Third of plastics recycled in Europe in 2011

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Newly published figures have shown that 33.6 per cent of plastic packaging waste was recycled in 2011.

In the report, Plastics – The Facts 2012 published by PlasticsEurope, EuPC, EuPR and EPRO, it also found that 33.2 per cent of plastic was sent for energy recovery in the EU27 nations plus Norway and Switzerland, while 33.2 per cent went to landfill.

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This meant that the countries exceeded the EU’s minimum target of 22.5 per cent.

Apart from Malta and Cyprus, each of the countries exceeded the 22.5 per cent target with 18 countries getting more than 30 per cent. Netherlands was the leader with 48 per cent of plastic packaging recycled.

The UK was one of the worst countries for sending plastics packaging to landfill with 66 per cent of it dumped in the ground.

Nine countries either recycled or recovered for energy more than 90 per cent of their plastic packaging waste in 2011.