During the recently concluded meeting of the Bureau of International Recycling, attendees of the Plastics Committee heard about the mounting difficulties plastics recyclers in Western Europe are facing. The struggles of Western Europe’s plastics recyclers were continuing to be reflected in capacity reductions, plant closures and even bankruptcies
BIR Plastics Committee Chairman Peter Daalder of Daly Plastics BV in The Netherlands, noted that prices of end products such as garbage bags, agricultural foil and wood substitute goods were under pressure while countries with low labor costs were able to pay more than recyclers in Europe for their plastics scrap.
In Europe, the price of recycling granules was ‘too low’ with black LDPE, for example, trading at 50 percent or more less than virgin price compared to the normal differential of 25-35 percent.
The problems in Europe were also highlighted in other reports. Enrico Bobbio of Polieco confirmed that the Italian market had deteriorated since the previous fall. There was a lack of raw material on the domestic market while large volumes were being shipped from Europe to the Asian market.
Polieco called for action at EU level to tackle what he considered to be the indifference of plastics producers to mechanical recycling.
Spain was engaged mainly in recycling LDPE and so domestic mills were badly affected by the large volumes of scrap being shipped to Asia, according to market spokesman Marc Figueras. Greater protection was required for the country’s plastics recyclers ‘otherwise some of them will disappear’, he contended. Many were ‘really afraid’ about their lack of material and their inability to raise prices.
According to Jacques Musa of Soulier in France, the European plastics recycling market was generally calm whereas the long-distance export market was ‘full of promise’. He confirmed a very strong export demand for secondary polyethylene film, above all for the natural grade. ‘Prices are very firm and demand is running ahead of supply, which is creating a certain amount of tension in the market,’ he said.
In his overview of the Indian market, Surendra Kumar Borad of Gemini Corporation NV in Belgium confirmed that the country’s secondary raw material imports remained restricted. At the same time, India’s polymer industry was experiencing ‘double digit’ annual growth rates, he said.
Thomas Probst, a plastics recycling export with the BVSE organization, focused on the mandatory deposit scheme in the German market. This program, he noted, was creating ‘winners and losers’, with composite board packaging having gained ground while beverage cans had ‘virtually vanished from the German market’.
According to Probst, the principle of free trade dictated that Germany’s PET exports to China would continue despite the ‘very different standards in operation’.
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