Key bodies have demanded trials of new recycled plastic specifications to boost the market for the material.
A report by sustainability consultancy Eunomia in conjunction with recycler Nextek and Verde Research & Consulting set out a four-step plan to improve synthetic polymer recovery.
The Alliance to End Plastic Waste, which commissioned the study, worked with a number of other organisations to create initial specifications for certain grades and applications.
The report said technical work on this needed to be completed in collaboration with suppliers.
After this, “industrial trials” should be carried out to “validate” the standards, according to the study, a process it stressed would require feedback from producers.
Step three of the roadmap would see work to convince the industry of the importance of adopting the target specifications. The final phase would be to help make the standards global.
The report warned that a lack of clear and consistent rules for recyclate quality would leave supply lagging demand in the circular packaging market.
“We call on the industry to urgently support a process to develop a suite of target specifications for a broad set of key applications – and to quickly adopt them,” said the study.
