Currently, plastic processing is mostly about recycling, including recyclates and recyclability. There is no point in talking about companies and their waste. All companies have and must have a production cycle that does not produce waste. The problem remains mainly household waste. 

Everyone should care to produce as little waste as possible and separate as much essential waste as possible. This applies to the whole of Europe. Efficient technologies are already in place in sorting and recycling lines, so single-sort materials are already coming out of them. There is a debate about whether or not to throw all recyclables together and then sort them. Certain types and grades come out of the sorting stations and are already labelled. The demand for these recyclables is high, even exceeding the supply. Some lines sort up to 90% of all plastic waste. In Europe, the sorted plastic waste is between 40 and 60%.

On 30 November 2022, a new directive (EUR-Lex - 52022PC0677 - EN - EUR-Lex (europa.eu)) which goes from the European Commission to the European Parliament for approval, was issued to address packaging materials and packaging waste. All the documents for this directive are in the approval phase, and the draft is very extensive (280 pages). One of the points will be reducing the excess production of plastics, for example, in the form of half-empty food containers, which will be addressed for all types of packaging. The Czech Ministry of the Environment has prepared all the documents where a person and a person in a business can find out all the waste processing and collection statistics.

There is a RecoTrace portal in its third year about all recyclables and recycled waste; this year, it is also in Czech.

Not only is plastic waste cut out usable, but it cannot be expected to be perfect to look at in many fields. Often it is mainly "defective" in appearance. Nor can it be assumed that it can be recycled indefinitely. Also, the use of recycled material usually moves down a class.

The price of recycled plastic products is falling and is often more favourable than original products, such as concrete. Foreign partners are often more interested in recycled products than Czech ones. For example, grass pavers, benches, composters, various OSB boards, attractive design boards, flower pots, roofing materials and others are produced. 

Europe is managing waste well as part of the transition to sustainable management. Everyone should manage all materials better. 

Plastics Cluster is willing to assist cluster companies with a consultation on processing plastic waste. 

David Hausner

Manager of Plastics Cluster.