Since the early 1990s the association of plastics manufacturers in Europe has been actively involved in plastics waste management, and during that time a comprehensive amount of knowledge has been accumulated via studies and reports. One key lesson learnt from these studies is that plastics are much too valuable to be thrown away. Landfill is not an adequate solution for plastics waste; in fact, landfilling plastics waste simply means throwing oil away!
At the moment there is no uniform plastics waste management practice in the EU-27 countries; some countries are far ahead, while others are way behind political targets. To effectively tackle this situation, PlasticsEurope has developed a Best Available Practice (BAP) concept, the main goals of which are to:
- Communicate a vision on waste management that is widely accepted;
- Assist in providing our know-how and share our best practices regarding waste management;
- Make the general public aware that a proper plastics waste management scheme leads to resource efficiency