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In a move welcomed by Mura Technology and the advanced recycling sector as a whole, the new German coalition government, made up of the Social Democratic party (SPD), the Greens and the Free Democratic party (FDP), has announced plans to implement EU-level, product-specific recycling and recognise advanced recycling as a viable recycling option for waste plastics. This new action is as part of an initiative to encourage the use of recycled materials, resource-saving and design-for-recycling in packaging via the newly-announced National Circular Economy Strategy.
The new Ampel-Coalition agreement states that advanced (or ‘chemical’ recycling) should be included as a recycling option in the Packaging Act, whilst a new recycling label system is also to be introduced. The new Government has outlined their intention to bring forward uniform standards – meaning products would need to be reusable and recyclable, and the introduction of product passports would allow for end-to-end management of materials. Development of quality standards for recyclates will create new, high-quality materials to enter into the market. The contract states:
“We are strengthening the extended manufacturer responsibility on a European level. We introduce digital product passports, support companies in their implementation and uphold the principle of data economy. We strengthen waste avoidance through legal goals and ecologically beneficial reusable, return and deposit systems as well as industry agreements. We support innovative, sustainable ideas such as shared use. We are stipulating higher recycling quotas and a product-specific minimum quota for the use of recyclates and secondary raw materials on a European level.”
The coalition has also outlined plans to look towards a Europe-wide end to landfilling of municipal waste and increase action against illegal waste exports. In a move that supports Net Zero ambitions, the coalition agreement also states that Germany will draw 80% of its energy from renewables and shut down its last coal-fired power plant by 2030, eight years earlier than planned by the outgoing government.
Mura Technology are developing the world’s first commercial-scale Hydro-PRT® plastic recycling site to divert waste plastic away from incineration, reduce carbon emissions and prevent millions of tonnes of plastic from entering the natural environment every year, turning the $120bn lost resource of plastic waste1 into a valuable global commodity. Our process, Hydro-PRT (Hydrothermal Plastic Recycling Technology), creates a much wider scope for recycling all types of plastic, including flexible, multi-layered film and post-consumer, contaminated materials. By diverting these materials away from incineration and landfill and into recycling, we decouple the manufacture of new plastics from fossil-sourced feedstock – helping to decarbonise the petrochemical industry. Our ambition is to have 1,000,000 tonnes of plastic recycling capacity in operation or development by 2025, including four sites in Germany, four in the US and one in the UK.
1. World Economic Forum (2016)
