Weak collection of HDPE/PP bottle fractions in Europe

During the PRE WG meeting sessions gathering in Telford at the Plastics recyclers Expo on 18 and 19th June 2014 the Vice-Chairman of the HDPE/PP PRE WG Herbert Snell (Multiport GmbH) highlighted together with the PRE member companies the need to boost the collection of the HDPE/PP bottle fractions. It seems that the quantities of these streams have considerably dropped since a few years in many EU countries.

Only if these fractions are properly collected with high quality sorting the EU increased mechanical plastics recycling targets of 45% will be achievable according to Snell.

Our capacities to process quality HDPE/PP input bales are far more than what is currently been collected so we hope the efforts to increase this collection will soon start in the most important countries in the EU.

We have been ready since a few years as plastics recyclers in Europe to tackle also this waste stream and we are looking forward in contribution to the mechanical recycling targets set by the EU Institutions to move towards a more circular economy in Europe. These waste fractions can develop many new plastics markets for the use of rHDPE/rPP and a lot of innovations are still possible even in food grade applications.

Herbert Snell welcomed the increased recycling target for Europe but warns that quality input for the recycler remains essential.