Ready for PPWR?

Plastic recycling under real conditions

Demands are rising – yet the real challenge remains operational: maintaining consistent quality whilst dealing with fluctuating input streams and keeping costs under control. This white paper shows how recyclers and converters translate PPWR requirements into efficient processes – with a focus on process stability, material purity and clear decision-making criteria.

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Five reasons why there is a pressing need for action now

1
The use of recycled materials is subject to volatile price fluctuations: virgin materials are often cheaper
2
PPWR time lag: Quotas will only come into effect gradually from 2030 onwards, but decisions and investments are being made now.
3
Pressure of delivering quality increases: material purity and consistent recycled material quality are becoming increasingly important
4
Water and energy consumption are OPEX drivers; pre-discharge in the process is becoming increasingly important
5
Investment risk is rising: uncertainty makes bad decisions costly.

Your benefits

Concise, clear and practical: from market and regulatory pressures to the key levers in the process chain.

  • Understanding the PPWR Regulation: How the EU Packaging Regulation changes processes and documentation requirements in practice
  • Material purity as a bottleneck: Which factors have the greatest influence on material purity and recycled material quality
  • Keeping costs under control: Where OPEX typically arises and how to counteract it
  • Dry cleaning in the process as a pre-treatment stage or standalone solution
  • Including a checklist for a quick self-assessment and next steps
     

Download the whitepaper now

Ppwr einordnung
From PPWR Regulation to Actionable Steps

A concise overview of what the EU Packaging Directive means in practice for processes, documentation, and quality objectives.

Ppwr materialreinheit
Making Material Purity Predictable

What factors truly drive recycled material quality when input varies, and how it can be supplied with consistent quality.

Ppwr opex
Identify and Targetedly Reduce OPEX Costs

Where costs typically arise and which process levers improve cost-effectiveness.

Ppwr trockenreinigung
Dry Cleaning as a Flexible Component

Criteria and key questions regarding when dry cleaning is appropriate as a standalone process or a preliminary step, and how it can improve material purity.

The purity of plastics determines the cost-effectiveness of recycling processes. The challenge lies not so much in the 'whether' but in the 'how' – that is, in achieving the required purity efficiently and consistently under real conditions.
Tim Hamer , Vecoplan AG
Director of Recycling Sales

FAQ

The Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) is an EU regulation that replaces existing directives on packaging law and imposes significantly stricter requirements regarding recyclability, the use of recycled materials and reporting obligations. For manufacturers and processors, this means designing packaging to minimise waste as far as possible in future and meeting the new EU sustainability requirements. 

Material purity describes the extent to which a recycled material is free from foreign substances, residues and contamination. The higher the purity, the more stable and predictable the processing properties – and the more likely the material is to meet the requirements for high-quality applications. Low input purity increases the effort required in downstream process steps and makes it more difficult to achieve reproducible quality. 

Dry cleaning is particularly useful, amongst other things, when the input material contains deposits, dust or other contaminants that can be removed mechanically before energy- and water-intensive wet cleaning stages are employed. For example, it offers a major advantage as an upstream step that reduces the load on and stabilises subsequent processes.

The biggest running costs include energy (particularly for washing, drying, extrusion), water treatment and disposal, maintenance costs due to increased wear and tear caused by contaminated input, as well as quality assurance and scrap costs resulting from unstable material properties. Many of these costs arise or are exacerbated if contaminants are not reduced early enough in the process.

Whether dry cleaning is sufficient on its own or is used as a preliminary step before wet cleaning depends on the quality objective. Dry cleaning is therefore not a compromise in the cleaning process, but in many cases the economically sound decision.

This white paper is aimed at decision-makers and specialists in the plastics processing and recycling industry – in particular plant managers, process managers, sustainability and compliance managers, and managing directors who are grappling with the requirements of the PPWR and wish to understand how input quality and process architecture are interrelated.

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Includes a checklist for a quick self-assessment.

Enter your details and you’ll receive the PDF directly by email: Benefit from a concise overview of the current PPWR requirements, including a roadmap up to 2030. Find out why material purity is becoming a bottleneck for recycled material quality and cost-effectiveness – and when dry cleaning is advisable as a standalone process or as a preliminary step.