Rahmen und Wirtschaft

For decades, recyclates have been regarded in Europe as a key element of the circular economy. At the same time, plastic recycling rates vary significantly depending on the industry. While more than 40% of plastics are recycled in the packaging sector, the average recycling rate across construction, automotive, electronics, agriculture, and leisure industries is only around 15%. The highest recycling rates are achieved in the industrial and commercial sectors, exceeding 45%.

While there are already high recycling rates in some areas, there is still considerable room for improvement in others. Even in the packaging sector,  often considered a best-practice example, more than 40% of plastics are recycled, yet almost 44% of packaging waste is still incinerated, and nearly 16% ends up in landfill.¹

In the packaging industry, some of the causes behind high incineration and landfill rates are expected to be addressed through regulatory measures in the coming years. However, in many sectors, particularly those involving extensive use of mixed materials and composites,  thermal recovery is likely to remain the predominant disposal scenario, while landfilling has continued to decline in recent years.

Against this backdrop, and considering that even within a coordinated recycling process raw material efficiency rarely exceeds 75%, with additional material losses occurring in subsequent processing stages, achieving a fully circular economy through recycling alone appears difficult to realize.²

This is where bio-based and CO₂-based feedstocks are becoming increasingly important. CO₂ can either be incorporated through plant growth or used directly in materials. As a result, bio-based plastics that remain within the circular economy could be classified as a form of Carbon Capture and Utilization (CCU) technology. CO₂ used directly can also be viewed as an alternative carbon source to fossil-based carbon streams. In the long term, this creates the opportunity to gradually reduce fossil content within material cycles and retain carbon in circulation as much as possible.³

From a European perspective, this also creates strategic opportunities. Targeted and sustainable land use, combined with feedstock utilization according to the cascading principle, can strengthen regional value creation and generate new economic opportunities for agricultural businesses. At the same time, the use of residues, side streams, and innovative feedstock sources can largely avoid direct competition with food production.

For Plastrans Technologies, the future therefore lies not in an either-or approach, but in the intelligent combination of different solutions. Today, the company already focuses on three pillars: recyclates, bio-based plastics, and materials for long-term applications. These include innovative biodegradable materials and compounds, as well as bio-based and mass-balanced (ISCC+) polyolefins. Only through the interaction of these solutions can a more resilient, resource-efficient, bio-based, and circular plastics economy be achieved in the long term.

¹ Plastics Europe, THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY FOR PLASTICS – A EUROPEAN ANALYSIS, 2026.

² Plastics Recyclers Europe, MAPPING OF PLASTICS RECYCLING PROCESSES AND TECHNOLOGIES, 2025.

³ vom Berg, C. and Carus, M. et al. 2023: Renewable Carbon as a Guiding Principle for Sustainable Carbon Cycles. Editor: Renewable Carbon Initiative (ed.), Hürth 2023;