— By Heather Arnest Liesch — 

The global plastics industry is going strong, with production steadily rising over decades. The consequences of what is an economic positive for the plastics sector, however, are mounting.

In a joint press conference at the K trade fair in Düsseldorf, Germany, Conversio Market & Strategy (Mainaschaff, Germany; www.conversio-gmbh.com), European machinery and equipment manufacturers’ association VDMA (Frankfurt, Germany; www.vdma.eu), and German plastics converters’ industry organisation GKV (Berlin; www.gkv.de), provided insights into the downside of increasing production rates. Based on best practices from selected regions, the partners offered recommendations for tackling plastics waste mismanagement.

“We need to have a clear eye on what’s happening with our products,” said Thorsten Kühmann, MD of the plastics and rubber machinery specialist association KuG within VDMA. “We are struggling with the pollution of plastics and that is something we don’t want. We need to find and deliver solutions.”

Conversio presented its latest Global Plastics Flow Study 2023, conducted on behalf of VDMA, GKV, German think tank BKV (Frankfurt; www.bkv-gmbh.de), Messe Düsseldorf, and industry initiative We are Plastics. The second study shows the five-year development compared with 2018.

“This will not be a nice picture,” said Kühmann, adding that there is little point in praising the wonders of plastics without considering their global impact. “We want to be very sincere about this.”

The year 2023 saw around 414 mn t of plastics produced – of which 374 mn t were fossil-based, 37 mn t were post-consumer recyclates, and 3 mn t were biobased – with 412 mn t converted into products. Ultimately, 407 mn t of plastic products were consumed or put on the market that year.

Overall, plastics production rose by more than 44 mn t in 2023 compared with 2018.

“One of the biggest changes we saw compared to the study in 2018 is a switch from Europe, the US, and South America to Asia,” said Christoph Lindner, managing director at Conversio.

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Around two thirds of global output comes from Asia, with one third produced in China, he added. Europe has only a 15% share, with the European Union responsible for 12%.

In 2023, 300 mn t of waste was produced globally. While half of this was generated in Asia, this is due to its comparatively high population. Per capita waste production tells a very different story.

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The global average is at around 37 kg per year, with Asia below that at 31 kg. Europe’s figure is roughly double that of Asia, but North America has by far the highest rate – around 120 kg per person per year.

Looking at applications, 56% of plastics waste comes from the packaging stream. Construction and electronics contributed 5% each and end-of-life vehicles were responsible for 3%. All other applications cover the remaining 31%.

Packaging is the most mismanaged waste stream (57%), but also the most widely collected for recycling, at 79%. Lindner attributes this to its short life span compared in particular with construction and automotive.

The global plastics waste recycling rate was at 17% in 2023, and landfill and energy recovery took 54%. What the survey partners see as a particularly troubling trend is the mismanaged waste, with 29% going to uncontrolled landfill and littering. The volume of 87 mn t represents a 10% rise on the amount recorded in 2018.

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“Five years ago, we had 79 mn t of mismanaged waste. Even though the share went down, due to the increasing quantities we put on the market, the mismanaged quantities went up,” Lindner said. “We have to think about how can we avoid this.”

The study examined five regions or countries that demonstrated good progress over the years and identified solutions that can be applied to other areas of the world.

South Africa and Colombia, for example, have strong extended producer responsibility (EPR) systems, and both governments integrated the informal recycling sector. Policies, ambitious targets, and a good collection and recycling infrastructure are key in both Europe and China. Japan, meanwhile, has a strong municipal framework based on energy recovery, which is now bending more towards recycling.

Based on these observations, the study’s initiators recommend seven measures to tackle the problem of rising mismanaged waste volumes:

• Establishing a clear and sustainable policy framework and legislation with clear targets supported by governance and administrative measures.
• Declaring recycling and circularity as an important strategic goal.
• Establishing infrastructure tools such as EPR systems and extensive infrastructures for collection and waste treatment.
• Integrating or formalising the informal recycling sector in low-income countries.
• Promoting the transmission from mismanaged to managed waste structures, and landfill to energy recovery or direct recycling.
• Stimulating the use of recyclates.
• Starting with “low-hanging fruits” such as collecting and recycling PET bottles.

At the same time, Lindner noted that while targeting mismanaged waste will help with plastics pollution, it would not in and of itself boost recycling rates. “Without government regulations, nothing will happen on this front,” he said. “Asia has huge facilities producing good recyclates at lower cost due to fewer energy and labour expenses. You need quotas to solve this.”

End-of-life regulations and higher carbon-emission taxes for companies that do not use recyclate could also help. Within Europe, economy of scale comes into play, as larger recyclers can operate with less spending than small recyclers. “Merging capacities could lower costs,” Lindner noted.

GKV managing director Oliver Möllenstädt, meanwhile, stressed that the value chain needs to play along for the recommendations to bear fruit.

“[In Europe] all these things were implemented, like mandatory quotas for recyclates in products. All these things are good,” he said. “But at the moment, there is little motivation for the converters to use recyclates because they can be much more expensive than virgin materials. This is the main problem.”

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Möllenstädt added that there is currently no demand for recyclate use above 12% or 17%. “We need more momentum in this market,” he said. “What we would like to do is to have a dialogue between different parts of the world. The K fair is the best place where this dialogue can start.”