Every two years, the “Plastics material flow picture” study provides information on the production, processing and recycling of plastics in Germany. Setbacks are reported across all sectors in 2023: This means that the German plastics industry is losing ground. This is bad news for the location and transformation: The persistently poor economic situation in Germany is leading to lower production and processing volumes and jeopardizing the transformation of the plastics industry into a circular economy.
Fewer plastics are being produced, processed and recycled in Germany
Plastics production fell by 17.6% compared to 2021. Although the demand for plastics is growing internationally, around 8.5% fewer plastics were processed in Germany in 2023 than in 2021. Rising costs for energy and production, frequent changes to political targets and increasing bureaucratic burdens often prevent the investments in the modernization and expansion of plants in Germany that are urgently needed for a circular economy.
Great potential for recycling remains untapped
Despite the decline in production, the use of recycled plastics in plastics processing in Germany increased by an average of 8.2% annually in the survey period from 2021 to 2023. The increase occurred primarily in 2022, triggered by high crude oil prices, and declined again in 2023 due to the economic situation. The use of recyclates from post-consumer and post-industrial waste amounted to around 1.93 million tons. In addition, around 0.5 million tons of by-products were reused. Overall, the proportion of plastic recyclate used (from post-consumer and post-industrial waste) in the processing volume in Germany amounted to approx. 15% in 2023. This underlines the growing importance of the circular economy for the plastics industry in Germany and shows clear progress in the recycling and reuse of plastics. Nevertheless, great potential for recycling remains untapped: the proportion of plastics that are recycled for energy recovery is still too high at 3.6 million tons in 2023.
Industry’s innovative strength defies locational disadvantages
The use of recycled raw materials continues to increase in Germany despite difficult local conditions. Companies in the plastics value chain in Germany are continuing to work on the transformation to a circular economy with a high level of innovation. Nevertheless, the success of the transformation requires good framework conditions for the plastics industry: competitive energy costs, realistic and reliable regulatory framework conditions for additional investments in the infrastructure for single-variety collection and sorting as well as the mechanical and chemical processing of plastic waste.
Client of the study
The material flow diagram is compiled by Conversio Market & Strategy GmbH. The study was commissioned by BKV GmbH with the support of PlasticsEurope Deutschland e. V., the Bundesverband der Deutschen Entsorgungs-, Wasser- und Kreislaufwirtschaft e. V., the bvse – Bundesverband Sekundärrohstoffe und Entsorgung e. V., the VDMA e.V. Kunststoff und Gummimaschinen, the IK – Industrievereinigung Kunststoffverpackungen e. V., the KRV – Kunststoffrohrverband e. V., VinylPlus Deutschland e.V., GKV – Gesamtverband Kunststoffverarbeitende Industrie e. V., AVK – Industrievereinigung Verstärkte Kunststoffe e. V., FSK – Fachverband Schaumkunststoffe und Polyurethane e.V., TecPart – Verband Technische Kunststoff-Produkte e. V., pro-K Industrieverband langlebige Kunststoffprodukte und Mehrwegsysteme e. V., IG BCE Industriegewerkschaft Bergbau, Chemie, Energie, and VCI – Verband der Chemischen Industrie e.V.
The management summary and a long version of the “Plastics material flow diagram” study are available on the BKV GmbH website(www.bkv-gmbh.de/1170-studie-stoffstrombild-kunststoffe-in-deutschland-2023.html).
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