Single-use plastics: EU improves collection rates in 2022, with ten countries already ahead of 2025 targets

Brussels – The vast majority of European Union countries have made significant progress in the separate collection of “single-use” plastic packaging, thereby promoting higher-quality recycling and reducing its release into the environment. This is the main positive finding to emerge from the European Commission’s first report on monitoring the implementation of the Single-Use Plastics Directive (SUPD), published yesterday (16 April). The report’s findings are based on data from various national governments and refer to 2022, the first year of the effective application of a regulatory framework that formally came into force in 2019 but was only implemented in July 2021.

The main aim of the SUPD is to reduce the environmental impact of ‘single-use’ plastics by taking action on three fronts. The first is an actual ban: the use of certain products has been completely prohibited, including cotton buds, plastic cutlery and plates, and straws. The second level of action is reducing consumption, primarily of food containers, cups, and bottles. Although it does not set precise numerical targets, the Brussels directive calls on Member States to adopt measures to achieve an “ambitious and sustained” reduction in the use of this packaging. Finally, there is the last level of action: the separate collection of single-use plastic containers, necessary to prevent them from ending up in unsorted waste or in the general plastic collection, and to ensure they are not dispersed in the environment, thereby compromising the chances of complete and “cleaner” recycling. In this case, the targets set by the SUPD are far more stringent and stipulate that all EU countries must have separately collected 77 percent of their “disposable” packaging by 2025, rising to 90 percent by 2030. 

On the path to achieving these targets, more than a third of European countries appear to be well on their way. According to the report’s data, 71 percent of single-use bottles were collected separately in 2022, and, as early as four years ago, ten countries had exceeded the 77 percent threshold set for 2025: Estonia, Poland, Finland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Lithuania, Croatia, Slovakia, and Belgium. The first six countries on this list have also already met the 2030 target, diverting more than 90 percent of the bottles consumed by their populations to separate collection and recycling. The three countries furthest from the targets set by Brussels are, however, Malta, Hungary, and Slovenia, whose separate collection rates did not exceed 30 percent in 2022. Finally, Italy is just below the European average, recording a collection rate slightly below 70 percent. 

In what amounts to an indirect reminder to the most non-compliant governments, the European Commission points out that the countries with the highest recycling rates are also those that have adopted the so-called Deposit Return System (DRS). These are measures designed to encourage citizens to contribute to the separate collection of single-use plastics by offering a symbolic cash reward (essentially equal to the cost of the packaging) for every bottle returned via dedicated reverse vending machines. 

The report also contains the first figures on the consumption of single-use food containers, cups, small bottles, and plastic fishing nets (among the most polluting products when they end up in the sea) in 2022. As this is the first report monitoring the implementation of the SUPD, it is clearly impossible to assess the progress Member States have made in reducing the use of such products. However, it is still useful to look at the absolute figures recorded four years ago whilst we await data on trends in subsequent years.

 In 2022, 524,003 tonnes of single-use food containers were sold in the EU, equivalent to 1.6 kilograms per person. The highest figures were recorded in three Northern European countries: Luxembourg, Iceland, and Lithuania. As for plastic cups, European consumption stood at 152,037 tonnes, or 0.5 kilograms per person. In this case, the top three countries in the rankings were Ireland, Poland, and Belgium. Finally, there are the figures for bottles and fishing nets: in 2022, 2.54 million tonnes (5.7 kilograms per capita) and 22,900 tonnes were used, respectively.

 While the figures do not yet clearly show any progress in reducing consumption, the report already identifies the most commonly used measures by governments to achieve this. In the first place, there are economic instruments (such as green public procurement or the extended producer responsibility, whereby manufacturers of plastic packaging must bear the costs of collecting and recycling the resulting waste), implemented by all European countries. These are followed by awareness campaigns and the promotion of sustainable alternatives, chosen by 25 out of 27 national governments, and quantitative targets to reduce sales of ‘single-use’ products, implemented by 14 countries.