The European Commission has published details of its mass-balance approach under the Single Use Plastics Directive (SUPD) implementing act voted through on 6 February.
The Implementing Decision also confirms that recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) imports from outside the Union will only count towards the 25% target for beverage bottles from 21 November 2027. Following the successful vote, the implementing act will become law.
As expected, the implementing act adopts a ‘fuel-use excluded’ mass-balance accounting approach.
While the act itself will only apply to the SUPD, and only to recycled PET (rPET) material, the Commission has previously stated that it intends to use it as a framework for mass balance accounting rules across EU recycling legislation - and large parts of the mass balance calculation methods appear to be clearly targeted at pyrolysis processes. PET is not typically pyrolysed.
Pyrolysis oil players have said the adoption of the implementing act could encourage investment decisions and spur buying interest in the mid-term. Nevertheless, there remains wider regulatory uncertainty - such as end-of-waste status - beyond the implementing act.
Under a fuel-use excluded approach, material that is processed into fuel or process losses cannot contribute to recycled content targets. Free allocation (a method of mass balance that allows for the total allotment of recycled material to be attributed to any output) would be permissible for the remaining tonnage. This is provided that:
attributed amounts are allocated only to outputs for which it is possible to prove that there is a feasible chemical process that allows for the realistic transformation of eligible input into such outputs.
the attributed amount of a specific output does not exceed the share of those parts of the output that can come from the used input eligible material;
not both the inputs and the outputs are polymers.
Mass-balance accounting rules also apply to dual-use material, whereby the relative share of the dual-use material that will become fuel cannot count towards targets. The implementing act also states that dual use solids such as char should not count towards calculations.
There are different calculation methods for liquid material entering a steam cracker, and for material (or a share of material) not entering a steam cracker. There are also additional calculation steps for material that involves further processing to change its boiling point before entering a steam cracker.
Mass-balance must be carried out within three months and calculated for each facility, and calculations are not transferable between facility or company.
The SUPD entered into force in 2019. It contains:
Mandatory 25% recycled content targets in PET bottles from 2025
Separate collection targets for plastic bottles of 77% by 2025 and 90% by 2029
A ban on the following single use plastics items
The introduction of extended producer responsibility schemes covering the clean-up costs for products, such as fishing gear and tobacco filters
Originally there was additionally a 30% recycled content target for 2030 but this has been superseded by the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR)
Cotton buds
Cutlery
Plates
Straws
Stirrers
Balloon sticks
Cups, food and beverage containers made of expandable polystyrene (EPS) and oxo-degradable plastics
Focus article by Mark Victory
ICIS assesses more than 100 grades throughout the circular plastics value chain globally – from waste bales through to pellets. This includes recycled polyethylene (R-PE), recycled PET (R-PET), R-PP, mixed plastic waste, pyrolysis oil and bio-naphtha.