Zero Waste Europe and ECOS to the European Commission: “‘Mass balance approach’ blocks ambitions for increased recycled content in plastics”

In a joint letter issued yesterday evening, Zero Waste Europe, ECOS, and eleven other signatories call upon the European Commission (EC) to avoid a flexible ‘mass balance approach’ method in determining recycled content in plastic products. Instead, they urge the EC to establish a transparent, ambitious, and circular ‘chain of custody’ method. 

Signed by several civil society organisations and recycling industry members, the letter is a direct objection to the recent calls of key industry players (including ‘chemical recycling’ actors) for a ‘mass balance approach’. This method could allow for the liberal allocation of recycled feedstock to the final product of their choosing, regardless of its true content. In practice, a plastic product could be sold as ‘fully recycled’ while containing only very small fractions of actual recycled content under the ‘mass balance approach’.

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