Michael Brunn

The Swedish DRS company Returpack will increase the deposits on all packaging: from SEK 1 to SEK 2 on aluminium cans and small PET bottles and from SEK 2 to SEK 3 on large PET bottles.

Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (CFRPs) are used in the aerospace, automotive, and sports equipment industries. However, their recycling remains a major problem. In a recent study, researchers from Waseda University demonstrated a novel direct discharge electrical pulse method for the efficient, effective, and environmentally friendly separation of CFRPs to recover high-quality carbon fibres. This work is expected to pave the way for a more sustainable world.

Plastics recyclers in Europe suffer from extremely low demand and unfair competition with third countries. For this reason, the European recycling association Euric calls for the rapid implementation of binding targets for minimum recycled content in plastic products in its "EU Plastics Recyclers' Roadmap: For a competitive & innovative industry". In addition, there are to be financial incentives to bridge the price difference between primary and secondary goods.

The EU-funded project tExtended is spearheading innovation in this area with the development of a blueprint, a knowledge-based masterplan to develop and demonstrate effective textile recovery, reuse, waste valorisation, and recycling processes.

An alliance of companies and associations from the plastics, packaging, consumer goods and recycling industries, has called on the European Commission to urgently implement existing as well as introduce legal mechanisms to control and certify imports of recycled plastics.

FEAD has announced that ARI, a Danish organization representing 13 private waste management companies, has officially joined the association.

Through its subsidiary Remex Minerals Singapore Pte. Ltd., 51 % of the shares in Singapore-based NEO Hardware Pte. Ltd. have now been acquired as part of a share deal. The transaction will take retroactive economic effect from November 1, 2023.

The plastic value chain is hit by a strong recession caused by persisting issues such as increased imports of non-EU recycled plastics, reduced investments in domestic raw materials production and recycling, as well as a lack of demand for EU-virgin and recycled plastics.

EuRIC's Ship Recycling Group (ESRG) has published a manifesto calling for measures to strengthen the EU's ship recycling sector, ensuring that more vessels are recycled within the EU in compliance with stringent environmental and safety standards, rather than being exported to third countries whose facilities do not meet similar criteria.

European Bioplastics presented its 2024 edition of the market development update during the EBC24 in Berlin.