In 2022, the European Union consumed 62.8 million tonnes of plastic, with an average of 140 kg per person. 92% of this plastic (nearly 58 million tonnes) was produced in the EU. Imports are particularly significant in the textile sector, which accounts for 32.4% of all the plastics imported in the EU each year.
In the same year, the EU’s plastic production and consumption (full life cycle) generated the equivalent of over 252 million tonnes of carbon emissions, with manufacturing processes alone being responsible for 58% of climate impacts. To put this in perspective: if the EU’s plastic production and consumption were a country, it would be the 5th largest emitter in the EU.
As the global plastics consumption is expected to double by 2060 according to the OECD, policy and industry actions are necessary to reduce the negative environmental impacts from plastics, notably from plastic waste.
Only a limited percentage of plastic waste is recycled
The EU generated 42.5 million tonnes of plastic waste in 2022. Roughly 80% of it was incinerated or landfilled. Despite a five-fold increase in the EU’s recycling capacity since 1996, only about 20% of its plastic waste is recycled.
The packaging sector alone accounts for nearly half of the total waste generated. However, thanks to well-established collection systems, almost 35% of this waste is sent for recycling. This is a relatively good rate: other types of waste that are collected as mixed fraction and not properly sorted are usually incinerated or landfilled. This is the case, for example, with textile waste, of which only 1.5% is sent for recycling.
A total of 3.7 million tonnes of plastics (almost 6% of the EU’s plastics consumption) were lost in the environment. Almost 45% of these losses took place during the consumption stage, especially due to packaging littering, tyre wear or textiles washing. 38% of these losses were due to plastic waste mismanagement or losses during incineration and landfilling of plastic waste. Most of the plastic lost to the environment goes into soil, but also into water (0.7 million tonnes).
How to reduce the environmental impact of plastics
A new report from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre offers a comprehensive view of plastic flows in the EU and their environmental impact across various sectors. The study also identifies possible areas of intervention to make the value chain of plastics more sustainable.
According to the JRC report, between 2018 and 2022 there was a decline in the EU’s plastics production due to factors like oil price fluctuations or global production overcapacities. In the future, accelerating the switch to production from other sources than virgin fossil, including plastic waste and biomass, would be a very effective way to promote recycling and reduce environmental impacts, including carbon emissions.
Bio-based plastics are still used in very low volumes overall, but becoming more common in packaging, which is the largest sector of plastics use. The uptake of these eco-friendlier materials will help cut down on the emissions linked to fossil-based plastic production.
Improved plastic waste collection and sorting would reduce plastic losses to the environment, enhance recycling and ultimately promote a more circular value chain. The study highlights that combining mechanical and chemical recycling could prove fundamental. Chemical recycling, which currently makes up a negligible share of the sector, can in fact enable the management of materials that could not be recycled using other methods.
Related links
JRC report: Plastics materials flows in the EU-27 and their environmental impacts