A Clearer Picture: What Does Legislation Mean for Chemical Recycling?

Australia, BioChemicals/Renewable Chemicals, European Union (EU), Feedstocks, Not Agriculture, Opinions, Policy, Sustainability

January 31, 2023

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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … Something must be done to solve the plastic problem. Not only for the good of ocean life, but to dramatically reduce the amount of waste that’s sent to landfill and incinerated, and to remove virgin fossil feedstocks from the production process.

To that end, legislation is being drawn up and revised on a global level, and at a fast rate. When you take just the EU as an example, there’s a comprehensive and complex array of regulations that have been — or will be — introduced. Some of it is being revised to incorporate the latest developments in recycling technologies.

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As time goes on, the standards of the Plastic Strategy are expected to become commonplace, even beyond the EU.

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Let’s take a closer look at three key areas of legislation. While far from being the whole picture, they are a crucial part of the story for the chemical recycling industry:

Waste shipment regulation (WSR)
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Certification
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Third party certification is required, and certification providers for circular plastic include ISCC Plus, RSB Standard for Advanced Products, Recyclass, and EuCertPlast.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
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Seeing the bigger picture

EU legislation about plastic and plastic waste is complex and covers a wide range of topics, from marine waste to waste shipment, and plastic in contact with food.

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Geography will play a part here, with different areas of the world creating unique regulatory environments. READ MORE

Congress Urges EPA to Maintain Clean-Air Regulations on Chemical Recycling of Plastics — Lawmakers say chemical recycling contributes to climate change, perpetuates environmental injustice and does not advance a circular economy. (Inside Climate News)

What’s the right role for chemical recycling? (Resource Recycling)

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