Several European countries were found to have recovered at least 80 percent of their used plastics in 2006. The countries are Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Austria, the Netherlands and Belgium. At the other end of the scale, half of European Union member states recovered less than 30 percent. In 2005-2006, the United Kingdom, Greece and Ireland all recovered less than 20 percent.
The industry association PlasticsEurope states in its annual report that in 2006, the recovery of plastics, including mechanical recycling and energy recovery, exceeded 50 percent in Europe for the first time. Recycling represented 19 percent of the total, and energy recovery from plastic waste used 30.3 percent. Escalating raw material prices and improved collection and sorting technology drove the improvement of mechanical recycling rates up 18 percent in 2005.
The increased recycling of window profiles boosted the traditional streams of bottles and film. PlasticsEurope reports that the capacity for closed-loop recycling is being installed in a number of countries. Energy recovery increased 9 percent in 2006. This slower rate of growth, compared with recycling, reflects that as this process requires longer lead times.
Global consumption of plastics rose from 235 million tons in 2005 to 245 million tons in 2006. Demand for plastics in Europe (EU25 and Norway and Switzerland) rose 4 percent in 2006 to 49.5 million tons. The rate of growth topped the GDP rate by 50 percent. The higher consumption level increased the volume of post-consumer waste by 4 percent (about 1 million tons). The sharp increase in recovery levels saw the amount of plastics going to landfill reduced by 1 percent. EuroPlastics says that it is clear that countries doing well on energy recovery do well on recycling, which reflects their holistic resource management strategy addressing all parts of the waste stream, including the minimizing of landfill.
A per-capita analysis of plastics consumption shows that this has grown to over 100 kilograms per annum in North America and Western Europe with the potential to grow up to 130 kilograms per annum by 2010. The highest potential for growth can be found in the rapidly developing parts of Asia, where the current per capita consumption is around 20 kilograms per annum. In Europe a high rate of plastics consumption growth is predicted for the new EU member states. At 55 kilograms per annum their consumption is just over half that of the old core member states.
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