European plastics industry leaders have committed to champion the plastics Circular Economy by launching Circularity Platforms aimed at reaching a 50 per cent plastic waste recycling target by 2040.
Green Europe
Six industry organisations from the value chain have committed to the pledge today (January 16th 2018) in cooperation with the European Commission, which aims to encourage more plastics recycling and reduced volumes of plastic litter in the environment.
PRE
The framework of progressive and voluntary commitments set out in the agreement have been taken on by Plastics Recyclers Europe (PRE), Petcore Europe, the European Carpet and Rug Association (ECRA), the Polyolefin Circularity Platform (PCEP Europe), European Plastics Converters (EuPC) and VinylPlus.
Achieving a plastics Circular Economy has been described as a "herculean task" by stakeholders, who acknowledge that it can only be a success if every part of the value chain is in tune with its aims - and this includes national decision-makers and legislators.
The aim of the various Circularity Platforms and their voluntary commitments is to develop common goals and actions for a vast and fragmented sector such as the European plastics industry, representing more than 60,000 companies, of which the vast majority are SMEs with fewer resources than the biggest players in the industry, requiring the support of industry and government.
Stakeholders agree the goal to reach 50 per cent recycling and reuse of plastics waste as well as 70 per cent recycling and reuse of plastic packaging is "extremely ambitious" and can only be reached through platforms involving the entire value chain.
The six plastics Circular Economy pioneers call for everybody from raw material producers, designers, converters, collectors and recyclers to brand owners and specifiers to pull together to help the region meet this target.
The targets are listed in the document “The European Plastics Industry Circular Economy Voluntary Commitments. Towards 50% Plastics Waste Recycling”. Additional measures will be developed in the near future.
