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As the COVID-19 epidemic intensifies in Europe, and the epidemic prevention and control measures adopted by European countries are stepping up step by step, the recycling industry's concern about the long-term impact of the epidemic on major European recycling and recycling markets has risen sharply
.
Some industry sources revealed that the current concerns are:
Recycling volume decreases;
Loss of potential downstream demand from non-packaging industries;
logistics interruption;
Buyers waive sustainability measures;
Reduce necessary long-term investments
.
Affected by the season and epidemic isolation, the recycling volume has decreased
Affected by the season and epidemic isolation, the recycling volume has decreasedEven over the weekend, industry sources revealed that concerns about the recycling industry were limited to the impact of price competition from nascent plastics and limited customer relationships in countries such as Italy
.
The reason is that the novel coronavirus has had a major impact on petrochemicals, hampering global supply chains, changing the way consumers demand and causing market volatility
.
Moreover, despite other warnings from some buyers, the recycling market is largely business as usual
.
Regarding the recycled PET (R-PET) market, the most commonly used recycled material in Europe, some industry sources also revealed that they have found that consumer behavior has changed, especially in terms of purchasing habits and recycling habits
.
"People buy bottled water and don't take it back for recycling, they store it," a German recycler said on Tuesday
.
"On the one hand, this is affected by the seasonal routine of February and March, because people drink less bottled beverages in winter
.
Germany is one of the most mature countries in Europe with a Dumping Return Scheme (DRS), under which consumers return used PET bottles to merchants through vending machines set up in places such as supermarkets
.
Now, with social distancing and self-isolation mandated by the pandemic, just how big is the impact on the country's recycling industry? It has yet to be assessed
.
As mentioned earlier, the consumption of bottled beverages has fallen, which has led to a tight supply of recycled plastic bottles, so many will be more concerned about how to send used PET bottles to the recycling stream during the outbreak
.
At the same time, the epidemic may also affect the trend of the peak season of bottled beverage consumption
.
If social distancing is still required in summer, people may not have many opportunities to go out, which will lead to lower material sources of R-PET
.
A similar downward trend in recoveries is expected in other important recycled polymer segments, such as recycled polyethylene (R-PE) and recycled polypropylene (R-PP)
.
Recycled polyethylene (R-PE) also has a trend of declining consumer demand
.
"We plan to have less material coming into the plant in the next few weeks," said a large waste collection and reprocessing company in France
.
Signs of reduced collection rates often take a few weeks to show in the market, as it takes a while to get post-consumer or post-industrial material down the circular chain
.
This means a shortage at the beginning of the peak season for R-PET and recycled polyolefin (R-PO)
.
However, the peak season of 2020 may not come as planned, given the uncertainty in demand
.
Demand for downstream terminals in non-packaging industries such as automobiles declines
Demand for downstream terminals in non-packaging industries such as automobiles declinesThe impact on R-PO demand may be reflected in the end application market
.
Key end-use markets for R-PO include automotive, construction, garbage bags, outdoor furniture and packaging
.
Demand for cars, which has already fallen sharply due to the outbreak, is likely to fall further after automakers across Europe temporarily shut down their plants
.
Automaker Aston Martin announced on Tuesday that it will close two factories in Gaydon and South Wales, England, from March 25 and reopen until April 20 at the earliest
.
The construction industry will suffer less direct production from disruptions caused by the novel coronavirus, but is likely to be heavily affected by the economic downturn
.
At the same time, demand for outdoor furniture may also be affected due to the implementation of quarantine measures
.
Instead, packaging demand is expected to rise sharply
.
Buyers are expected to prefer plastic-packaged food for health and hygiene reasons, and demand will also rise during the pandemic due to the widespread use of polyolefins in cleaning and hygiene products
.
