Demand for credit model instead of recyclate use quotas

Experts warn of the negative consequences of recyclate use quotas for plastic food packaging. „The planned EU recyclate use quotas will lead to an ecological and economic disaster,“ said Kurt Schüler, Managing Director of GVM Gesellschaft für Verpackungsmarktforschung, criticising the draft legislation from Brussels. As it is already foreseeable that there will be Insufficient authorised plastic recyclates for contact-sensitive packaging, such as for food, the regulations would have the effect of a ban. In addition, there would be a switch to other packaging materials.

„The proposal to exclude composite packaging with less than five per cent plastic content from the quotas is massively fuelling the trend towards coated paper composites that are difficult to recycle.“

Kurt Schüler, Managing Director of GVM Gesellschaft für Verpackungsmarktforschung

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While the amount of paper, plastic, glass and metal packaging has decreased in Germany since 2021, the quantities of such paper composites continued to rise - with negative consequences for the environment. Schüler referred to a recent study by GVM and ifeu, according to which a 10 per cent reduction in plastic packaging by 2030 - provided it is replaced by other materials - will increase the amount of household packaging by around 10 to 20 per cent and greenhouse gas emissions by 10 to 14 per cent.

„It is a misconception that the recyclability of plastic packaging and the use of recyclates in plastic packaging are the flip sides of the same coin. From a scientific point of view, it is obvious that mandatory recyclate use quotas in original applications run counter to the ecological goals of the circular economy to a large extent - quite apart from the massive economic damage that is also foreseeable.“

Dr Joachim Christiani, Managing Director of Institut cyclos-HTP GmbH and Ingenieurgesellschaft HTP

To mitigate the negative consequences of the shortage of recyclates for supply chains, particularly in the area of PE and PP recyclates, the manufacturers of plastic packaging and plastic recyclers are calling for a credit system. The idea behind it is simple: manufacturers who use more recycled plastics in their products than the quotas stipulate receive Credit notes, which they can sell to other manufacturers who are not yet able to fulfil the quota. A similar system is already being discussed for chemical recycling. To prevent greenwashing from the outset, only the content that has actually been recycled should be eligible for advertising.

Source: IK Industrial Association for Plastic Packaging