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The EU is preparing checks on imported plastics and other measures to shore up its recycling industry, after a wave of plant closures driven by sluggish demand and cheap imports, including from China.
Proposals, expected as soon as Tuesday, include checks on imports to ensure they are recycled, moves towards a single market for waste and clearer rules for chemical recycling.
Jessika Roswall, EU environment commissioner, told the Financial Times the industry was in “deep crisis”, adding: “It’s important to make some changes now.”
She said 10 plants had closed in the Netherlands alone over the past 18 months. Across the bloc, about 1mn tonnes of recycling capacity had shut in the same period — the equivalent of France’s annual output.
The EU plans to step up monitoring of imports and introduce a new customs code to distinguish recycled plastic from new material.
“We need to have a level playing field because today there is this sense that not all recycled plastic that is coming into Europe is really recycled: It could be virgin. We lack the information,” Roswall said.
“There is an overflow of plastic coming in from third countries,” she added.
Imports from China continue despite EU anti-dumping duties imposed in 2024.
The European Commission will also ask the 27 member states to approve a single criterion for when recycled material changes from waste to fresh material. That would make it easier to ship plastic across borders to increase the efficiency of the industry.
“We need to have one single market for waste. We need to see waste as a resource not trash — how do we turn trash to cash?” Roswall said.
Jessika Roswall, EU environment commissioner © Thierry Monasse/Getty Images
The move is partly a response to a letter from six member states, including the Netherlands and France, in November.
“Several European producers which have invested in the sector’s shift towards circularity and plastic recyclers have been forced to reduce production or close factories,” the letter said. It demanded greater incentives to use recycled content and protection from imports.
Roswall said: “We need to see that we get the business case of the recyclers. Today it is sometimes cheaper to buy virgin materials, and that is not sustainable.”
Installed plastics recycling capacity in the EU reached 13.2mn tonnes in 2023, but is forecast to fall by 1mn tonnes by 2025, according to the commission.
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The plan also seeks to address regulatory barriers that have held back chemical recycling.
Companies were asking whether the technology will be allowed, Roswall said. “Yes we will use chemical recycling and that means that ‘yes, you can invest in this because we see that it is a part of the industry for the future’.”
For the first time, chemically recycled plastic will be allowed to count towards a target requiring 25 per cent recycled content in PET drinks bottles this year. Officials say the target has been met, but it will rise to 30 per cent from 2030.
The commission has also moved to support heavy industry suffering from cheap imports. On Tuesday it agreed to allow governments to support 20 sectors including chemicals, ceramics, glassmaking and batteries which are struggling to pay for their carbon emissions.
Brussels said there was a risk of “carbon leakage” as competitors overseas do not have to pay for emissions, which cost more than €80 a tonne in the EU. It will also allow 80 per cent of costs to be covered, up from 75 per cent.
Germany had pressed for the decision as part of efforts to reduce power costs to help its struggling industry. Finance minister Lars Klingbeil hailed the move as good news, adding that Germany was still in talks over subsidising electricity prices for heavy manufacturing companies.
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