[144 Pages Report] The global recycled plastics market was valued at USD 34,804.1 million in 2016 and is projected to reach USD 50,356.1 million by 2022, at a CAGR of 6.4% during the forecast period. In this study, 2016 has been considered the base year and 2022 as the forecast year to estimate the recycled plastics market size.

Growing awareness to curb the pollution caused by plastic disposal and the environmental benefits such as energy savings are the factors driving the growth of the recycled plastics market

The global recycled plastics market is estimated at USD 36,927.1 million in 2017 and is projected to reach USD 50,356.1 million by 2022, at a CAGR of 6.4% between 2017 and 2022. The market is witnessing growth due to a growing preference for recycled plastics over virgin plastics as a result of severe pollution caused by the disposal of used plastics in oceans and the scarcity of landfill areas in many countries. Factors such as increasing use of recycled plastics in many new applications in the packaging, automotive and the electrical & electronics industry and many favorable initiatives promoting the use of recycled plastics worldwide offer lucrative opportunities for the growth of the recycled plastics market. Higher cost of recycled plastics. Stringent competition with virgin plastics in terms of performance is a major factor restraining the growth of the market. The ban on import of certain waste plastic scraps to China and irregular collection of the waste plastics for its reprocessing are some of the factors challenging the growth of the global recycled plastics market globally.

Packaging: The fastest-growing segment of the recycled plastics market, by end-use industry

Packaging is estimated to be the fastest-growing end-use industry of the recycled plastics market during the forecast period. The market for packaging is increasing because recycled plastics are increasingly witnessing its usage in the food and beverage packaging, as technological advancements has made the recycled resins suitable for food applications, which was not the case, until a few years earlier.

Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET): The fastest-growing segment of the recycled plastics market, by type

Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) is estimated to be the fastest-growing type of recycled plastics market during the forecast period (2017-2022). PET is expected to have the fastest growth as PET based recycled plastics are easy to recycle and PET bottles are the most easily sorted and collected source of used plastics.

North America: The fastest-growing market for recycled plastics, by region

The North America region is estimated to be the fastest-growing market for recycled plastics during the forecast period. The growth of the recycled plastics market in North America is growing due to many initiatives taken in the region to increase the use of recycled plastics. Many companies such as Coca-Cola North America, Unilever, Walmart, Target Corp., Procter & Gamble Co., Ecover, Evian, L�Or�al, Mars, M&S, PepsiCo, Campbell Soup, Amcor Werner & Mertz and Keurig Green Mountain Inc. pledged to the Association of Plastics Recyclers (US) to increase the use of recycled plastics in their products.



Market Dynamics

Drivers: Negative environmental impact of plastics disposal

Plastics are lightweight, durable and inexpensive materials, which can be readily made into a variety of products. As a result, the production of plastics has increased manifold over the last few decades. However, their present levels of usage have generated huge waste disposals resulting in several environmental problems. Landfill is the conventional method for the disposal of the waste, but landfill area has become scarce in many countries. Although, this method has limited environmental impacts, there are long-term risks of contamination of soils and groundwater, associated with it, thus polluting it.

Usage of plastics also cause marine pollution as used plastics are strewn across oceans, bays, rivers and estuaries causing severe plastic pollution, impact biodiversity and ecosystem, food security, and human health. They contaminate the aquatic ecosystems in the form of tiny particles of plastic debris. This affect the marine organisms as they ingest or get entangled by plastic which results in fatal consequences. Thus, plastic pollution has been a global threat as, around 4.4�12.7 million tons of plastic wastes are added to the oceans per year. Plastic wastes in the water bodies are not constrained by national boundaries as they can migrate via water and air currents and settle in the benthic zone of water unlike other pollutants such as greenhouse gases (GHG) and ozone-depleting material. This has led to the creation of the Great Pacific garbage patch, also known as the Pacific trash vortex. Discovered between 1985 and 1988, it is a gyre of marine debris particles located in the central North Pacific Ocean. The trash majorly consists of plastic debris and they are widely scattered along a wide area, which makes it difficult to clear it up.

Thus, recycling of plastics has emerged as the leading method to curb negative environmental impact and resource depletion. With the growing concern of effects of plastics pollutions, recycled plastics is fast becoming the solution to limit it, as recycling results in decrease in use of energy, material usage and improve eco-efficiency. All these factors play a significant role in driving the usage of recycled plastics.

Growing consciousness on energy savings

The use of recycled plastics eliminates the need to make materials from scratch, which in turn saves a lot of energy. Production of any kind of virgin plastics results in an extremely labor intensive and energy expensive process of extracting, transporting and refining the natural resources. Thus, using of the recycled plastics instead of the new resources allows manufacturers to make same products but with much lesser energy. For instance, the process of recycling plastics from wastes requires 71 trillion Btu less than the energy required to produce the equivalent amount of virgin PET and HDPE plastic. Therefore, the amount of energy that would be saved from recycling PET and HDPE containers was the equivalent to the annual energy use of 750,000 U.S. homes. The corresponding savings in GHG emissions would be 2.1 million tons of CO2 equivalents, which would be comparable to take 360,000 cars off the road. Thus, such consciousness arising out to save energy is likely to play a positive role in augmenting the demand of recycled plastics during the forecast period.

Increasing use in Packaging, Automotive and Electrical & Electronics industry

The usage of recycled plastics has increased manifold in the packaging industry. Recently, the Association of Plastics Recyclers (US), recruited companies to pledge to use more recycled plastics in their facilities and supply chains. Some of these companies are: Coca-Cola North America, Unilever, Walmart, Target Corp., Procter & Gamble Co., Ecover, Evian, L�Or�al, Mars, M&S, PepsiCo, Campbell Soup, Amcor Werner & Mertz and Keurig Green Mountain Inc. These leading retailers and packaging companies pledged to work towards using 100% reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging by 2025 or earlier. These companies together consume more than 6 million tons of plastic packaging per year.

The use of recycled plastics has also paved its way into the automotive industry as an increasing number of auto parts and components are being made with recycled plastics due to its various environmental benefits. Companies such as Chrysler, Ford, Honda, General Motors, Nissan, and Toyota has increased the consumption of recycled plastics in their manufacturing units.

The Electrical & Electronics industry has also been witnessing the increased usage of recycled plastics in electric and electronic equipment (EEE). Recycled plastics are currently used in a variety of ICT products as companies implemented the use of recycled plastics as part of voluntary agreements for a green industry initiative. Major companies using recycled plastics in their products are: Dell, HP, Lenovo, Lexmark, Oc�- a Canon Company, Samsung Electronics, and Sony.

Thus, the growing consumption of recycled plastics by the major stakeholders in the packaging, automotive and the electrical & electronics industries will directly contribute to the increasing demand of recycled plastics.

Stiff competition from virgin plastics

Recycled plastics experience a stiff competition from virgin plastics in terms of quality and its application. While virgin plastics can be used in a lot many applications including food grade packaging where the food or the food product comes in direct contact with the plastic, recycled plastics do not have the same advantage. Recycled plastics are hardly used in food grade packaging application due to safety concerns related to its contaminants from its previous use. Some jurisdictions allow the use of recycled plastic resin in combination with the virgin resin for food grade containers but it's generally not worth the risk as the recycled quality cannot be maintained to the standard required for food grade applications. For high end products as well, where the chemical composition of the plastic has to be specific, only virgin materials can be used. Typically, recycled plastics enjoyed a price advantage over its virgin counterpart but that has flipped recently owing to the announcement of the Chinese scrap ban where they have stopped importing recycled plastics. Moreover, with the discovery of the shale gas in the US, there is new source to produce fossil fuels including the natural gas which is a major source of producing virgin plastics. This has facilitated the enormous increase of cheap virgin plastic material entering the marketplace. Thus, the stiff competition posed by virgin plastics restrains the growth of the recycled plastics.

Opportunities: Favorable initiative to promote the use of recycled plastics in developed countries

In the developed economies of North America and Europe, several regulations are in place or has been introduced to promote recycling of plastics. For example, in the UK, there is a public-sector funding of more than GBP 100 million/year for recycling-related programmes. The country also levied an increase in its landfill tax. Therefore, it is expected to trigger a significant rise in public sector funding for waste-related projects. Recently, the European Union plans also announced a tax on plastic bags and packaging in order to curb ocean pollution. The strategy stated that the all packaging products should be recyclable by 2030 and must recycle 55% of plastic packaging. Similarly, in the US, The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) gives manufacturers of recycled products, a depreciation credit for recycling. Moreover, several states in the US offers some type of tax incentives or credits, to promote recycling market. For example, in Delaware, set amounts or percentages are offered to reduce the costs of purchasing recycling equipment. Meanwhile, Texas offers a rebate program for manufacturers that use recycling equipment. Maryland provides a personal property tax exemption for recycling. Some other states provide tax exemption on construction or renovation of recycling plants. While one state offers tax credits for jobs which are created as a result of the recycling business. Therefore, such favorable initiatives undertaken by the developed economies will spur the growth of recycled plastics and provide further opportunity to increase its market.

Growing textile industry in the developing countries of APAC

The global exponential population growth has led to an increased demand from the textile and the packaging industries which is the largest end use industry of recycled plastics. APAC has the highest population in the world and is a major hub for textile industry. Owing to an explosive growth of population in the region, the packaging and the textile industry of APAC is increasing with China being a dominating market since the 1980. The major factors leading to this are: because of the development of economy, which has increased the purchasing power of consumers, thereby propelling the per-capita consumption of goods, including textiles. This industry significantly contributes to the overall GDP of the region and plays an important role in creating employment opportunities. China is the largest producer and exporter of textiles and clothing because of its low production costs. Singapore is also a hub for the textiles industries in the region. Vietnam�s garment and textiles industries are estimated to register an annual growth rate of 25�30%. The apparel industry of Indonesia contributes significantly to the textiles industry in APAC. Thus, the growing textiles industry in the region is expected to drive the recycled plastics market.

Challenges: Chinese ban on imports of waste or scrap plastics

China, the world�s largest user of scrap plastics has announced that it will stop importing plastic trash from other countries. This has become the biggest challenge in this industry of late as China has been the major consumer of salvaged materials and reprocessing it to useful materials which were used in many applications such as pipe, carpets, and bottles among others. In 2016, China imported 51 % of global plastic scrap imports. This campaign also known as China�s �Green Fence� campaign banned certain plastics that weren�t cleaned or thoroughly sorted. That type of recyclable wastes, which is costlier to recycle, often ends up in China�s landfills, which caused many unrest in the country. Several wastes were also branded as too hazardous to recycle. Therefore, such as a major market disruption caused by the Chinese ban on waste plastics will play a major role in deciding the fate of this industry.

Irregularity of raw materials collection

The recycled plastics market is highly dependent on the proper collection of its raw materials, i.e. the plastic wastes or scraps. Globally, only 14% of the plastic packaging it uses are recycled, where rest of it ends up in the oceans each year, indirectly causing harm to the aquatic biodiversity. Recycling of the remaining 86% of used plastics could create a huge revenue of around USD 80-120 billion as per Ellen MacArthur Foundation. But realization of this revenue cannot be expected without designing new methods. It is necessary to devise new ways as breakdown and reuse 30% (by weight) of the plastic packaging that are not recycled is extremely difficult because the material is either contaminated with multiple materials with very little scope for separation, too small for collection, or has very low economic value. Thus, this industry which could have a huge growth, sometimes get limited as collection of the raw materials is not very easy.

Scope of the Report

Report Metric Details Years considered for the study 2015-2022 Base year considered 2016 Forecast period 2018-2022 Units considered Value (USD Million) Segments covered Source, Type, Plastic recycling method, End-use Industry and Region Regions covered Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, Middle East & Africa, South America Companies profiled Veolia (France), Suez (France), KW Plastics (US), Jayplas (UK), B. Schoenberg & Co. (US), B&B Plastics (US), Green Line Polymers (US), Clear Path Recycling (US), Custom Polymers (US), and Plastipak Holdings (US)

This research report categorizes the global recycled plastics market based on source, type, end-use industry, and region and forecasts revenue growth and provides an analysis of trends in each of the submarkets.

Based on Source:

Plastic Bottles

Plastic Films

Synthetic Fibers

Rigid Plastics & Foams

Others (auto-parts, electrical goods, furniture and others)

Each class is further described in detail in the report with value forecasts until 2022.

Based on Type:

Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET)

Polyethylene (PE) � LPDE & HDPE

Polypropylene (PP)

Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)

Polystyrene (PS)

Polyamide (PA)

Others (Polycarbonate, Acrylonitrile-butadiene Styrene and other plastics under SPI code 7)

Each type is further described in detail in the report with value and volume forecasts until 2022.

Based on Recycling Method:

Thermal decomposition

Heat compression

Distributed recycling

Pyrolysis

Others

Based on End-Use Industry:

Packaging (Bottles, Containers, Bags & Films, Strapping, Others)

Building & Construction (Carpets & Rugs, Lumber, Pipe, Furnishings, Others)

Textiles

Automotive (Batteries, Others)

Electrical & Electronics

Others (Agriculture, Aerospace and other industries)

Each end-use industry segment is further described in detail in the report, with value forecasts until 2022.

Based on Region:

Asia Pacific

North America

Europe

Middle East & Africa

South America

Each region is further segmented by key countries, such as China, India, Japan, South Korea, the US, Mexico, Canada, Germany, the UK, Italy, France, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Iran, South Africa, Argentina, and Brazil.

Key Market Players

Veolia (France), Suez (France), KW Plastics (US), Jayplas (UK), B. Schoenberg & Co. (US), B&B Plastics (US), Green Line Polymers (US), Clear Path Recycling (US), Custom Polymers (US),Plastipak Holdings (US)

Recent Developments

In May 2016 Custom Synthetic Fibers, announced the expansion of its recycled polyester fiber plant which was expected to be operational by mid-summer 2016. The operation is located in Rogersville, Alabama, and is owned by a group of individual investors, major share of which is owned by Custom Polymers Inc., and Custom Polymers PET.

In November 2016, Plastipak Packaging Inc., acquired the business assets of Evolve Polymers Ltd. (UK), one of Europe�s leading plastics recyclers from Aurelius Equity Opportunities. They have a processing capacity of 6-9 billion PET bottles into food-grade flake and pellets and polypropylene and polyethylene flake.

In November 2017, SUEZ and LyondellBasell (US) signed on a joint venture focusing on the production of high-quality circular polymers. Under the terms of the agreement, both the companies will be a 50 / 50 stakeholder of QCP3 (Netherlands), which is a high standard plastic recovering company. The company produces PP and HDPE recycled plastics.

In July 2016, Veolia UK acquired the Euro Closed Loop Recycling plant in Dagenham (UK), for an undisclosed fee. The business was expected to produce around 10,000 tons of high quality food grade HDPE pellets per year.

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