Plastic waste as a challenge for sustainable development and circularity in the European Union

Abstract

Motivation: Plastics are valuable materials covering a wide range of applications in everyday life and have the potential to be recycled many times while retaining their value and functional properties. However, the scale of the problem associated with improper management of plastic waste in the EU is enormous, which entails economic costs (the potential associated with the recycling of plastic waste remains largely unexploited) and irreversible losses for the environment. Solving the problems of plastic waste becomes the strategic goal of the EU, which takes action to support transition towards a circular economy and adopts first-ever Europe-wide strategy on plastics. These issues are current and important. Aim: The aim of the article is to assess the previous efficiency of plastic waste management in the EU countries which, so far, results from the implementation of national policies. The Strategy for Plastic waste will be also discussed as a response to contemporary challenges and as an element of achieving the goals of sustainable development and circular economy. Results: In the last years, the efficiency of plastic waste management have improved but still a huge share of plastic is wasted. The challenge is to increase recycling rates and to change unfavorable structure of plastic waste reuse: at this time energy recovery rate (41.6%) is still higher than the recycling rate (31.1%), and the recycling rate only slightly exceeds the landfill rate (27.3%). The second problem concerns single-use plastic packaging which accounts for about 60.

Initiative to Increase the Circularity of HDPE Waste in the Construction Industry: A Physico-Mechanical Characterization of New Sustainable Gypsum Products

“…However, despite these problems being well known in industry, only 9% of the total plastic generated is recycled. Almost 79% of this waste is placed in landfills without any kind of process for recycling, recovery, or revalorisation [4]. In this international context, Europe is the second largest producer of plastics (after China), the building sector being the second largest consumer of these raw materials (19.8% of the total) [4].…”

“…Almost 79% of this waste is placed in landfills without any kind of process for recycling, recovery, or revalorisation [4]. In this international context, Europe is the second largest producer of plastics (after China), the building sector being the second largest consumer of these raw materials (19.8% of the total) [4]. For this reason, it is necessary to incorporate circular economy models that promote reuse and encourage industrial symbiosis, recovering inert waste as secondary raw materials to promote the development of sustainable construction products [5].…”

Reducing the Phenomenon of PPW (Pollution with Plastic Waste) Through Legislative and (Bio)Economic Solutions

“…Nowadays, pollution with plastic waste (PPW) is a widespread phenomenon, the consequences of which have become among the most harmful to the environment and, respectively, to life on Earth [1]. We say this because beyond the exaggerated quantities of packaging of this nature chaotically abandoned, an easily visible situation (at the level of the ground/underground, running/dead water - Figure 1), we face also -due to the persistence of this phenomenon for decades -another kind of risk.…”

From Circular Economy to Circular Society

“…Another issue is that there are no targets for the use of secondary materials in new products, except for SUP bottles and the voluntary commitments of the Circular Plastics Alliance (see § 4.4.2.3). Mandatory recycled content targets could boost the demand for recovered plastics which are currently facing considerable price and market barriers (Baran, 2020;Elliott et al, 2020;Milios et al, 2018). Facilitating the establishment of EU-wide online platforms for the trading of circular goods (recycled materials, recovered components, repurposed products, second-hand goods etc.)…”

“…In this context, several academics have stressed the need to further investigate the EU's interpretation and implementation of the CE concept (Colombo et al, 2019;Fitch-Roy et al, 2020;Foschi and Bonoli, 2019;Krämer, 2019;Pollex and Lenschow, 2018;Rijnhout et al, 2018). While various articles have looked at specific aspects of the EU's CE policies (Baran, 2020;Colombo et al, 2019;Elliott et al, 2020;Farmer, 2020;Fitch-Roy et al, 2020 and Bonoli, 2019; K. Kirchherr et al, 2018;Knill et al, 2020;Krämer, 2019;Lazarevic and Valve, 2017;McDowall et al, 2017;Milios, 2018;Moraga et al, 2019;Pollex and Lenschow, 2018;Repo et al, 2018;Steenmans, 2019;Talens Peiró et al, 2020;Völker et al, 2020;Wieliczko, 2019) (2020). Finally, the discussion reflects on these results and develops recommendations from the perspective of other circularity visions.…”