Plastics recyclers support the EU Parliament strategy on plastics waste
On the 14th January the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) adopted the European Strategy on plastic waste (Prodi Report on an EU Strategy for plastics waste). According to Plastics Recyclers Europe (www.plasticsrecyclers.eu) the resolution adopted by the MEPs will pave the way for more plastics recycling, and the backing of the European Parliament will enable the Commission to propose ambitious legislations.
“The voted report is a further step towards market changes that have been pushed by the political representatives of EU citizens. In this report the Members of the European Parliament have perfectly understood the issues limiting plastics recycling.” said Ton Emans (PRE President).
Ton Emans highlighted that “now the European Commission has the support of the Parliament to make ambitious legislative proposals which will enable an enhanced sustainability for plastics products.”
PRE also welcomes that the report highlights the challenges of bio-plastics. On one hand, bio-plastics could be an opportunity for plastics products. On the other hand, the report underlines that the sustainability of bio-sourced materials must be evaluated and that an end-of-life solution for bio-degradable plastics must be implemented at EU level if such plastics are to continue to appear on the market.
Finally, due to changing legislations and markets recycling of long-life applications is more challenging than for short-life applications. PRE is eager to support initiatives willing to overcome barriers which currently restrict recycling of these long-life applications.
Plastics Recyclers Europe is the professional representative body of plastics recyclers in Europe. EuPR promotes plastics mechanical recycling and conditions that enable profitable and sustainable business, while offering a service platform to its members, which constitute 80% of the European recycling capacity, processing more than 3 million tonnes of collected plastics per year.
