Europe will not be able to meet its climate ambitions unless the dramatic slowdown in the continent’s transition to a circular plastics system is reversed, the president of Plastics Europe and chief executive of Ineos Olefins & Polymers Europe, has claimed.
Rob Ingram issued the stark warning as a new Plastics Europe report revealed that Europe’s annual growth in circular (non-virgin) plastics production plummeted from 13.6 per cent in 2022 to only 1.2 per cent in 2024, resulting in 8.7 million tonnes in circular output (or 15.8 per cent of total production).
By contrast, annual growth in global circular plastics production accelerated from 5 per cent to 7.7 per cent, ‘The Circular Economy for Plastics: A European Analysis’ showed.
The publication, which crunched the latest (2024) data and insights, including trends in circular plastics production, conversion, consumption and trade, as well as data on waste management, also revealed that European converter demand for circular plastics also declined sharply, falling from 16.2 per cent annual growth in 2022 to 4 per cent in 2024.
The findings also identified a significant dependence on external value chains: 19 per cent of converter demand for circular plastics was met through imports, while 12.4 per cent of Europe’s collected waste is recycled in other regions.
Demand met from overseas
Europe’s reliance on imports was even greater for fossil-based plastics, with 25 per cent of converter demand being met from abroad.
“It is deeply concerning that, just when Europe should be accelerating the transition to a circular economy, we see a dramatic slowdown,” Ingram said.
“As a result of high energy and feedstock prices, emissions costs and a lack of fair trade, Europe’s plastics manufacturers are in survival mode.
“Our value chain cannot make the necessary investments in circularity; instead, we are witnessing Europe’s decarbonisation through deindustrialisation. Unless this highly damaging trend is reversed, Europe will not be able to meet its climate ambitions.”
Europe still holds the largest share of circular plastics (15.8 per cent) in relation to its total production mix.
However, its ongoing leadership has been driven primarily by a sharp decline in fossil-based plastics production, which fell by 8.3 per cent to 43.3m/t between 2022 and 2024.
Climate ambitions weakened
“If we continue to export valuable sorted waste and import recycled materials, we undermine both our industrial base and our climate ambitions,” cautioned Virginia Janssens, managing director of Plastics Europe.
“We must create the business case for circular plastics in Europe, by making it economically attractive to keep and recycle our plastics waste. Supportive and fit-for-purpose legislation is a key enabler to this.
“The Gulf crisis has reinforced how exposed Europe is to fossil-resource shocks, and that a strong European circular plastics economy is not a nice-to-have; it’s non-negotiable.
“Plastics waste is a valuable commodity which gives Europe the opportunity to be a resource-rich continent. It’s time to reclaim ownership of our circular economy, starting with keeping and using strategic resources in Europe.”
While the report found recycling rates have improved to 29.6 per cent, it claimed the scale and complexity of the task facing policymakers and the European plastics system cannot be underestimated.
As much as 70.4 per cent of Europe’s collected plastics waste continued to be sent to incineration (16.0m/t, 48.9 per cent) and landfill (7.0m/t, 21.5 per cent) in 2024, the findings showed.
Call for urgent action
The report warned that current EU policy frameworks lack the market signals, scale and speed required to reverse current trends, and it demanded ‘urgent action’ at EU and national levels.
This should address Europe’s energy and emissions cost crisis, ensure fair trade and a level playing field, and foster strong market demand for circular plastics through ambitious market pull measures to unlock the economic power of a harmonised single market, the report recommended.
“The transition to a circular plastics economy must become a top priority for Europe,” Janssens added.
“The Circular Economy Act must truly drive change and make circularity an attractive business opportunity in Europe. Without urgent action, we risk losing the benefits of our own circular transition, with other regions capturing the industrial and economic value instead. Circularity is not just an environmental goal, it is an industrial one.”
Plastics Europe is the pan-European association of plastics manufacturers with offices across Europe.
Its members produce over 90 per cent of all polymers across the 27 EU member states, plus Norway, Switzerland, and the UK.
In January, Plastics Europe appointed Rob Ingram as its chief executive.
