Europe's Plastic Recycling Industry Faces Crisis, with More Plant Closures

Plastic Recycling Europe (PRE) warns that the European plastic recycling industry is facing severe challenges as plant closures on the continent continue to escalate. The industry is struggling to cope with increasing economic pressure, falling domestic production and a surge in material imports, which has led to more and more company closures.

PRE said that the total capacity of plants closed in 2024 will double that of 2023. The situation will continue to worsen in 2025, affecting both large and small companies. The Netherlands alone closed seven plastic recycling plants in 2024.

PRE Chairman Ton Emans stressed the urgency of the situation and called on EU policymakers to act quickly and decisively. "We urge EU policymakers to implement stricter import controls to ensure that imported materials meet EU sustainability and safety standards," he stressed that the industry has already invested 5 billion euros to achieve recycling targets between 2020 and 2023, which highlights the need for immediate intervention to protect the industry.

European recyclers are struggling to cope with rising operating costs, including rising energy bills and scrap costs. This financial pressure is exacerbated by cheaper imported materials, which the PRE report says are often accompanied by fraudulent claims due to low transparency on the origin of the materials.

Currently, imported recycled and virgin polymers account for more than 20% of EU polymer consumption. At the same time, domestic recycled production of most polymers fell by 5%. In 2022, EU plastic production fell by 8.3% to 54 million tonnes. Mechanically recycled post-consumer plastic production also fell by 7.8% to 7.1 million tonnes. In contrast, global plastic production increased by 3.4%, and Europe's global market share fell to 12%.

Despite the positive trade balance, Europe has become a net importer of plastic resins and finished products. Between 2020 and 2023, EU resin exports fell by 25.4%. Forecasts suggest that despite increasing polymer consumption, EU plastic production may return to 2000 levels.

More worryingly, Europe's plastic waste exports to non-OECD countries surged by 36% in 2024 compared to 2022. The growth of plastic recycling capacity has slowed significantly, reaching its lowest level in many years. Recycling capacity will grow by only 6% in 2023, down from 10% in 2022 and 17% in 2021. Total recycling capacity will be 13.2 million tonnes in 2023, up from 12.5 million tonnes in 2022.

PRE estimates that Europe needs to install 16 million tonnes of recycling capacity by 2025 to meet the recycling targets of the European Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, suggesting that the current pace of growth is not enough.

“Without recognizing plastic recycling as a strategic industry and implementing effective trade protection measures to protect European production, the EU recycling industry is at risk of further decline,” PRE concludes. This poses a major threat to Europe’s circular plastics economy, resource independence and green jobs.