At Plastics Recyclers Europe's (PRE, Brussels / Belgium; www.plasticsrecyclers.eu) annual meeting in Cascais / Portugal from 11-12 October 2018, the focus was on increasing collection rates – a cornerstone for higher recycling rates. The speakers included Kestutis Sadauskas, director for Circular Economy and Green Growth at the European Commission's DG Environment, and José Inácio Faria, member of the European Parliament. There were discussions on waste collection rates, current and best practices in waste collection and legislative measures to harmonise plastics waste management.

The recycling targets and EU plastics strategy in 2018 marked a turning point for the industry, said PRE president Ton Emans. "Increasing recycling rates in Europe is a reality." He noted that high collection rates and high-quality plastics waste are needed to achieve better recycling rates.

Europe's plastics recyclers producing high-quality materials that comply with the highest requirements and EU regulations are suffering from unfair competition of poor-quality imports, said PRE. The association supports an overhaul of current practices, including waste exports, landfilling, incineration, a lack of transparency and an absence of rules in waste trading.

Aside from improved plastics waste management, other measures that are needed are designing products for recycling as well as developing recycling and sorting. Stimulating recycled plastics usage will also be important. PRE calls on EU institutions to drive the transformation of waste management practices in Europe.