Directive (EU) 2019/904, the new Circular Economy Action Plan) is bearing fruit, having galvanised an industry which is becoming more committed to the cause by the day. This is likely to lead to an increase in demand for recycled plastic (rPET) and an extremely competitive market, which could have consequences for SMEs with limited finances. With this in mind:

1. Is the Commission planning to ensure that the industries in this economic sector have priority access to the recycled plastic market for food packaging, or to introduce closed-loop recycling for products?

2. What action will the Commission take to ensure a secondary market for raw materials is put in place that allows producers (including SMEs) to meet or even exceed EU requirements?

Answer given by Mr Sinkevičius on behalf of the European Commission (31 May 2021)

The Commission is committed to support a shift from the linear economic model towards circular economy. The European Green Deal (1) inter alia announced that ‘the Commission will consider legal requirements to boost the market of secondary raw materials with mandatory recycled content (...)’. On this basis, the new Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP) (2) sets out action aiming to create a well- functioning EU market for secondary raw materials, also recognising that these materials face a number of challenges in competing with primary raw materials, among others due to their performance and cost. This will be done by setting out new requirements on mandatory recycled content in products to prevent the mismatch between the supply and demand in recyclates, as well as other measures, such as end-of-waste criteria for certain waste streams, standardisation, restriction on the use of substances of very high concern.

The 2018 amendments of EU waste legislation (3) increase the recycling targets for a number of waste streams and introduce new extended producer requirements. These measures will lead to increased supply of secondary raw materials. Also, the EU is supporting high-quality recycling by EU funds (4).

The new CEAP envisages also mandatory recycled content targets for plastics for key products such as packaging, construction materials and vehicles, while taking account of the activities of the Circular Plastics Alliance (5). Those are currently being considered in the context of the preparatory work underway for the review of the End-of-life Vehicles Directive (6) and the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (7).

The related impact assessments of the measures are duly taken into account, including their impact on small and medium-sized enterprises.

⋅1∙ https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_en

⋅2∙ https://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular-economy/

⋅3∙ https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/LSU/?uri=CELEX:32008L0098 ;

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=LEGISSUM:l21207;

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=legissum%3Al21225;

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=LEGISSUM%3Al21208

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02012L0019-20180704 ⋅4∙ — COSME financial instruments | Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (europa.eu);

— InnovFin Programme (https://www.eib.org/en/products/blending/innovfin/index.htm) under the Horizon 2020 offering loans and guarantees to innovative businesses, financing of research and development projects, and equity for an early and start-up phase. — European Structural and Investment Funds (ESI funds: https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/index.cfm/en/funding/accessing-funds/) offering loans, guarantees, equity financing or business grants and

— The European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund offer business loans, microfinance, guarantees and venture capital. — Recovery and Resilience Facility, under which Member States have the possibility to plan for reforms and investments aiming, inter alia, at waste management activities (e.g. plastic waste management/secondary raw materials, SMEs involvement, etc.) ⋅5∙ https://ec.europa.eu/growth/industry/policy/circular-plastics-alliance_en

⋅6∙ Directive 2000/53/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 September 2000 on end-of life vehicles — Commission Statements, OJ L 269,

21.10.2000, p. 34‐43.

⋅7∙ Directive (EU) 2018/852 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 amending Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste, OJ L 150,

14.6.2018, p. 141‐154.