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Since the 1950s, global plastics production has steadily increased, reaching some 370 million tonnes annually in 2020. At the same time, the lifespan of plastic products has decreased significantly. Today, about half of all plastics are manufactured for retail packaging, whether for food, cosmetics or electronics. Much of this packaging ends up in landfills after a very short period of time. Europeans generated more than 29 million tonnes of plastic waste in 2020, with the average EU resident producing 33 kilograms of plastic waste each year.

To address this flood of packaging waste, the EU has adopted more stringent quotes for recycling and aims to mandate the use of recycled plastics as a raw material. According to the 2018 EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive, EU member states must recycle at least 65 percent of their packaging waste and at least 50 percent of plastic waste by 2025. In addition, efforts are underway to establish a mandatory quota for the use of recyclates in the manufacturing of new plastic packaging.

370 million tons of plastic are produced worldwide every year.
Source: Statista 2020

With its international network of sorting and recycling facilities, Veolia keeps plastics in circulation and out of landfills. By producing new raw materials from plastic waste, Veolia is enabling actors to meet European recycling quotas and comply with legal requirements. Veolia is also a leader in driving positive ecological change and an innovator in the field of circular economies. In Germany, Veolia’s plastic recycling activities prevent the emission of 180,000 metric tonnes of CO2 equivalents each year. This corresponds to the CO2 emissions of a mid-size car, driving 25,000 times around the globe.

The world’s leading plastics recycler

Veolia views itself not only as a disposal company, but rather as a provider of resources The company performs recycling on an industrial scale at 36 sites across Europe and Asia.

Veolia operates a range of  plastic recycling facilities in ten European countries as well as in China, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand and South Korea. The company’s services covers three quarters of the plastics lifecycle, from collection and sorting to the production of recyclates.

Taken together, Veolia’s plants have a production capacity of 610,000 tonnes per year. Veolia’s recyclates are used in a wide range of applications – from retail packaging to polyester fibers for the construction and automotive industries. Regardless of the country in which production takes place, Veolia ensures the highest production standards, as well as reliable material flows.

German production quality

Located 100 miles southwest of Berlin, Bernburg is one of the largest sites for plastics recycling in Europe, with an annual processing capacity of around 70,000 tonnes per year. The Veolia subsidiaries MultiPet GmbH and Multiport GmbH offer high-quality raw materials to the plastics processing industry in the form of flakes, pellets, and specialized compounds. Against the backdrop of the EU's plans to adopt a recyclate quota for plastic packaging, many companies are turning to Veolia to plan their future production activities and ensure legal compliance.

MultiPet GmbH processes over 1.1 billion PET bottles each year, producing high-quality flakes in different colors and qualities, which are used as a raw material input for various products. The rPET flakes are an ecofriendly substitute for virgin plastics made from petroleum. In the packaging industry, the flakes are processed into films, bottles, packaging tapes, and polyester fibers (e.g. for the automotive and construction industries). The production of 1 kg of new PET emits 2.18 kg of CO₂ equivalents; rPET, by contrast, releases just 0.21 kg of CO₂ equivalents per kilogram, for a net savings of 1.97 kg CO₂.

Our products are as versatile as our customers’ needs:
We also create custom plastic compounds to meet exacting production specifications.

Multiport GmbH specializes in the processing of used HDPE packaging. Annually, it transforms more than 35,000 tonnes of HDPE waste into specialized compounds and regranulates. Whether directly processed or mixed with other materials, this reintroduces HDPE to the plastics lifecycle, thus reducing the need for virgin materials. At its in-house laboratory, Multiport GmbH produces homogeneous high-quality regranulate in batches of up to 12 tonnes. The Veolia subsidiary produces up to 30,000 tonnes of plastic compounds per year. When substituting virgin plastics with these compounds, it is possible to save 1.40 kg of CO₂ equivalents per kilogram of material. This means a 77 percent reduction in climate-relevant emissions compared to the same quantity of virgin material.