In the future non-recycled plastics may be subjected to a tax of 0,8 Euro per. kilo. That is the gist of a new proposal from the EU-Commission, which will in effect raise the price of 1 ton of non-recycled plastic by 800 Euro.
The higher cost will effectively double the price of plastics from non-sustainable sources, while recycled plastics will not be affected by the new tax. The move by the commission is aimed at pushing European plastic consumption in a more sustainable direction.
The citizens are asking us to do more. 95% of EU citizens say the environment is their top priority. 66% say the EU should be doing more, said Calleja Crespo, EU’s director general for environment, at the IdentiPlast conference in London.
The proposed tax increase will be the most recent in a series of actions from the EU intended to encourage a shift towards the circular economy.
Faerch: A positive action
At Faerch we welcome the proposed tax. Our aim is to make food packaging fully circular, and with last year’s acquisition of Dutch recycler 4PET, we have successfully closed the loop on recycled PET (rPET) trays allowing tray-to-tray recycling on an industrial scale. At the recycling facilities in the Netherlands we receive and process PET waste from a total of 7,8 million Dutch households averaging 9,6 kilos of PET pr. household. That’s equal to every household contributing with 900 plastic bottles a year, bringing the capacity at 4PET up to 75.000 tons of PET,
But the problem must be tackled on a larger scale.
We are proud to say, that Faerch’s rPET and CPET products are fully recyclable and comprise market-leading shares of recycled content of up to 100 per cent. We must work toward a circular production and while Faerch intend to scale up our recycling technology country by country, we cannot do it alone, says Lars Gade Hansen, Group CEO of Faerch.
It is now up to the member states of the EU, whether the proposed tax on non-recycled plastic will be passed into law.
