February 18, 2025 15:24

By 2030, due in part to new European regulations, demand for recycled plastic in Germany is expected to exceed supply by 30%, despite progress in plastic waste recovery and recycling.

This imbalance could create serious challenges for packaging companies—and later for the automotive industry—which are required to meet EU-mandated recycled content targets.

The projection comes from a recent study conducted by consultancy Conversio Market & Strategy on behalf of BKV, the German plastics industry think tank.
The report estimates that Germany could face a recycled plastic shortfall of 1 million tons per year, while the EU-wide deficit could reach 3.5 million tons.

According to the study "Status quo and forecast of demand for and availability of post-consumer recyclates in 2030", 80% of all recycled plastic currently comes from the packaging sector, a trend unlikely to change significantly over the next five years. However, by 2030, more than half of recycled packaging plastics will be diverted to other industries, such as construction and automotive, exacerbating supply shortages for the packaging sector.

To prevent this scenario, industry associations have called on the German government to increase plastic waste collection—particularly in commercial sectors and public spaces—to approve safe recycling processes for food packaging, currently limited to PET, as a matter of urgency, and to strengthen oversight of imported recycled materials to ensure quality standards for both raw materials and recycled-content products.

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