FEAD calls for significant investments to boost plastics recycling

The European waste management federation FEAD, which represents waste management firms in Europe, has released a statement claiming that that up to 10 billion euros ($11.8 billion) worth of investment is needed to expand the collection, sorting and recycling capacity of plastic scrap in the European Union.

The call to boost the investment follows a report released by EU Member of Parliament Mark Demesmaeker on a plastics strategy and ahead of the European Parliament’s Environment and Public Health Committee vote on the plastics strategy in mid-July.

The MEP’s report says the strategy is a step forward for designing a new vision for plastics as part of a circular economy transition.

However, FEAD believes that transforming the new plastics economy will require joint efforts throughout the plastics value chain, and that plastic products need to be designed for recycling to improve the quality.

FEAD says its members welcome the amendments calling for mandatory rules on recycled content, as it hopes it will generate the demand for secondary materials and drive the needed investments in the system. The organization also says it supports the idea of reduced VAT for products with recycled content, allowing recycling plastics to compete with virgin polymers.

Quality standards, says FEAD, should only be introduced in line with binding recycled content measures, as it would ensure that investments to achieve higher standards will be economically justified.