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Europe’s plastic manufacturers are steadily losing market share to China and are struggling to meet environment and climate targets, a study has found.
According to industry body Plastics Europe, Europe’s share of the global sector fell sharply from 22% in 2006 to 14% in 2022.
While the amount produced increased slightly from 53.9 million tonnes to 58.8 million tonnes, soaring global consumption rates meant the sector lost ground overall. China, meanwhile, increased its share of global plastic production from 21% to 32% during the same time period.
“If this continues, Europe will become increasingly dependent on imports that do not necessarily meet EU sustainability standards, and the ability of European plastics producers to invest in circularity, and the transitions of the many sectors that rely on plastics, will be undermined,” the report said.
It also found that circular plastics now account for 13.5% in new plastic products manufactured in Europe, meaning the sector is now halfway to meeting its 2030 goal to use 25% of plastics from circular sources.
However, the report’s data also highlights several major challenges that will undermine the sector’s progress towards circularity, including growing rates of incineration with energy recovery (+15% since 2018) of plastics waste needed as circular feedstock/that could have been recycled.
Virginia Janssens, managing director of Plastics Europe, said: “While the data confirms the shift to circularity is firmly established and picking up pace, it is frustrating that we still incinerate so much plastics waste when this potential feedstock is desperately needed by our industry to accelerate the transition.
“Without urgent action to increase the availability of all circular feedstocks for plastics, we cannot maintain the current rate of progress and realise the ambitions of our ‘Plastics Transition’ roadmap and the EU Green Deal.”
The data in the report also shows that the uptake of circular plastics is not uniform, but varies by industry sector. The strongest demand comes from the packaging, building and construction, and agriculture sectors. However, others, including automotive and electricals and electronics, are falling behind.
Some 175 countries have signed up to a UN proposal to create a binding agreement this year to combat plastic pollution.
According to Greenpeace, the UK sees less than 10% of its plastic packaging recycled, with most of the rest sent to landfill or incinerated.
In September, a ban on a range of single-use plastic items including cutlery, balloon sticks and polystyrene cups came into force in the UK.
