13/12/07

New JRC report assesses the environmental impacts of plastics recovery processes

Today the Joint Research Centre published a report entitled “Assessment of the environmental advantages and drawbacks of existing and emerging polymer recovery processes". The report describes the plastics waste streams generated by different economic sectors in the EU and develops an outlook of the composition of these streams for the coming 10 years. One of the report's most important findings is that it identifies ways in which new and existing technologies could be combined to improve the recovery of waste plastics from the perspective of their environmental and technological performance. The study provides national and European policy makers with useful information on recycling systems and on the evolution of plastics consumption, thereby facilitating good decision making in the field of waste management.

 

Contacts:
danae.ortega@ec.europa.eu