Spain

The EU’s ambitious 2025 circularity targets still require huge investment in an industry on the verge of collapse. Europe has already invested strongly in plastics recycling capacity but much is not being used and is not profitable.

The price of virgin material continues to decline owing to an increase in petrochemical production, especially in China and the USA. Recycled plastic prices have been forced downwards but, while lower, are still more expensive than virgin plastic. As a result, unprocessed material is accumulating in recyclers’ yards.

The industry has invested in a strong structure to meet the EU’s circularity goals but today finds itself with plants operating only at half throttle and yielding no profit. Unfair competition is also coming from plastics imported from outside the EU which are labelled as recycled but do not meet the standards required by the EU.

Recyclers have been entrusted with an important role in the push to achieve circularity but, for a market to be efficient, it must necessarily be profitable.