European Commission credits bioplastics’ benefit to circular economy

With its new proposal on the Circular Economy Package in Europe, the European Commission outlines plans that respond to some current main challenges, such as the waste of energy and resources produced by linear economy. The European Bioplastics association said in a press release that it welcomes these efforts, and is looking forward to contributing to the forthcoming debate on how renewable and biodegradable materials can best fit into this vision.

The Communication’s Closing the Loop, an EU action plan for the Circular Economy acknowledges that bio-based materials present advantages due to their renewability, biodegradability and compostability'. "The proposal is an important step towards closing the carbon loop in Europe, says Francois de Bie, Chairman of European Bioplastics.

Underpinning our position is the idea that closing the loop, whilst urgently necessary, should be complemented by measures to boost the bio-economy. Biodegradable plastics contribute to proper organic waste collection and bio-based plastics help to minimise greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, particularly durable bioplastics have the potential to sequester the bio-based carbon. If mechanically recycled, this benefit of carbon sequestration can be sustained throughout many life cycles, making a significant contribution to a circular economy. The carbon loop, in which biobased and biodegradable materials play a key role, needs to be recognised and supported within the EU's legislative framework. Hence we advocate that bioplastics should play an important role within legislation to revise waste targets, as they contribute to multiplying end-of-life options, such as mechanical recycling, organic recycling and waste to bio-energy. Furthermore, the material properties of bioplastics should be recognised within the context of ecodesign measures, given the significant environmental benefits they offer.

The Commission’s proposal to amend the Waste Framework Directive falls short of fully recognising the advantages of organic waste collection for Europe. Organic waste accounts for the largest fraction (30-45%) in municipal waste. Yet, today, only 25% of the 90 million tonnes of bio-waste in Europe is collected separately and recycled in a resource-efficient and sustainable manner by composting and anaerobic digestion. With the right waste legislation in place, an additional 60 million tonnes of bio-waste could be recycled, which would result in the creation of 30,000 new jobs.

Bioplastics are a large family of innovative plastic materials that are either bio-based or biodegradable, or both. The global market for bioplastics is predicted to grow by more than 350% in the mid-term. The latest market data by European Bioplastics shows that the global bioplastics production capacity is set to increase from around 1.7 million tonnes in 2014 to approximately 7.8 million tonnes in 2019. Packaging remains the single largest field of application for bioplastics with almost 70 percent of the total bioplastics market. The data also confirms a decisive increase in the uptake of bioplastics materials in many other sectors, including textiles, automotive, and consumer goods.

Even though production will continue to grow steadily in the coming years, forecasts show that in 2019, more than 95% of bioplastics production capacities will be located outside of Europe. If EU Member States want to attract investment and jobs in this sector, they need to tackle the problem of limited economic and political support, which currently hampers the scale-up of production capacities and market penetration of bioplastic products in Europe. The right strategy and conditions are needed to reverse this trend and help to make full use of bioplastics’ environmental, economic and social potential in Europe, says de Bie.