Towards 100% traceability and recycling of industrial plastic packaging together with Valipac
Where exactly does the plastic packaging waste from Belgian companies go? And is it actually recycled? Valipac, the industrial packaging management organisation founded in 1997 on the initiative of the business community, is the first in Europe to map the recycling destination for 90% of industrial plastic packaging. Next step? Towards 100% traceability and maximum recycling within Europe.
The figures? Of the 58,800 tonnes of industrial plastic packaging declared to Valipac, 42% was recycled in Belgium and other Member States of the European Union. Three quarters of that was within a radius of 300 kilometres around Brussels. In addition, 39% went to Asia, mainly Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam, and 19% to Turkey.
Maximum recycling in your own region
The ambitions of the plastics sector are higher. We strive for 100% traceability and, above all, maximum recycling in our own region. The development of additional recycling capacity in our country and in Europe is therefore a top priority, because exporting plastic packaging waste to Asia or Turkey is not a sustainable solution.
Circular vision
To achieve this ambition, the FEB launched a concrete action plan at the end of 2020 in collaboration with Valipac and twelve (sector) federations, including essenscia. Goal: better recycling of industrial packaging and reusing it more often.
This plan fits perfectly into Valipac’s circular vision, which identifies 4 major challenges for corporate packaging: further increasing the recycling rate, ensuring traceability to guarantee maximum recycling, expanding local recycling capacity and promoting recyclability and circularity.
