Improve recycling systems

What challenges do you see in the cosmetics industry? 

Cosmetic products are packed in a wide range of packaging, mainly rigids – PET bottles, HDPE and PP containers. Some packaging is very small in size (e.g., lipsticks, mascaras, etc.) and others often combine plastic with other materials like metals or glass. Furthermore, to give the product a luxury feeling the packaging is heavily decorated, for example with gold and silver shades. 

Definitively, the big challenge for this industry is shift from design for marketing to design for recycling, or design for circularity. This translates into using mono-material packaging and limiting the decorations as much as possible to facilitate the sorting and the recycling processes or, alternatively, fostering innovation that brings together performance and recyclability. This in turn, will increase and create value of the packaging waste coming from the cosmetic industry, making collecting, sorting, and recycling profitable, while boosting the circularity of these applications.

The good news is that even though it is challenging, it is feasible for the cosmetic industry to redesign their packaging following the criteria of reliable design for recycling guidelines to contribute to the EU recycling targets.

At the same time, the demand for recycled plastics in the cosmetics industry is increasing. Cosmetic applications, nevertheless, require recyclates which can satisfy high quality requirements, since they often need to comply with specifications for materials in contact with skin. Currently, there is no harmonised requirements for cosmetic applications, however, the industry is working to increase the available volumes of high quality recyclates.

How do you rate the recycling infrastructure in Europe, both from end users and from industry?

With innovation and technological developments, we aim to achieve high-quality recycling which will enable recyclers to produce high-end products with recycled plastics having almost the same properties and characteristics as the products with virgin plastics. 

The figures show that over the past two decades, plastics recycling has been steadily growing and just within four years it grew by more than 65%. 

Beverage bottles and trays (PET), flexible plastics (LDPE), and containers (HDPE) are the plastic waste streams with the highest collection and recycling rates in Europe. 

Although there are some differences in systems, performance, and availability of infrastructure across the EU countries, there is a growing trend toward sharing and using best practices and new technologies to further increase the quality, efficiency, and effectiveness of plastic recycling processes. 

What options are there for using recyclates in cosmetics packaging? 

The industry is working together to provide harmonised data on the technical requirements for recycled plastics intended for cosmetics applications. Currently, companies either request food contact quality or set their own requirements based on their internal data. Sourcing food contact material has challenges of its own due to the limited availability on the market. Therefore, more and more companies are looking for alternatives which are safe for consumers. Following this demand, the key industry brands, converters, and recyclers collaborate within the CosPaTox consortium to agree on harmonised requirements for cosmetics and household applications.

In the meantime, companies are increasingly interested in ensuring traceability of recycled plastics and quality of the recycling process. EuCertPlast, a certification for plastic recycling processes offers reliability in terms of verification of the origin of the waste, traceability of the recycling process and quality management.

What are the limits when using recyclates in terms of durability, safety, and appearance?

High quality recyclates can be used today in the same or near-same applications as virgin plastics. The quality of the output will vary depending on the quality of the input waste and the recycling technology. Equally to virgin material, different qualities are suitable for different applications, depending on market demand. 

In terms of safety, recyclates intended for food contact applications will require a specific procedure, namely decontamination which is regulated under the EU Regulation 282/2008. 

What proportion of recyclate must packaging have so that it can be declared as “made from recycled material”? 

The upcoming regulatory requirements at the EU level call for setting up a struc-tured, consistent, and transparent approach to recycled content verification. 

As there are currently no set regulations regarding the minimum recycled content thresholds and their verification at the EU level, it is   very important to ensure that the industry players are provided with tools that enable their certification. This is necessary to bring clarity and eliminate void environmental claims used purely as a marketing tool without genuinely reducing the impact on the environment. 

RecyClass Recycled Plastics Traceability Certification recognises the actual use of recycled plastics in finished or semi-finished products, in a transparent manner and by pro-viding the exact share of recycled plastics in a product, starting with a minimum of 10%.

The recent positive evaluation from the European co-operation for Accreditation that the certification was granted, makes the scheme the go-to certification for companies that want to comply with the standard EN 15343:2007 and to stay ahead in the circular transition.

It allows for an adequate determination of the known share of  recy-cled material, via a percentage-based calculation as defined in EN 15343, and attests the origin, source of the recycled material and its incorporation in final products. This practice is ensured via a controlled blending Chain of Custody model defined by the ISO 22095 standard. The certification is destined to any company which plays a part in the value chain and holds custody of the recycled plastics.

The certification brings confidence in the use of recycled material not only to the value chain but also to consumers. Via its labelling system, the certification allows for providing clear messages destined to end-users who can make conscious choices about the environmental impact of the products they buy. In line with that, RecyClass provides as well guidance on how to use the claims granted via the different certifications or technology/product approvals both for recyclability and recycled content of plastics.

To what extend can the “green platics alternatives” be integrated into the regular recycling cycle? 

A systemic change is needed, to make a long-lasting and sustainable transformation. Surely bio-degradable and bio-renewable plastics are part of this multi-level and systematic approach. However, the golden rule must be to strike the right balance between the different solutions that we have currently on the table so that they can complement and not compete. For example, chemical recycling must remain complementary to mechanical recycling if we are to make plastics fully circular. The combination of innovative developments for physical and chemical recycling must continue while considering their overall impact on the energy consumption/ emissions, water consumption etc. 

In your opinion, where is there still a gap that should be closed?

Promising sorting technologies like digital watermarking and artificial intelligence can then create new sorted homogenous plastic streams increasing the recycling yield and ensuring the production of high quality recyclates on the market, to replace virgin in the same applications. Indeed, the main obstacles for these technologies to get commercialised is the economic feasibility of the process. 

It is crucical, to test these emerging technologies and thereby demonstrate their compatibility with existing infrastructures and positive impact on the circularity of plastics, before introducing them to the markets. 

How do you see the development of recycled plastic and its use in the next 10 to 15 years? 

Transition to circular plastics is no longer merely a societal demand, but the only way that the plastic industry in Europe and all over the world can sustain itself. The long-term objective for the industry must be to ensure genuine circularity of plastics. A one size fits all solution does not exist for solving the plastic waste crisis. Instead, systemic change is needed, where redesign, prevention, reuse, and recycling are simultaneously optimised. With that, by 2030 the recycling and reuse of plastics will halve the virgin production. 

To be effective, we must look at systemic solutions – and plastics recycling is just one piece in this puzzle, and a key element in reducing plastic waste. It must be successfully implemented along with other solutions. 

Plastics recycling in Europe established itself as one of the most important tools in solving the plastic waste crisis. Being among the best alternative feedstocks to virgin plastics, the use of recyclates reduces Europe’s dependency on natural resources while decreasing CO2 emissions by up to 90%. 

In addition to helping solve the mismanagement of plastic waste, the recycling industry has an important role to play in achieving a climate-neutral Europe. The positive changes that have accelerated the growth of plastic recycling in the recent years, largely thanks to the increased attention from the legislators, must continue to achieve that objective. Only by relentlessly addressing product design issues, increasing collection and sorting, tackling low recycling rates, and boosting uptake of recycled materials, can the transition towards truly circular plastics be implemented. 

It is expected that by 2030, half of the overall plastic demand in Europe is to be covered by proliferation of reuse models and the increased uptake of recyclates. While the technological advancements, various commitments and targets have set the right course for this to be achieved, the industry and policymakers must work together to optimise each step on the journey towards a circular plastics economy and climate neutral Europe.