Joint call: Prioritising European-made recycled plastic in meeting mandatory recycled content targets

In view of the imminent publication of the Circular Economy Winter-Package by Commissioner Roswall, the undersigned associations call for the prioritisation of European-made[1] recycled plastic to meet the mandatory recycled content targets.

Europe cannot achieve its circular economy and climate goals without a viable recycling industry. We have set ambitious targets, invested billions in infrastructure, and built world-leading environmental standards. Now is the time to stand up to our ambitions and objectives – managing our own waste and to enforce regional recycling at scale.

To achieve these objectives, the undersigned associations urge the European Commission to take the following actions:

• Clarify that recycled plastic content in beverage bottles placed on the EU market must be recovered exclusively from post-consumer plastic waste collected and recycled within Europe.
• Require that recycled plastic content targets for all European-manufactured products must be met using recyclates derived from post-consumer waste collected and recycled within Europe.
• Develop and apply robust mirror clauses in the implementation and enforcement of measures for imported products from third countries. This is necessary to ensure consistent sourcing and environmental standards for recycled content used in products sold in the European market.

Consequently, it is necessary to maintain a consistent horizontal approach by replicating this regional sourcing logic across all future legislative instruments that set recycled content targets.

It is high time to ensure European recyclates -produced under these strict standards- are placed at the forefront of European markets. This is not protectionism; but a matter of policy coherence and shared responsibility across the value chain, ensuring that our circular economy vision is realised through domestic industrial capacity that meets the highest environmental standards, rather than being undermined by non-verified imports from third countries.

The undersigned associations urge the Commission to take swift action to implement these measures, so that Europe can preserve its recycling capacity and meet its ambitious climate and circular economy commitments.

[1] EU27+EFTA+UK

Signatories: