On January 30th, the EU SUPD Waste Technology Adaptation Committee adopted a draft implementing legislation clarifying the accounting rules for recycled PET in plastic beverage bottles.
Currently, the EU requires a minimum recycled content of 25% for the bottle body, which will increase to 30% by 2030.
This document introduces two major adjustments:
First, it allows chemically recycled PET to be accounted for using a certified quality balance method, including the "fuel use exemption" rule.
Second, until November 2027, PET recycled outside the EU will not be included in the statutory minimum recycled content for plastic bottles. Imported recycled plastics into the EU will also be excluded!
These two policies, combined, aim to protect EU PET bottle manufacturers, especially recycling companies, from the impact of low-priced imported recycled materials from Asia, while encouraging companies to invest in building factories to ensure a stable supply of domestically produced recycled PET in the EU in the medium to long term.
The mechanical recycling industry association has not yet commented, while the European Chemical Recycling Association (CRE) welcomed the policy opening to chemical recycling. In a statement, the association said: "Overall, today's decision is pragmatic and forward-looking, translating policy vision into actionable rules. It enhances legal certainty, reduces market fragmentation, and provides a more stable basis for regulators and market players."
The association added: "Europe needs more diverse solutions to achieve recycling content targets while aligning with the actual waste stream. Chemical recycling can handle special waste components that are difficult to recycle mechanically and transform them into feedstocks suitable for new materials."
CRE also noted: "From an industry perspective, this decision is highly supportive. It supports the integration of existing EU petrochemical assets and technologies with recycled feedstocks, while sending a clearer investment signal for new and upgraded capacity in sorting, pretreatment, chemical recycling, and downstream processing."
On the other hand, the environmental organization Zero Waste Europe criticized the "fuel use exemption" mass balance accounting method adopted in this decision.
The organization argues that "legalizing 'chemical recycling' would allow companies to make unfounded claims about the actual recycled content of their products. The European Zero Waste Alliance strongly opposes incorporating the quality balance method based on the 'fuel use exemption' allocation rule into the calculation of recycled content-this would allow companies to claim and market their products as recycled materials regardless of the actual content. The 'dual-use output' concept further exacerbates the loopholes in the rules, making the allocation of 'recycled content' even more flexible and arbitrary."
Furthermore, the European Zero Waste Alliance states that adopting this approach under the Single-Use Plastics Directive would set a "dangerous precedent" that could potentially impact other key legislation, such as the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) and the End-of-Life Vehicle Regulation (ELVR).
