The products of the plastics industry make a significant contribution to resource efficiency. Germany has the best expertise in plastics recycling within the EU. This was emphasised by various associations in their statement on the European strategy for plastics in the circular economy.
The General Association of the Plastics Processing Industry (GKV), „Plastics Europe“ and the „Plastics and Rubber Machinery“ section in the VDMA support the plastics strategy presented by the European Commission in January in their joint paper published in March. Above all, the German industry associations advocate more dialogue between manufacturers, recyclers and administrative levels.
According to the ideas of the EU Commission all plastic packaging on the European market should be recyclable by 2030. Currently, only 30 per cent of the plastic packaging produced in Europe each year is recyclable. 25 million tonnes of plastic waste. One of the steps announced in the strategy is that the European statistics authority „Eurostat“ has set up a new section on its website with constantly updated data on the circular economy.
Eleventh edition of the „Material Flow Chart Plastics in Germany“ launched
How much plastic is produced, consumed, thrown away and recycled in Germany? Continuously updated data on this has been available since 1998. Various organisations and associations, including the Industrievereinigung Kunststoffverpackungen (IK), BKV GmbH, Plastics Europe and the VDMA, have had the „Plastics material flow picture in Germany“ study compiled at regular intervals since then. Data collection for the eleventh edition recently began in March 2018 and the study is being conducted by Conversio Market & Strategy GmbH. Over the coming months, it will survey more than 2,000 companies from the plastics production, processing and recycling sectors and analyse other existing data.
[/infotext]Although the German industry associations agree with the EU document in principle and are committed to plastics recycling, they also emphasise their own positions. They are calling for a more holistic approach to the use of plastics. For example, the use of plastics for Building insulation heating oil, prevent a good Plastic food packaging, that food was spoiling, and reduced Lightweight plastic components the fuel consumption of means of transport.
The authors of the opinion criticise what they see as the over-generalised use of the term „Single Use Plastics“. In many cases, the use of disposable products makes sense. It would not be appropriate to generally regard these as „disposable products“. The introduction of a plastics tax, which was suggested by EU Budget Commissioner Günther Oettinger, is also rejected. There are also complaints that plastics recycling is being penalised. Plastics recycling companies in Germany, for example, are often unable to reduce the levy they have to pay under the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG).
[infotext icon]The statement to read
The joint position of the German plastics industry on plastics in the circular economy of 21 March 2018 was published on the websites of the participating associations. It can also be found in the press section of the GKV website:
http://www.gkv.de
The European Commission provides information on its plastics strategy in an article from 16 January 2018:
https://ec.europa.eu/germany/news/20180116-plastikstrategie_de
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