The IK reports that the use of recycled materials in plastic packaging has increased since 2021. But it could be even more.
 

This is the result of a recent study commissioned by the IK Industrievereinigung Kunststoffverpackungen (German Association for Plastics Packaging and Films) as part of the BKV study “Stoffstrombild Kunststoffe in Deutschland 2023”. According to the study, the packaging sector is the largest area of application for plastics, accounting for about 30 percent of the total amount processed in Germany. According to the numbers, the use of recycled materials in the production of plastic packaging has increased by 24 percent to 580,000 tons since 2021. In 2021, it was 467,000 tons. According to IK, the proportion of recycled materials in packaging production was also increased from 11 percent in 2021 to 15 percent in 2023. At the same time, however, the amount of plastic processed fell by 12 percent to 3.8 million tons. According to the IK, the industry association, the goal of using one million tons of recycled or bio-based plastics by 2025 will probably not be achieved. This would require improved cooperation between politics, industry, customers and authorities. There is also said to be still room for improvement in collection and sorting and design for recycling, as well as in customer demand, which needs to be more reliable, and in approvals for recyclates in food contact, which need to be faster.
 
By monitoring the quantities of recycled materials used, the IK aims to document not only the milestones in the circular economy, but also the major challenges for the industry arising from the targets of the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (PPWD) up to 2030. According to the study, PET beverage bottles are the only packaging that would meet the targets of the PPWR with an average of 49 percent recyclates obtained from so-called post-consumer plastic recyclates (PCR). In non-food contact packaging (excluding PET), the use of PCR recyclates reportedly rose from 185,000 tons to 258,000 tons, which corresponds to a share of 18 percent and is thus still well below the PPWR target of 35 percent, according to the IK. Contact-sensitive packaging (except PET) contained 11,000 tons of PCR, which corresponds to less than 1 percent and is thus well below the 10 percent required by the PPWR. “64 percent of plastic packaging produced is classified as contact-sensitive,” explains Isabell Schmidt, IK's managing director for circular economy. “The requirements for the recyclates used are correspondingly high. In addition to PET beverage bottles, other mechanically recycled plastics are already achieving various, quite high levels of quality. This is where legislators and approval authorities are called upon to leverage the existing potential in an efficient, fast and climate-friendly manner.”
 
Sources:

• IK press release (21.11.2024)
• Photo: © IK