Recycling policies could deliver significantly greater gains than a cap on virgin plastics production, according to an Oxford Economics study commissioned by the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA).
The study modelled a 33.6 million tonne increase in global plastics recycling from targeted policies, compared with 19.9m/t under a 5 per cent cap on virgin plastics production.
It also found that targeted recycling measures would have a smaller effect on plastics prices and household welfare than a production cap, although the findings are based on modelled scenarios commissioned by ICCA.
But the past month has seen the debate move from production and recycling targets to the practicalities of how packaging is designed, collected and recycled.
In the US, two bills aimed at establishing national standards for recycled-content and packaging claims advanced through the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
The Recycled Materials Attribution Act would establish federal standards for marketing products containing recycled materials, while the Packaging and Claims Knowledge Act would create a framework for recyclable, compostable and reusable claims, including third-party certification and Federal Trade Commission oversight.
Legal tests
The issue of what constitutes a recyclable package is already being tested in the courts.
A US federal judge has scheduled an April 2028 trial in a class action against Colgate-Palmolive over claims made for some toothpaste tubes, with consumers alleging that the tubes were not accepted by most material recovery facilities in California. Colgate maintains that its primarily HDPE tubes can be recycled through the state’s #2 HDPE stream.
In the UK, meanwhile, recyclability is being linked directly to packaging costs.
Reconomy analysis of Environment Agency data found that 61.8 per cent of flexible plastics assessed under the UK Recyclability Assessment Methodology received a red rating, with red-rated packaging due to face a 20 per cent higher Extended Producer Responsibility fee per tonne than amber-rated material from 2026/27.
The UK Plastic Packaging Tax also produced fresh evidence of the changing economics around recycled content.
HMRC data showed revenue falling 4 per cent to £250 million ($331.62m) in 2025-26, while the proportion of plastics packaging meeting the 30 per cent recycled-content threshold rose to 51 per cent, although Reconomy warned that progress on increasing recycled content had stalled.
Costs and benefits
Another UK policy change is prompting questions over how the costs and benefits of recycling systems are distributed.
Larac has called for an urgent review of the impact of the planned deposit return scheme on councils, arguing that the diversion of drinks containers from kerbside collections could affect local authority revenues and increase some costs.
The UK developments form part of a wider debate over the direction of plastics policy and the industry’s ability to invest in the infrastructure needed to meet it.
More than 50 European plastics organisations have called for action on competitiveness, citing energy costs, imports, regulatory uncertainty and fragmentation, while arguing that around 1.1m/t of European plastics recycling capacity has been forced to close since 2023.
The policy debate is not confined to Europe and North America. The Australian government has shelved plans for national packaging standards that had been promised in 2023, prompting the Australian Council of Recycling to call for the decision to be reconsidered and for recycled-content requirements to be included in future reforms.
Signs of investment
For recyclers, the commercial environment remains challenging, but there are also signs of investment and consolidation.
Plastic Energy has transferred its stake in TotalEnergies Plastic Energy Advanced Recycling to TotalEnergies, leaving the French energy group as sole owner of the company behind the 15,000 tonne-a-year Grandpuits chemical recycling plant.
Another chemical recycling project has changed hands in the Netherlands, where EMV Capital acquired the Pryme One plant at the Port of Rotterdam.
The facility, which cost more than €50m ($56.74m) to build, stopped operations in March following problems with its reactor technology, and EMV is assessing a restart using a different reactor design.
Investment is also being directed towards higher-value plastics. Selenis has acquired production assets from Polisan Hellas and plans to install them at its Portuguese operation, taking its speciality copolyester capacity above 200,000 tonnes a year by 2028 across sites in Europe, Tunisia and the US.
Improving recyclability
At the packaging level, manufacturers are responding to the same pressure to improve recyclability.
Alpla has launched a PP foam dispenser pump designed as a mono-material solution, weighing 25g in its standard form and capable of incorporating post-consumer recycled material, with the company planning to move towards commercial production with anchor customers.
The development comes as Aptar Beauty works on a similar approach with its Novus Advance pump, which uses PP and PE in a full-polyolefin cartridge and is designed for use with HDPE, PP or PET bottles.
The two developments point to growing efforts to remove metal and mixed materials from dispensing components while retaining the functionality expected in personal care packaging.
Alpla is also working with CCL Label on a different approach to replacing conventional packaging formats, with the companies developing a 330ml stackable PET beverage can.
Virgin plastics alternatives
The container is designed for existing PET filling lines and uses a shrink sleeve engineered to separate from PET flakes during recycling.
In China, Amcor and Ge Wu An have launched an inverted PP pet food cup designed to provide an alternative to conventional aluminium cans. The format allows the cup to be peeled, inverted and torn open, while its lighter weight and reduced material use are intended to lower the impact associated with transport and production.
The search for alternatives to conventional virgin plastics is also extending into bio-based materials.
An IDTechEx report forecasts production of bio-based plastics reaching 14.5m/t a year by 2036, with polylactic acid, bio-based PE and PP, polyhydroxyalkanoates and PE furanoate among the materials expected to benefit from growing demand, although the report also highlights continuing challenges around end-of-life infrastructure.
And finally…
Klöckner Pentaplast (KP) has launched a recyclable pizza box made from expanded PP, designed to keep pizzas hotter for longer than conventional cardboard packaging.
The KP Infinity Tavola can reportedly keep pizzas up to 7.3℃ hotter after five minutes than conventional packaging, while its reusable two-part design can be used for dine-in service or combined for takeaway and delivery, delivering a fresh take on pizza packaging.
Foodservice operators and quick-service restaurants will undoubtedly be keen on a slice of the action.
