The recent sharp drop in the price and demand of waste plastics in Europe has seriously threatened the economic viability of recyclers. The European Union of Recyclers (Euric) warned in a policy statement issued on Wednesday that if the current situation continues, the impact will be extremely far-reaching and will threaten the realization of the goals set in the European Green Agreement and the new circular economy action plan. The association also warned that threats to the plastic recycling industry will cause job opportunities in the environmental protection industry in many EU member states to disappear.

In this context, the European Recyclers Union called for emergency measures to help the European plastic recycling industry. The alliance stated that it needs to provide systematic assistance to the plastic recycling industry, especially in terms of mechanisms to stimulate demand for recycled plastics. As a measure to stimulate demand, the Union proposes to formulate a feasible and mandatory EU recycled content index for common plastics in products. The alliance also advocates the use of tax-based or market-based incentives to eliminate the price gap between new plastic materials and recycled plastics. The measures can be formulated based on the proportion of documented energy-saving and emission-reduction measures in the plastic recycling industry.