Plastic manufacturing worldwide has doubled in the last two decades. This growth is due to its excellent properties, ease of processing and low cost.

reaching around 414 million tons worldwide and 54 million tons in Europe by 2023, according to ‘Plastics Europe's Plastics-The Fast Facts 2024’ report. As a result, plastic waste has increased significantly. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in its report *Global Plastics Outlook: Policy Scenarios to 2060*, this waste is expected to triple by 2060, reaching 1014 million tons, of which only one-fifth could be recycled.

 

Alejandro Guillem, Natalia Ortuño, Jose Mª Alonso - ITENE 

 

The limited recycling rate is due to various difficulties in reusing or processing plastics efficiently, as they can present high heterogeneity, contaminants such as bad odors, traces of other polymers and suffer degradation processes, which affect their molecular structure and lead to a deterioration of their rheological, mechanical and chemical properties, compromising their application in new products, especially in applications in contact with food or cosmetic products. As a result, recycled plastics have characteristics that do not always allow them to be used in higher value applications, such as in the packaging sector.

To promote a more sustainable use of resources, various measures have been established that promote the Circular Economy and seek to avoid the disposal or energy recovery of plastic waste. Legislative initiatives include the Circular Economy Action Plan and Directive 2018/852 at the European level, as well as the Law on Waste and Contaminated Soil or Regulation 2025/40 on packaging and packaging waste. These regulations set targets such as achieving a minimum of 55% recycling of plastic waste by 2030, guaranteeing the marketing of reusable, recyclable packaging, restricting certain single-use plastics and imposing a specific fee based on the weight of non-reusable plastic packaging, among other measures.

To meet the various objectives set by European and national legislation, processes are required to improve the homogeneity and performance of recycled plastic materials. To restore the performance of recycled plastics, one of the most widespread options today is... READ MORE AT https://www.infopack.es/revista/326/index82.html