{"id":360,"date":"2025-03-24T08:22:16","date_gmt":"2025-03-24T09:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.firstnationaltt.com\/?p=360"},"modified":"2025-04-14T01:20:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T01:20:08","slug":"eus-plastic-recycling-industry-at-breaking-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.firstnationaltt.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/24\/eus-plastic-recycling-industry-at-breaking-point\/","title":{"rendered":"EU\u2019s plastic recycling industry at \u201cbreaking point\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-beyondwords-marker=\"425198d3-daf6-4631-89ed-1771a40454f4\" data-beyondwords-player=\"true\">\u00a0<\/div>\n<h4><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-464749 size-full lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"Plastic recycling\" width=\"860\" height=\"516\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.circularonline.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/iStock-1492969602.jpg?resize=860%2C516&amp;ssl=1\"><\/h4>\n<h4>The European Union\u2019s plastic recycling industry is at a \u201cbreaking point\u201d, Plastic Recyclers Europe says.<\/h4>\n<p>Plastic Recyclers Europe said a sharp decline in domestic production, increased imports, and rising economic pressures are forcing company closures.<\/p>\n<p>Plastic Recyclers Europe, which represents European plastics recyclers who reprocess plastic waste, warned of \u201csevere consequences\u201d across the entire value chain.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow more than ever, decisive action is essential,\u201d Ton Emans, President at Plastics Recyclers Europe, said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe urge EU policymakers to take a fast and strong political stance, introducing effective import controls and enforcing existing legislation, including the restriction of importing materials which do not meet equivalent EU sustainability and safety standards.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>We urge EU policymakers to take a fast and strong political stance\u2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>European recyclers also have to deal with high energy costs and soaring input waste costs, Plastic Recyclers Europe said, which have increased operational expenses over the last few years.<\/p>\n<p>Plastic Recyclers Europe also warned businesses are being undercut by cheaper imported materials.<\/p>\n<p>The negative market trends have been detrimental to the industry, Plastic Recyclers Europe said, which has led to a decline in recycling rates, hindered the adoption of circular practices and increased reliance on unsustainable production methods.<\/p>\n<p>Imports of both recycled and virgin polymers account for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.plasticsrecyclers.eu\/publications\/\">over 20% of EU polymer consumption<\/a>, while domestic recycling production has declined by 5% for most polymers.<\/p>\n<p>Plastic Recyclers Europe said EU plastic production is projected to regress to levels last seen in the year 2000, even as polymer consumption continues to grow.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, plastic waste exports from the EU increased by 36% in 2024 compared to 2022, highlighting a shift away from in-region recycling efforts.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ciwm.co.uk\/ciwm\/training\/sector_programmes\/ciwm\/training\/sector_programmes.aspx?utm_source=partner_site&amp;utm_medium=article&amp;utm_campaign=MarchCOSPArticleBanner\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-434702 size-full lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"\" width=\"860\" height=\"202\" data-src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.circularonline.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Picture-1-1.jpg?resize=860%2C202&amp;ssl=1\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.circularonline.co.uk\/news\/eus-plastic-recycling-industry-at-breaking-point\/\">EU\u2019s plastic recycling industry at \u201cbreaking point\u201d<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.circularonline.co.uk\">Circular Online<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 The European Union\u2019s plastic recycling industry is at a \u201cbreaking point\u201d, Plastic Recyclers Europe&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":362,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstnationaltt.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstnationaltt.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstnationaltt.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstnationaltt.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstnationaltt.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstnationaltt.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":361,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstnationaltt.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360\/revisions\/361"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstnationaltt.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstnationaltt.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstnationaltt.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstnationaltt.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}