Plastic must be reused for new products or energy

Because...

Throwing plastic on landfills conflicts with responsible use of the earth's resources. There are also financial advantages in reusing plastic products, recycling plastic materials or alternatively exploiting the energy in the plastic.

This is what we believe:

Discarded plastic products should be utilised 100 per cent.

Reuse and recycling of plastic must be given high priority.

Exports of plastic waste to countries outside the EU must be supervised.

Waste policy instruments should be developed on the basis of environmental assessments in connection with utilisation of each waste fraction.

This is what we will do:

We will cooperate with the authorities and other sectors on meeting EU recycling targets.

Through communication of eco-design, lifecycle analyses and environmental product declarations, we will promote plastic products that are constructed so that the plastic can be recycled as far as possible.

We will cooperate with packaging manufacturers and the authorities on making plastic packaging the most environmentally friendly through standards

Did you know that...?

Denmark is the EU champion at recycling plastic waste

In 2006, 96 per cent of all plastic waste in Denmark was utilised either by recycling the plastic in new products or by exploiting the energy for combined heat and power.

The amount of packaging waste is decreasing in relation to economic growth

In the period from 1997 to 2006 packaging consumption in Denmark only rose by 6 percentage points, even though the gross domestic product in fixed prices rose by 20 percentage points. The same trend - only somewhat weaker - is also seen in the former 15 EU Member States.

The industry itself recycles hard PVC plastics

The industry has established and initiated a recycling scheme for hard PVC plastics. In 2007 the ‘WUPPI scheme’ gathered 3500 tonnes of hard PVC construction waste, which was recycled in new building products.

Denmark is not receiving credit for its deposit-and-return system

When recycling rates for plastic packaging are measured in the EU system, a reusable plastic bottle, which is reused 25 times, is only included in the statistics once, even though it prevents the use of 24 other bottles. If Denmark was credited for this, according to calculations by the Danish Environmental Protection Agency, the Danish rate of recycling plastics would increase by up to 7-8 per cent, and Denmark would easily meet the EU targets of recycling 22.5 per cent of plastic packaging.

Old coca cola bottles are made into fleeces

Many different kinds of clothing are manufactured from glass fibres. 70 per cent of all recycled PET soft drink bottles are recycled as polyester fibres. For a fleece made of 100 per cent recycled PET, 50½ one-litre plastic bottles will be used.

Danish recycling scheme for EPS

EPS producers in Denmark have established a recycling scheme for discarded clean EPS packaging, collected by the customers. The scheme is being financed by the EPS producers and raw material suppliers jointly.

Plastic must be reused for new products or energy

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