{"id":173297,"date":"2026-02-18T07:20:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T06:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=173297"},"modified":"2026-02-12T13:43:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T12:43:30","slug":"supd-green-light-for-chemical-recycling-and-a-halt-to-imports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/supd-green-light-for-chemical-recycling-and-a-halt-to-imports\/","title":{"rendered":"SUPD: green light for chemical recycling and a halt to imports"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n<p>According to reports from Brussels, the Waste Technical Adaptation Committee for the EU\u2019s Single-Use Plastics Directive (SUPD) last Friday approved the draft implementing act setting out the rules for counting recycled PET toward the minimum recycled content in plastic beverage bottles, currently 25% and set to rise to 30% from 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"410\" src=\"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2026\/02\/totale_riciclo.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-173299\" style=\"width:416px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2026\/02\/totale_riciclo.jpg 600w, https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2026\/02\/totale_riciclo-300x205.jpg 300w, https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2026\/02\/totale_riciclo-150x103.jpg 150w, https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2026\/02\/totale_riciclo-395x270.jpg 395w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>The document introduces two major changes. The first allows chemically recycled PET to be attributed via certified mass balance, calculated using the \u201cfuel-use exempt\u201d method.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The second excludes, until November 2027, PET recycled outside the EU from being counted toward the minimum recycled content in PET bottles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Together, the two measures are expected to shield PET bottle producers\u2014particularly recyclers\u2014from low-cost Asian imports, while encouraging the investment in plants needed to secure medium- to long-term availability of recycled PET produced in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While mechanical recycling trade associations have yet to comment, Chemical Recycling Europe (CRE) has welcomed the opening to chemical recycling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cOverall, today\u2019s decision is a pragmatic and forward-looking step that translates policy ambition into effective rules. It strengthens legal certainty, reduces fragmentation, and offers a more stable basis for authorities and market actors,\u201d <strong>CRE <\/strong>said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEurope needs a wider set of solutions to meet recycled-content objectives while reflecting the realities of waste streams,\u201d <strong>the association<\/strong> added. \u201cChemical recycling can help handle specific fractions that are difficult to recycle mechanically and convert them into feedstocks suitable for new materials.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFrom an industrial perspective, the decision is also enabling. It supports the use of existing European petrochemical assets and know-how to integrate recycled feedstocks, while providing a clearer investment signal for new and upgraded capacity across sorting, pre-treatment, chemical recycling, and downstream processing,\u201d<strong> CRE<\/strong> noted.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>On the other side, environmental network Zero Waste Europe has criticised the chosen mass-balance allocation method, the \u201cfuel-use exempt\u201d approach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cLegitimising \u2018chemical recycling\u2019 will allow manufacturers to make unsubstantiated claims about how much recycled content their products actually contain,\u201d <strong>the association<\/strong> argues. \u201cZero Waste Europe strongly opposes the inclusion of a mass balance approach for accounting recycled content based on the \u2018fuel-use exempt\u2019 allocation rules, which would allow companies to claim and market products as made from recycled materials regardless of their true content. These rules are worsened by the \u2018dual-use output\u2019 concept, which grants even more flexibility in how to attribute the \u2018recycled content\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Moreover, Zero Waste Europe says adopting this approach under the SUPD sets a \u201cdangerous precedent that will most likely impact other key pieces of legislation such as the PPWR and the End-of-Life Vehicles Regulation (ELVR).\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>According to reports from Brussels, the Waste Technical Adaptation Committee for the EU\u2019s Single-Use Plastics Directive (SUPD) last Friday approved the draft implementing act setting out the rules for counting recycled PET toward the minimum recycled content in plastic beverage bottles, currently 25% and set to rise to 30% from 2030. The document introduces two [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":173299,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"Draft implementing act approved: mass balance with \u201cfuel-use exempt\u201d included; extra-EU rPET excluded until November 2027","footnotes":""},"categories":[17143],"tags":[17375,17202,14007,15835,14462],"supplier":[17602,5585,13099],"class_list":["post-173297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-recycling","tag-beverage","tag-chemicalrecycling","tag-pet","tag-plasticbottles","tag-plasticwaste","supplier-chemical-recycling-europe","supplier-european-union","supplier-zero-waste-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173297"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=173297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}