Cefic calls for recognition of ‘mass balance’ method for circular polymers

Brussels - The European Chemical Industry Council (Cefic) has urged EU authorities to recognise the 'mass balance chain of custody' in circular products as the polymer industry gears up to meet climate and recycling targets set for 2025.

In a statement 10 Jan, the chemicals industry body said the mass balance approach was “key” to accelerating chemical recycling and to increasing the recycled content of end products.

In particular, Cefic said recognition will be of high importance in the face of EU’s single-use plastics directive and the EU Commission’s proposed regulation to include 50% recycled content in plastics packaging by 2025.

According to innovation director by Annick Meerschman, a key barrier to scale-up of chemical recycling technologies is uncertainty about the method for calculating the recycled content of plastics.

“We need EU rules to support chemical recycling as a complementary solution to mechanical recycling, to pull investments into this technology and help the EU meet targets,” said Meerschman.

For chemical recycling rates to accelerate in the EU, Cefic went on to say, the industry needs to invest more in chemical recycling facilities.

And for investment to take off, clarity about the use of a 'mass balance chain of custody' method to calculate the recycled-content of products is required, it added.

“Unfortunately, the current Commission proposal does not provide enough clarity on the use of this method which can hamper further progress of chemical recycling,” Cefic noted.

Mass balance is a 'chain of custody' model, as defined in ISO standard 22095. It is already used in other sectors, such as biofuels, fairtrade cacao and coffee.

The approach tracks specific characteristics - in this case recycled materials co-processed with virgin materials in existing assets - and guarantees that the recycled-content is appropriately allocated to products.