Plastics recycling sector in Europe, India and China

07-Nov-06

At the BIR Plastics Round-Table, speakers expressed that the plastics recycling sector is being over-regulated in Europe, when compared to North America and Australia, due to the imposition of multiple rules and regulations on recyclable plastics in Europe. An overview of market conditions in Australia points that annual consumption of plastics is around 1.6 million tons and is growing at some 2% pa. The recycling rate currently stands at 15% but a target of 30-35% has been set for 2008. Major part of the 210,000 tons that is recycled each year, is exported to China. China's annual import totals an estimated 3 million tons. In China, checks on imports of low-grade plastics are becoming ever stricter and the higher costs of recycling continues to exert substantial pressure on margins. India's imports of recyclable plastics amounted to around 100,000 tpa. 30 factories have been successful in obtaining 5 year renewals to their exclusive licences to import plastics scrap. There is absolutely no scope for dumping or illegal incineration in India, where plastics reprocessing is fully regulated without any child labour.