| CHEMICAL INDUSTRY JOURNAL |
| environmental |
Europe chemical recycling to keep growing but legislative, infrastructure challenges remain This leaves the regulatory status of chemical recycling under the proposals uncertain.
By Mark Victory
Senior Recycling Editor at ICIS
Chemical recycling continues to attract a wealth of investment in Europe and is still seen by many as the only potential way to meet mass-scale food-contact recycled material content targets for most polymers. As a result, new pilot plants are expected to continue to emerge in 2022. Nevertheless, a number of legislative and infrastructure challenges continue to face the industry.
EU definitions on the legal status of chemical recycling are becoming increasingly pressing for the industry following the EU Commission’s proposals in November to overhaul current rules surrounding the export of waste. Several players have said that the new proposals would make it more difficult to export waste, particularly for chemical recyclers. Of particular concern to some waste managers is the EU allowing modification of waste measure to be up to individual countries, which they fear would lead to significant regulatory divergence. The Commission is proposing an EU-wide system to electronically exchange documents and information, which would allow authorities to better monitor waste streams.
The EU Commission stated in late 2020 that it would take a decision in 2021 on the legal status of chemical recycling based on its cradle-to-grave life-cycle impact. This has failed to emerge.
Materials not listed on the EU’s green list and destined for recovery operations will require prior written consent and approval from relevant authorities in both the sending and receiving countries.
Current EU regulations typically use the definition of recycling set out in Directive 2008/98/EC, in which recycling is “any recovery operation by which waste materials are reprocessed into products, materials or substances whether for the original or other purposes.
Shipments of waste for disposal in other member states will be broadly restricted under the proposals. Mixing waste streams during shipment will also be prohibited under the proposals.
It includes the reprocessing of organic material but does not include energy recovery and the reprocessing into materials that are to be used as fuels or for backfilling operations.”
CONSULTATION BEGINS In December, the Commission issued new draft legislation for consultation on changes to food-contact recycled
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