Eco-score recycling - en
Intro
This document describes how the eco-score packaging malus can be extended to other countries.
Explanation
The basis for the packaging part of the eco-score is described in the base document. This document distinguishes two parts of packaging: where is comes from (upstream) and where is goes to (downstream).
Packaging
The packaging is limited to the packaging that will be in the hands of the consumer. This is mainly primary and secondary packaging (film around bottle packs). Any tertiary packaging is not taken into account.
Materials
The eco-score document identifies 18 different materials and the lifecycle for each material. This is a rather large number. The EU statistics only report 5 kinds of material.
Upstream
The upstream part describes the origin of the materials used in packaging. Is the material used recyclable? Has the material been re-used? Is the material part of a sustainable cycle?
The upstream formula is defined as:
score = A * 1 + B * 0.75 + C * 0.5 + D * 0
Le score amont correspond à la somme des points accordés. Il s'exprime sur 100. La somme des 4 origines possibles (A, B, C, D) doit toujours être égale à 100%.
A le % d'incorporation de matières premières recyclées B le % de matière première renouvelable et durable C le % de matière première renouvelable non durable D le % de matière première non renouvelable
The A, B, C and D depend on the material. The actual values might be dependent on the country.
Downstream
The downstream score is determined by the following formula:
score=A∗1+B∗0.5+C∗0
in which
- A the percentage of the material that will be recycled
- B the percentage of the material that is biodegradable
- C the percentage of the material that will be incinerated or put into a tip
For each country these percentages might be different, depending how well the materials can be separated. Note that these are not the percentages of packagings produced and returned. The percentage mentioned for France seem on the positive side and assume no rejected streams.
Individual countries
For each country we need to find the relevant up- and downstream data. This turns out to be hard. The data does not always seem to exist.
For countries of the EU, the Eurostat database is a good start for downstream statistics.
Belgium
The first step is to find the players involved in recycling. For Belgium these are:
- Fostplus - the organisation that organises the handling of household waste;
- OVAM - a semi-government organisation that directs and checks recycling companies;
- Statbel - the national institute for statistics. They have a section on packaging.
Upstream
No numbers found yet.
Downstream
Fostplus recognises several material categories. The most recent numbers can be found on 2019. or here.
Unfortunately recycling numbers are not available for all categories. The separate recycling of all plastics is fairly recent (2018 and later). The year reports seem to preclude that only for the category other plastic, the recycling percentage is lower.
| Material | Recycling | Container | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| paper/carton | 100% | paper/carton | recycling up to 5x |
| glass | 100% | glazen bol | split in transparent and non-transparent |
| metal - steel | 100% | pmd | |
| plastic bottles/tetrapak | 100% | pmd | |
| other plastic | 46% | pmd | all plastics combinedActivity report 2019 |
Germany
Netherlands
Upstream
- Glass - the part of recycled glass in new glass depends on the glass colour (link): transparant (60%), green (95%) and brown (85%).
Labels
Packaging might display one or more logo's, which relate to the recyclability of packaging.
Green dot
Producers that display this logo on their packaging declare that they contribute to recycling industry depending on the packaging. It does not say anything of the packaging itself. In Belgium the producer pays a tarif based on the recyclability of the packaging (link).