As lockdowns around the world caused a drop in demand for fossil fuels, oil prices have plummeted this year, making virgin plastics even cheaper than recycled versions of the material.
BRUSSELS - Concerns are rising across Europe that the coronavirus-induced slump in oil prices could knock demand for recycled plastics but data is still patchy on how the pandemic has affected the amount of trash piling up, the European Union's environment chief said.That could spell trouble for EU plans to improve recycling rates. The EU generates around 26 million tonnes of plastic waste each year. Only 30% of that is recycled.
"At this stage, we do not yet have sufficient aggregated data to make reliable conclusions on the impact of the coronavirus crisis on plastic waste generation, separate collection, sorting, recycling or littering." So far, however, companies still appear on track to meet a voluntary goal set by the EU to use 10 million tonnes of recycled plastics in new products by 2025, Sinkevicius said.He said the Commission has received"relatively few" requests to grant exemptions or extensions to EU environmental rules due to the COVID-19 crisis, but some countries had faced difficulties meeting recycling targets even before the pandemic.
Sinkevicius said the EU's 750 billion euro coronavirus recovery fund could help support the recycling sector.
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