Next 5 years "critical" for plastics sector to go circular & decarbonise
It is possible to have a fully circular, net-zero emissions plastics sector in Europe but only with radical innovation, ambitious policymaking and significant investment, all backed by government, industry and civil society, a new report from environmental services company SYSTEMIQ says.
The report, titled "ReShaping Plastics – Pathways to a Circular, Climate Neutral Plastics System in Europe", sets its focus on four of the most important sectors that use plastics: packaging, consumer goods, construction and automotive, and lays out six scenarios, setting out the actions that should be prioritised to meet circularity and climate mitigation goals.
According to SYSTEMIQ, current industry and policy actions could more than double circularity from 14% to 30% by 2030, cutting emissions by 11 million tonnes and leading to 4.7 million tonnes less plastic waste being disposed of in landfills or being incinerated. Nonetheless, even if this were to happen, it would still leave a system that is highly resource-inefficient.
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While the report points out that there is no "silver bullet" answer to drastically reducing emissions and waste disposal, it underlines how the co-deployment of both upstream and downstream solutions would be the most effective way of doing so.
In this context, upstream relates to pre-consumer actions, such as material redesign, plastic reduction, and substitution, and downstream to post-consumer, such as mechanical and chemical recycling.
Applying upstream and downstream solutions together, the report says, can drive significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and waste disposal over the next ten years and beyond, but even then, more action will be needed.
SYSTEMIQ says that if Europe is to reach its net-zero by 2050 target and plastic is to be decoupled from fossil fuels, proven circular economy measures should be used alongside the rapid development of "multiple less mature, innovative technologies and approaches".
The company argues that the next three to five years are critical. Long technology maturity cycles and capital expenditure (capex) lock-in for large infrastructure investments mean that the decisions taken in the early 2020s will determine whether the European plastics system will achieve a circular economy and net-zero emissions by 2050.
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"How close the system comes to transformation will depend on the level of leadership shown by key decision-makers across all stakeholder groups. The adoption of circular economy approaches across the plastics value chain can drive a 33% reduction in GHG emissions and a 46% reduction in waste disposal by 2030," said Yoni Shiran, Program Director and Partner at SYSTEMIQ.
"It is both affordable and achievable within technical constraints but requires an ambitious combination of both upstream and downstream solutions. A new plastics system is within reach but will require bold action. It needs industry, public sector, investors, and civil society to come out of their “trenches” and collaborate in a deeper way based on a shared fact-base – that was the main objective of this programme."
On top of the tried-and-tested circular economy approaches, there are a number of "less mature pathways", such as shifting to green hydrogen, switching to bio-based polymers, using carbon capture and storage tech on incinerators and the electrification of steam crackers.
ReShaping Plastics also found gaps in current plastic waste data, which could present a major challenge to the understanding of the environmental and climate impacts of plastic. For example, over 40% of the plastic put on the market in Europe may not be fully accounted for in waste statistics.
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SYSTEMIQ said that the report's findings demonstrate the necessity for the plastics sector to adapt in such a way that both aligns with the net-zero targets and is circular in nature.
Produced over one year, ReShaping Plastics was commissioned and financed by trade association Plastics Europe, carried out by SYSTEMIQ, and overseen by an independent Steering Committee made up of experts from across industry, academia and the public sector.
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