EuPC survey on the use of recycled plastics materials

In May 2017, the European Plastics Converters Association (EuPC) launched a European survey on the current and future use of recycled plastics materials (rPM) in Europe’s plastics converting industry. Following a period of 5 months during which 485 participants from 28 different countries filled in the online questionnaire, EuPC now presented the results of the survey to its members.

The report on the results of the survey has been published in cooperation with Polymer Comply Europe Sarl. (PCE), which conducted the survey on behalf of EuPC. The report gives detailed insights into the current state of affairs regarding the use of rPM by plastics converting companies and provides valuable information for authorities and organisations as well as companies throughout the whole plastics value chain. Some of its major conclusions are

The quality of rPM remains the biggest barrier to a stronger use of recyclates as raw materials. Almost 60% of the European plastics converting companies find it hard or very had to get a supply of rPM in an acceptable quality.

The customers of converting companies do not support the use of rPM well enough. Only 27% of the European plastics converting companies state that their customers are sufficiently aware of the benefits and needs to use rPM.

The current regulatory framework needs to be adapted to adequately support the use of rPM. Almost 60% of the European plastics converting companies think that the current regulations are not suitable to support a stronger use of rPM in the future.

The survey is part of a larger initiative of EuPC to get more knowledge about the use of rPM in the plastics converting industry. Further surveys and workshops with national plastics associations are expected to follow in 2018 and beyond.