Plastic, glass, wood, metals, paper, rubber

Before going into the evaluation of the state of health of the circular economy in Europe, it is good to remind us how the European Community has come, over the years, to promulgate increasingly ambitious rules to push the circular economy.

We must start from 1975 when the EEC issued the first directive on the management of waste that had the purpose, not so much to empower European citizens to recycle and reuse, but to protect the commercial competitiveness of the market in relation to the different national regulations on the disposal of waste.

An attempt was therefore made to prevent a lower national burden in the disposal of its own waste from generating an economic advantage over the finished products, with consequences of altering the principle of free and fair competition.

At that time, although it was already known of the health and environmental consequences that involved a non-prudent management of waste, it was preferred to consider the purely commercial aspect of the market.

But it was only in 2008 that the European Community, through a specific directive, number 98 , regulated the correct management of waste according to environmental sustainability and the principle of circularity, with the aim of protecting health, the environment and the natural resources .

Furthermore, in 2018, the 2008 directive was updated by raising the recycling targets , expanding the family of products to be recycled, improving prevention, launching financial support plans for the circularity market, regulating the fraction of waste sent for disposal and energy recovery and many other points.

As regards the evolution, in numerical terms, of the circularity of the European economy over the past 10 years, it was noted that the overall production of waste remained fairly stable , with a value of around 2.5 Mldt, but grew by 7% the fraction of recovered material, passing from 1029 to 1102 Mt.

There are differences in performance, among the various product families that make up the basket of circular activities, in which we see packaging waste growing by 27% since 2006, bringing the recycling rate, compared to the market entered in the EU28 from 57 at 67%, perfectly in line with European expectations of 65% for 2025.

The countries with the highest packaging recycling rates are Germany with 71%, followed by Spain with 70% and Italy.

Let’s see in detail the various families:

Paper and Cardboard 

At the European level, the percentage of paper and cardboard recycling, compared to the value of goods placed on the market, has increased from 83% in 2009 to 85% in 2017, whose slow growth is the result of a good recovery activity that took place already in recent years, bringing the sector to overcome the goals set for 2025.

There are certainly also shady areas for the future, as the sector must resolve the impact on the high energy costs that paper mills have to sustain and the management of recycling waste.

Glass

The recycling rate of glass packaging , at the European level, compared to the value of the product placed on the market, went from 68% in 2009 to 74% in 2017, placing Germany in the lead in terms of volumes, followed by France and ‘Italy.

Also in this sector, as in that of paper, the possibility of expanding the collection and recovery of raw materials passes from the increase and modernization of glass treatment plants and from the solution of the management of production waste that are generated during recycling.

Plastic

As far as plastics are concerned, the European recycling figures tell us that the collection went from 32% in 2009 to 42% in 2017, placing Germany in the lead with Spain at 48% followed by Italy.

Growth in recent times has been very important, but it is absolutely necessary to resolve the issue of mixed plastics which today put a brake on the sector and increase the use of regenerated polymers that derive from recycling activities, towards products that allow their use.

With regard to this problem, some regulations have been issued that require the use of regenerated polymers, such as PET, in bottles with a capacity up to 3 liters, which limit the production and sale of disposable products.

But much still remains to be done in other production areas, where the use of a certain percentage of regenerated material could be imposed in those products that do not have a sanitary or food value .

Wood

The European wood recycling rate does not represent very high growth values, going from 38% in 2009 to 40% in 2017, in fact the sector still suffers from the bad management of the separation of the wood compared to other products sent to the landfill.

However, we are working to succeed in separating it in a more targeted way, during the separate collection , with the aim of substantially reducing the industrial supply from natural resources.

Metals

As regards aluminum, the growth in scrap recycling was 44%, going from 683 Kt in 2009 to 981 Kt in 2018, while with regard to packaging recycling, the target of 2030 was exceeded. interest concerns the waste from rolling processes, pre-consumer and post-consumer scrap and packaging.

With regard to the recycling of steel scrap, we can note an increase from 12.8 Mt in 2009 to 12.9 Mt in 2019. For packaging there is a good performance of 8% compared to the volume entered.

Even in this sector, although the objectives of 2025 have already been overcome, there are still difficulties to be addressed, such as the need to collect packaging in a qualitative manner and increase the products made with recycled material.

Rubber

Data on the recycling of rubber and exhausted tires saw an increase of 29%, from 136 Kt in 2013 to 176 Kt in 2018. Since the introduction of the principle of ” extended producer responsibility “, the collection and The start of tire recycling has increased, reducing the phenomenon of abandoning waste in the environment , a phenomenon that still persists in some countries.

Automatic translation. We apologize for any inaccuracies. Original article in Italian.