Olivier Vilcot, Managing Director of the Union of Plastics Regenerators, explained to Engineering Techniques what obstacles still exist to greater integration of RPMs (recycled plastics) into the plastics economy.
The SRP (Syndicate of Plastics Regenerators) is a national professional union that brings together industrial plastics regenerators and represents 80% of the profession. In terms of volume, the members of the SRP produced, in 2021, 537,000 tonnes of MPR, by recycling different types of plastics such as low and high density polyethylenes, polypropylene, polystyrene, PVC, PET, and some diverse products.
While various European directives will oblige manufacturers of plastic products to systematically incorporate RPMs in their products, challenges arise, in terms of volume, quality and price for recycled plastic materials.
Olivier Vilcot came back for Techniques de l’Ingénieur on current and future challenges for all members of the SRP.
Engineering Techniques: In terms of volume, what is the most recycled plastic by SRP member regenerators? What sectors do you cover?
The product on which we have the most volume is PET, which is the source of 124,000 tonnes of food grade RPET (recycled PET), and 85,000 tonnes of light and dark flake RPET. Our members transformed 630,000 tonnes of plastic waste in 2021 in total.
We cover many industrial sectors such as packaging, medical, automotive, WEEE, sports and leisure, clothing, construction and agriculture.
What are the current obstacles to the greater development of plastic recycling today?
The constraints that we encounter today are of three kinds. The first concerns volumes: bottlenecks appear on the value chain.
These bottlenecks can move between waste feestock, regeneration capacities and RPM (Raw Material Recycling) outlets. These necks can also be different depending on the plastic materials. At one time, the bottleneck was generally located mainly downstream of the chain: there was a higher supply than demand. In 2022, this bottleneck has shifted to upstream supply, as many regulations, recent or in the process of being put in place, include incorporation obligations for issuers in the market. For example, European regulations provide for 25% incorporation of RPET in PET packaging by 2025, then 30% in 2030. Incorporation obligations for plastic packaging will also emerge at continental level. This explains the move upstream of this volume problem. In 2023, we see that the bottleneck is moving downstream again, including for Rpet, which has been in high demand until now. Indeed, as long as the difference between RPET and virgin PET remained at reasonable levels, players anticipated regulatory obligations and some even clearly displayed the rates of incorporation of MPR on their packaging. With the fall in the price of oil which began in the summer of 2022, which led to a drop in the prices of virgin polymers, the price difference with the RPET has become too great and some players have switched back to virgin knowing that the incorporation obligations will come into force in 2/3 years.
Does this raise the importance of effective collection?
Take the example of the plastic bottle. It is captured up to 60% at present. While it has been collected in the yellow bin for decades, we would be entitled to expect a much higher rate of capture. This illustrates the difficulty of capturing this type of plastic material, and the progress needed to be made on everything that includes the capture of waste. The eventual fundraising target, which is 90%, will force us to perform better on this point.
After volumes, what is the second obstacle to the development of MPRs?
The second obstacle is the quality, put forward in particular by certain users to justify a limitation of their use. To respond to this argument, the SRP decided to implement a quality mark, NF MPR 558, which was developed in partnership with AFNOR.
This mark of quality reflects strong commitments on the part of regenerators. First, the commitment of certified regenerators to implement minimum quality measures for MPRs. These measurements are identical for all regenerators certified and standardized on the fluidity, the density of plastics, for example. This information is useful for customers to be able to compare the quality of the materials produced. More generally, we are convinced that the quality of recycled products is an essential factor for the sustainability and growth of our business.
Then, this quality standard guarantees the traceability of the waste, from one end of the chain to the other.
Finally, since 2017 we have been able to provide our customers with a life cycle inventory of MPRs, which allows them to know exactly the environmental savings (carbon for example) achieved through the incorporation of MPRs in their products as a replacement for polymer of fossil origin.
These data tables, available on our site, are updated regularly and refined using data collected from our members. An update and study is also underway in 2023 in collaboration with Ademe.
Volume, quality… What is the third challenge for MPRs?
The price. Processors have become accustomed to incorporating RPMs into their products to keep costs down. But this leads to certain perverse effects: processors often do not display the quantity of MPR present in their articles, which is already problematic. Also, when oil prices fall, no one buys MPR because of insufficient profitability compared to virgin. Regulation is necessary to avoid these accordion blows which prevent any visibility on the evolution of the markets and constitute a brake on investment in new capacities. The incorporation obligations are beneficial at this level. Since these obligations, we observe, on the markets, an uncorrelated PET price and an RPET price. Moreover, the price of RPET is not linked to that of oil, but to that of waste.
Second effect of the mandatory incorporation of MPR, for the first time brands are no longer ashamed to display the quantity of MPR in their products. It has even become a marketing argument. Not yet in all sectors, that’s true… In the automotive industry, for example, manufacturers are not yet making the use of MPR a commercial argument. However, the performances of new and MPR are equivalent, it is essentially a question of consumer perception.
Interview by Pierre Thouverez