The European Commission has launched a public consultation on rules for calculating, verifying and reporting recycled content in single-use plastic (SUP) beverage bottles, including chemically-recycled content.
The adoption of the rules will enable chemical recycling in the EU and will help economic actors meet the ambitious recycled content targets set under the Single-Use Plastics Directive (SUPD).
By incentivising investments and supporting new recycling technologies, the rules will boost the competitiveness of both the EU chemical industry and manufacturers that use plastics in their production, helping to establish Europe as a leader in sustainable innovation. The measures will also benefit the environment, as they will economically incentivise producers to reuse plastic waste, rather than disposing of it in landfills, littering or incinerating it.
The rules are part of the new Action Plan for the EU Chemicals Industry, designed to strengthen the sector’s competitiveness and drive its transition toward safe, sustainable, and innovative chemical production.
The EU faces increasing volumes of plastic waste, highlighting the urgent need to scale up plastic waste collection, sorting and recycling.
To achieve its recycling targets, the EU supports all recycling technologies that are better for the environment than incineration or landfill disposal. Among these technologies, mechanical recycling is typically preferred as it is less polluting and more energy-efficient than chemical recycling.
However, when mechanical recycling is not feasible or when higher quality standards are needed, for instance for food packaging, chemical recycling provides a valuable alternative.
The new rules will ensure transparency in calculating the amount of chemically recycled content in new single-use plastic bottles for beverages. By setting up a clear calculation methodology, the rules will create a level playing field and provide investment security for the sector in a technology-neutral way.
The methodology for calculating this is based on the “fuel-use excluded” allocation rule, which means that waste used to produce fuels or energy recovery cannot be counted as recycled content, in line with the definition of “recycling” in the Waste Framework Directive.
The rules aim to balance transparency with minimal administrative burden for companies and national authorities. Annual third-party verification will be required for the most complex stages of the value chain, i.e. during chemical recycling.
