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To some, this trend might seem like good news. However, the reality is deeply concerning.
2024 was a challenging year for the plastics industry in Europe. Like many businesses and industries, Plastics Europe’s member companies struggled to stay viable and competitive. By the end of the year, our latest European plastics production data had uncovered a steeper-thanexpected decline in European plastics manufacturing and recycled plastics production. According to Plastics – the fast Facts 2024, in 2023, EU plastics production plummeted by 8.3%, and mechanically recycled plastic fell by 7.8%. Meanwhile, global plastics production surged by 3.4%, leaving Europe clinging to just 12% of the global market share. It is important to note that Europe’s share of global plastics production had already fallen from 22% in 2006 to 14% in 2022.
This trend might seem like good news to some—perhaps an indication of reduced single-plastic use in Europe or a shift toward sustainability. However, the reality is deeply concerning. Rather than being caused by a reduction in demand, analysis from Plastics Europe’s members suggest that the primary cause is an increase in imports of plastic resins, which are cheaper than those produced in Europe. These imports come from regions where environmental standards are less stringent, and some others, where energy prices are dramatically lower.
Such an assessment aligns with those of many stakeholders who have been sounding the alarm about a European plastics system in crisis and the inherent consequences for Europe’s economy and climate goals. For example, the Financial Times warned in January 2024 that “a steep increase in petrochemical production in China and the US” had resulted in a global oversupply, sending the price of virgin plastics so low that recycled alternatives became uneconomical.
The message is clear: Europe’s competitiveness is eroding, and this threatens the ability and pace of our industry’s circular plastics transition. Plastics—the third most-used material in Europe, after concrete and steel—are essential for the European economy. These critical materials enable the sustainable and digital transformations of many of its downstream industries, supplying sectors such as healthcare, automotive, building and construction, electronics, home appliances and renewables infrastructure. Without a thriving plastics industry in Europe, the viability of these critical eco-systems will be undermined.
What’s at stake is monumental; beyond losing our chance to create a European plastics system that transitions towards circularity and net zero emissions, the loss of plastics manufacturing in Europe will significantly dent the continent’s industrial base and strategic autonomy. Furthermore, securing the resilience of the European plastics value chain is crucial as it currently supports over
1.5 million jobs across 51,700 companies and generated more than €365 billion in turnover within the EU in 2023.
Europe’s commitment to circularity is not in question, and neither is our industry’s. This commitment is reflected in the ambitious goals set in The Plastics Transition, our industry’s roadmap for how plastics in Europe can become circular and have net-zero emissions by 2050. Published in 2023, it marks the first time our industry has united around a shared, ambitious, yet realistic plan to redesign the European plastics system. While we are steadfast in implementing this vision, its success depends on explicit political support from the EU and its Member States, as well as the right EU enabling policy framework. For instance, ongoing legal uncertainty continues to delay, or worse cancel, planned investments in recycling infrastructure which is essential to a circular plastics system. As the Draghi Report noted, “there is no strong business case at present for plastics recycling,” despite its enormous untapped potential for circularity.
Without urgent policy intervention, the pathway to achieving a sustainable and viable plastics system is slipping out of reach. EU and national policymakers must urgently deliver on the promises of a competitive and enabling policy framework. Such a framework should:
- Reduce regulatory burdens: Simplify and accelerate permitting processes, ensure harmonised and non-discriminatory measures for plastics across the EU, and provide faster legal clarity for innovative recycling solutions in Europe.
- Level the playing field: Protect the European industry’s global competitiveness by for instance implementing separate customs codes for imported virgin and circular (waste and biogenic-based) plastics. Increased monitoring and tracking with more granularity at our EU borders will facilitate fair competition for both European and imported materials.
- Support EU circular plastics investments: Urgently introduce economic or fiscal measures, such as tax credits, to accelerate the adoption of circular (waste and biogenicbased) plastics in the short term. This can be complemented by ambitious legal targets for recycled content, for instance for plastic packaging, that should come into effect before 2030.
- Update and interconnect the EU’s energy grid: Secure affordable and sufficient raw materials needed to regain, maintain and grow the EU’s industrial base.
These actions are critical and urgent for preserving Europe’s industrial competitiveness, ensuring its strategic autonomy, and advancing the transition of our industry to a circular economy for plastics.
2025 presents a new opportunity to reverse the decline in Europe’s competitiveness. We must move with a real sense of urgency to secure a first-in-class circular plastics system that strengthens Europe’s strategic autonomy, safeguards jobs, and delivers on our environmental ambitions. Without such a system, Europe will lose its leadership in sustainable plastics innovation, along with the economic, social and environmental benefits it brings.
Virginia Janssens is the Managing Director at Plastics Europe.
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