UPM Biofore Magazine 1-2019

used in energy generation. In the 1990s, people started to recycle plastic, after which the recycling rate has increased steadily by 0.7% annually. If current progress continues, by 2050 about 50% of plastic will be utilised as energy and 44% recycled, leaving only 6% left over as waste. The Plastics – the Facts 2018 report reveals that, for the first time ever, a larger amount of plastic was recycled than taken to landfills in 2016. In 2017, 42% of plastic was incinerated for energy, 31%was recycled, and 27% taken to landfills.

One tricky challenge for recycling is the globalised nature of commerce. “Products are transported from one continent to another. In Finland and Sweden, there are recycling guidelines for packaging designers and value chains. The product and material may be produced in compliance with recycling guidelines, but question marks still surround the practices observed by operators in the different countries where products are exported. But there are signs of progress,” Kärhä sums up.

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