Europe works to promote the circular economy of plastics

Europe's push for a circular economy of plastics goes beyond improving recycling rates at the end of a product's life – it touches design, production, use and recovery as a connected system rather than a one-way chain.

What is the circular economy of plastics?

In a closed system model, plastic products are designed from the outset with reuse and recycling in mind – using materials and formats that can realistically be recovered and processed back into new products, rather than ending up as waste with no viable next step.

Beyond traditional studies on recycling

Traditional recycling studies tend to focus on what happens after a product is discarded – collection rates, sorting efficiency, processing capacity. The circular economy framing pushes the conversation upstream as well, to how products are designed and what materials are chosen in the first place, recognising that a product designed for circularity is far easier to recycle effectively once it does reach the sorting line.

Discover ECOPACK plastic sorting