But European Commission misses chance to fully embrace circular benefits of bio-based plastics and biodegradable plastics

Berlin, 17 January 2018 – The European Strategy for Plastics, published on Tuesday by the European Commission, sets clear goals to curb plastic waste, increase resource efficiency, and to create value and job growth in Europe, but falls short on presenting a comprehensive approach by limiting the focus of the strategy on mechanical recycling. Concrete steps towards reducing the dependency on fossil feedstock by linking the circular economy with the bioeconomy and supporting innovative bio-based plastics solutions have been further postponed. Moreover, the contributions of biodegradable plastics to a circular economy are recognised but concrete measures are still missing.

“Plastics made from renewable raw materials are a sustainable alternative for many plastic products”, says François de Bie, Chairman of European Bioplastics (EUBP), the association of the bioplastics industry in Europe, and adds: “For some applications, recycled plastics are not always suitable due to lower quality or for safety reasons. While the increase of recycled content in plastics is important to reduce virgin fossil feedstock, alternative sustainable feedstocks such as bio-based feedstocks need to be encouraged as well in order to defossilise the plastics economy.” Replacing a significant proportion of the conventional fossil feedstock by plant-based alternatives would reduce greenhouse emissions and help to reach the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement. At the same time, the mobilisation of EU-grown biomass for the production of bio-based plastics would provide impulses for jobs and growth in the bioeconomy sector and the opportunity to EU farmers to valorise side streams and by-products and to tap additional revenue streams.

EUBP welcomes the importance the Commission has given to biodegradable and compostable plastics and their role in separate collection systems for organic waste in order to improve clean waste streams and recycling quality. The benefits and circular use of biodegradable plastics have to be foremost considered in this context of organic recycling. EUBP looks forward to collaborating with the Commission on identifying applications and measures to stimulate innovation and drive market development in this field. “In addition to organic recycling, biodegradable plastics have the potential to offer benefits with respect to reducing the impact of some applications on the marine environment. In a next step, appropriate materials, applications, standards, and enviro