The European Commission (EC) has opened a public consultation on proposed regulations for assessing, validating, and documenting recycled material in single-use plastic beverage bottles, including chemically recycled material.
The commission indicates that these regulations will support chemical recycling within the EU and assist businesses in achieving their recycled material targets established under the Single-Use Plastics Directive.
These potential regulations are a component of the new ‘Action Plan for the EU Chemicals Sector’, which seeks to bolster the industry’s competitiveness and facilitate its shift towards safe, sustainable, and innovative chemical manufacturing.
With rising quantities of plastic waste in the EU, the commission underscores the pressing need to enhance plastic waste collection, sorting, and recycling to meet recycling objectives.
Although mechanical recycling is favoured for its reduced environmental impact and energy efficiency, chemical recycling is acknowledged as an important alternative when mechanical methods are impractical or when stricter quality requirements (as in food packaging) are necessary.
The proposed regulations aim to ensure clarity in calculating the proportion of chemically recycled material in new single-use plastic bottles.
The calculation methodology follows the ‘fuel-use excluded’ allocation rule. This means that any waste utilised for fuel production or energy recovery cannot be considered as recycled content, in accordance with the definition of ‘recycling’ outlined in the Waste Framework Directive.
The commission stated that the rules are designed to strike a balance between transparency and reducing the administrative burden on companies and national authorities.
Annual third-party verification will be mandated for the most intricate phases of the value chain, specifically during chemical recycling.
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will benefit from less stringent requirements, needing this validation every three years.
Businesses will be responsible for verifying their partners’ self-declarations while national authorities will carry out risk-based inspections.
This is reportedly the EU’s inaugural set of regulations specifically addressing chemically recycled material.
The assessment methodology is designed to act as a template for future regulations on recycled material in other sectors such as packaging, automotive, and textiles.
In a statement, the European Commission said: “By incentivising investments and supporting new recycling technologies, the rules will boost the competitiveness of both the EU chemical industry and manufacturers that use plastics in their production, helping to establish Europe as a leader in sustainable innovation.
“The measures will also benefit the environment, as they will economically incentivise producers to reuse plastic waste, rather than disposing of it in landfills, littering or incinerating it.”
In February this year, the commission implemented the new Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, with an objective to reduce the environmental footprint of packaging within the EU.
