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<\/figure>Plastics recycling plants operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, which means that energy services are among the top three cost drivers after labour and maintenance, and account for about 15-20% of total operating costs. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
However, given the 400% increase in their prices<\/strong>, energy costs have become the main expense, accounting for up to 70% of operating costs, according to a PRE survey of member companies. This makes it almost impossible for recycling companies to break even and means that, without intervention from the European Commission and member states, many companies will close down. In addition to the above-mentioned effects, the energy crisis could make items such as champagne bottles and plastic jam jars unavailable in the same way as before, as well as create long waiting lists for luxury glass items part of everyday life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to the above-mentioned effects, the energy crisis could make items such as champagne bottles and plastic jam jars <\/strong>unavailable in the same way as before, as well as create long waiting lists for luxury glass items part of everyday life. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n In a long-term perspective, Vidrala is collaborating with other companies in the glass industry to investigate hydrogen hybrid furnaces<\/strong> that could be suitable for industry operation in the future. Glass is a stable and inert packaging material, infinitely recyclable. But it is also heavy to transport and energy-intensive to produce. <\/strong>No doubt the energy crisis will bring with it all sorts of innovative solutions: could we see milkman-style wine deliveries in reusable bottles? Or more food and drink in aluminium cans? Will more food be in recyclable plastic or paper packaging? Many of the companies<\/strong> facing the challenges of the energy crisis are small capitalisation companies, but this allows them to be more agile. They may be in a privileged position both to adapt quickly and to create solutions.<\/strong> Difficult times can create opportunities for innovative and well-managed companies. We know that our dependence on fossil fuels must be reduced, and the current scarcity may be the pressure to make drastic changes. \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The energy crisis is affecting the activities of plastics recycling plants, putting the transition to circularity at risk<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10407,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/circularity.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/circularity.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/circularity.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/circularity.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/circularity.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10420"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/circularity.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10420\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29241,"href":"https:\/\/circularity.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10420\/revisions\/29241"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/circularity.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/circularity.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/circularity.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/circularity.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
The path to a European low carbon economy by 2050<\/strong> can only happen with the contribution of the recycling industry, <\/strong>as plastic recycling has the lowest carbon footprint compared to other waste management options such as incineration or landfill.
Recent EU policies and global developments have prompted massive investment in plastic recycling capacities on the continent, while fluctuating energy prices could put an end to these efforts. Consequently, according to PRE, this ‘will have disastrous implications for the European recycling industry’.
“The cessation of recycling activities will have an immediate and negative impact on plastic waste management in Europe<\/strong>,” said Ton Emans, president of Plastics Recyclers Europe. “If we want to boost a circular economy in Europe, plastics recycling must be seen as a key industry sector where member states’ efforts to protect themselves from the impact of high electricity prices must be targeted.” <\/p>\n\n\n\nPreparing for the glass shortage: unexpected effects of the energy crisis <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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It is feared that as these costs are passed on to the consumer<\/strong>, prices will rise and glass packaging, especially for food and beverages, will become so expensive that consumers will demand cheaper alternative packaging, such as wine boxes or plastic bottles and containers for food.
Given the challenges, we are seeing some surprising effects of the energy crisis as companies strive to develop innovative solutions<\/strong> and better opportunities.
One of Western Europe’s leading glass packaging manufacturers is Vidrala<\/strong>, which operates in Spain, Portugal, Italy, the UK and Ireland. The company produces a full range of glass containers – 35 per cent of its products are for wine, 26 per cent for beer and the rest are divided between food, spirits and soft drinks – and sells more than 8 billion glass containers per year.
To adapt to the challenges, the measures Vidrala is taking include an increased focus on recycling<\/strong> – in 2021, 48% of the glass produced was recycled – and increasing the collection rate of used glass to improve both production efficiency and revenue. The company currently works with a non-governmental organisation that encourages citizens to recycle, collects the glass<\/strong> and delivers it to Vidrala for melting and recycling.
<\/p>\n\n\n\nHybrid hydrogen furnaces <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Other innovations that glass manufacturers are exploring are reducing the melting temperature of glass by adding ash<\/strong>, resulting in a more ‘imperfect’ looking glass with less clarity and more bubbles, and increasing the use of wind and solar energy in factories.
The luxury glass market is already preparing for rising energy costs and the possibility of a total shutdown if gas were to be rationed for essential uses only. Many Venetian glass workshops on the Italian island of Murano have already closed their doors because the cost of energy has made their decorative objects too expensive. <\/strong>Venetian vases and fine crystal goblets could become items with a very long waiting list this winter.
Even the world-famous glass manufacturer Riedel in Austria and Germany is thinking of closing down<\/strong>. Ovens can break if they get cold, so stopping during rationing periods is not an option. <\/p>\n\n\n\nWine in reusable bottles? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Dutch company Corbion is at the forefront of innovative packaging solutions. They produce PLA, a biobased, biodegradable plastic packaging made from renewable resources, <\/strong>which is strong enough to replace conventional plastics and can be composted, decomposing into CO2, water and biomass.
Addressing the many challenges ahead requires innovative thinking alongside more sustainable and even more traditional ways of doing things wherever possible.<\/strong> Inspired by the humble bar of soap, there are, for example, shampoos available in solid bars, without packaging. Could the future see us taking our bottles to local shops and supermarkets to refill wine and oil, as is the case in many parts of southern Europe?<\/p>\n\n\n\n