Michael Brunn

The Commission presents the Package as an urgent response to the crisis in the plastics recycling sector, citing fragmented markets, high energy costs, volatile virgin plastic prices and unfair competition from third countries. Europe's plastics recycling industry is experiencing its deepest downturn on record, with a net decrease of around one million tonnes of recycling capacity in Europe by the end of 2025. This happens at the very same time as the ban on EU plastic waste exports to non-OECD countries enters into force.

The European Commission has presented a first package of pilot measures to support the transition to a circular economy in the European Union, with a thematic focus on the plastics value chain.

The study was commissioned by Every Can Counts and conducted across 16 countries with more than 16,000 participants. It indicates that circularity is becoming part of general public understanding, particularly in relation to packaging and recycling systems.

At the meeting, Austria -supported by Germany and Lithuania- highlighted the sharp rise in fire incidents in waste management and recycling facilities caused by improperly disposed lithium waste batteries: 'During the summer of 2025, several major fires occurred in Austria and other Member States, each resulting in damages amounting to millions of euros - despite state-of-the-art fire prevention measures and infrastructure in waste management industries. These incidents highlight a significant and escalating safety risk for workers, severe environmental damage, and substantial economic losses for waste management operators.'

However, the current configuration of some composting and anaerobic digestion plants does not always ensure that these materials are completely degraded, which poses a challenge for the environment and for waste recovery.

The project brings together packaging producers, food manufacturers and waste management companies. Amcor contributes recycling and technical expertise from its CleanStream recycling facility in Leamington Spa, United Kingdom, as well as from its packaging production site in Randers, Denmark. This includes experience in the design and manufacture of food packaging using recycled materials.

With more than three decades of experience in the design, construction and operation of e-waste recycling plants, weeeSwiss Technology focuses on process engineering, system integration and plant optimisation across the entire WEEE value chain. The company observes that regulatory developments, changing material compositions and increasing safety requirements are redefining plant design and operation.

Europe is in the midst of a profound transformation, which is characterized by the le-gally enshrined path to climate neutrality. The current report "Trends and Projections in Europe 2025" by the European Environment Agency (EEA) shows significant pro-gress, but also critical gaps that require a rapid change of course.

The ecological triple crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental pollution is developing into a global systemic crisis. The OECD report "Environmental Outlook on the Triple Planetary Crisis" shows that these developments are closely intertwined and reinforced by common drivers such as grow-ing resource consumption, land use change and fossil energy systems. Under current policies, all three problem areas continue to exacerbate, while policy responses often remain isolated.

According to Plastics Recyclers Europe, the competitiveness crisis facing European plastics recyclers has worsened in 2024. The report "Plastics Recycling Industry Figures 2024" cites persistently high raw mate-rial prices, rising production and electricity costs, and unregulated cheap imports as the main reasons for the crisis. The pressure has led to lower capacity utilisation and lower margins.