Page 45 - Plastics News Issue December 2024
P. 45

INTERNATIONAL NEWS




          building and construction, electronics, renewa-        caused by global overcapacity in plastics pro-
          bles infrastructure, consumer goods and pack-          duction is undermining the business case for Eu-
          aging. This shift threatens the viability of the       ropean plastics recycling and the transition to a
          European plastics value chain which currently          circular plastics system. It also confirms that, like
          supports over 1.5 million jobs across 51,700 com-      much of the EU’s industrial base, plastics manu-
          panies and generated more than €365 billion in         facturers are currently facing high production
          turnover within the EU in 2023. Without a com-         costs driven by factors such as high energy and
          petitive framework, Europe risks losing its lead-      feedstock prices, persistent inflation and limited
          ership in sustainable plastics innovation, along       circular feedstock availability. This coincides with
          with  the  economic  and  environmental  benefits      poor European growth and recession in some
          it brings.                                             key European economies and sectors.

          Marco ten Bruggencate, President of Plastics           An EU policy and regulatory framework must,
          Europe, and President Dow EMEAI said: “The             for example, include ambitious mandatory recy-
          EU’s transformation to a circular plastics system      cled content targets, timely acceptance of mass
          is in acute danger from imported plastics which        balance and innovative recycling methods like
          do not always meet EU standards. The hard              chemical recycling, simplified permitting proce-
          truth is that we already see EU manufacturing          dures for low-carbon circular industrial installa-
          plants being shut down, leading to offshoring of       tions, and monitoring and certification schemes
          the industry, jobs and sustainable investments.        to ensure that imports meet EU standards. There
          The circularity transition will only be successful if   is also a need to further evaluate fiscal and eco-
          policymakers urgently implement the framework          nomic measures in the EU and Member States
          conditions needed to regain our competitive-           to urgently make circular plastics production in
          ness and provide an attractive long-term per-          Europe competitive.
          spective for circularity investments. The window
          of opportunity is narrow and the time for bold         Despite Europe maintaining the highest share of
          action is now.”                                        circular plastics relative to its total production of
                                                                 14.8%, the increase of 0.7% since 2022 signifies a
          Virginia Janssens, Managing Director of Plastics       decelerating trend and falls short of the growth
          Europe states: “To avoid a worrying slowdown in        required  to  meet  the  ambitions  of  the  Plastics
          Europe’s transition we need urgent measures to         Transition  roadmap.  In  addition  to  a  decline  in
          make investments in circular plastic production        mechanical recycling production, only 0.12 Mt of
          more attractive, reduce red tape for instance          chemically recycled plastic was produced in Eu-
          due to excessively long permitting procedures          rope in 2023, while bio-based and bio-attributed
          and create a level playing field with our inter-       plastics production slightly increased to reach
          national competitors. Despite the challenges, we       0.8 Mt.
          remain fully committed to progress towards the
          circularity and net zero ambitions of our ‘Plas-       Plastics Europe strongly welcomes the Draghi
          tics Transition’ roadmap. We now need EU and           report on “The Future of European Competitive-
          Member State policymakers to send an immedi-           ness” which recognises the “untapped potential
          ate and unambiguous message to investors and           for circularity” and its assessment that “plastics
          the market that they also remain committed to          recycling  has  no  strong  business  case  at  pre-
          plastics manufacturing in Europe and our transi-       sent.” It also recognises that whilst effective reg-
          tion journey”.                                         ulation is essential, it is not a panacea, and that
                                                                 Europe must pursue a more holistic approach to
          Input and analysis from Plastics Europe’s mem-         tackling the competitiveness issues facing plas-
          bers confirm that a sharp increase in imports of       tics and other industries.
          plastic resins and finished goods from regions
          with less stringent environmental standards,                                       Source – Plastics Europe



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