The plastic recycling paradox

Plastic is a good packaging material. But it is also a recycling dilemma. Today, only half of all plastic packaging is designed to be recycled and only about ten percent is recycled.

The waste in our households is enormous. Half of all plastic packaging is never sorted out by consumers, but ends up in household waste and incinerated. Plastic combustion accounts for six percent of our total CO2 emissions.

Great demand

At the same time, the market is crying out for recycled plastic. But until now, the availability of recycled plastic of sufficiently high quality has been too small to meet the needs. Here, a major change must take place to meet the EU’s new legislation, PPWR, which is expected to enter into force in 2025.

As early as 2030, 55 percent of all plastic packaging placed on the market must be recycled, and the packaging that does not come into contact with food must contain at least 35 percent recycled material. The goal is for all plastic to become circular and replace new withdrawals of crude oil.

So where will all this recycled circular plastic come from?

At recycling facilities in Europe today, you can usually only recycle up to four plastic fractions. Sweden is better off. At Swedish Plastic Recycling’s new facility Site Zero in Motala, capacity has been more than doubled compared to before, from five to twelve plastic fractions.

Read the article about Site Zero

In addition to recycling more plastic fractions, you also need to sort and recycle each type of plastic separately. In this way, the need for fossil raw materials is reduced, less and less material is incinerated and the plastic’s climate footprint is radically reduced.

*Source: A number of seminars and lectures, with SPÅ as the sender, among others.

This article is part of NPA Magasin