The Plastics Transition – FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the ‘Plastics Transition’ roadmap?

It is an action plan, produced by Europe’s plastics manufacturers, to fundamentally redesign the European plastics by 2050.

The roadmap establishes an ambitious but realistic pathway towards net zero and circularity. It identifies key levers and enablers, and details immediate, short, and medium-term milestones and actions for plastics manufacturers.

2. Why have you published the Roadmap?

Society’s relationship with plastics is complicated.

We are aware of and share societal concerns about the contribution of our industry to climate change and the challenge of plastics waste, and the need to foster the sustainable use of plastics.
However, it is important to recognise that plastics have a vital role to play enabling the sustainability transitions and supporting the competitiveness of many sectors in Europe and the European economy more broadly. The reality is that plastics remain irreplaceable for many applications and sectors that underpin our changing world.

European plastics manufacturers are committed to addressing the concerns about plastics by making plastics circular, driving lifecycle emissions to net zero, and fostering the sustainable use of plastics.

3. What are the ambitions of the roadmap?

The roadmap establishes an ambitious, but realistic, pathway to gradually substitute fossil-based plastics. We aim to achieve 25% circularity in 2030 and 65% by 2050. The roadmap also sets-out a potential pathway to reduce GHG emissions from the overall plastics system by 28% by 2030 and towards net-zero by 2050.

We believe the roadmap will European plastics manufacturers North Star for the years to come, helping our industry to do more to deliver faster systemic change. We also hope that the roadmap will help to promote dialogue and collaboration with policy makers and our value chain on areas where stakeholders can join forces and progress faster together.

For example, the roadmap highlights urgent need for policy framework that stimulates circular markets and investments throughout the European plastics system, and recognises that the it needs to remains internationally competitive in order to invest in the transition.

4. What is the process for taking forward the roadmap?

The roadmap is a dynamic process which means the document will be progressively updated based on new insights and changes to our industry environment, the policy framework and input from our value chain. The industry’s progress against the roadmap’s indicators for circularity and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, will be assessed and transparently reported every two years.

5. How was the roadmap developed?

The plastics transition roadmap builds upon ‘ReShaping Plastics: Pathways to a Circular, Climate Neutral Plastics System in Europe’. Commissioned by Plastics Europe in 2021 (and published in 2022) the ReShaping Plastics report provides an independent perspective on transitioning to the EU’s net-zero carbon emissions and circularity goals by 2050.

Plastics Europe proposed a package of measures to help implement the report’s recommendations, including the development of a roadmap. This roadmap, developed with the support of Deloitte, puts forward a more comprehensive set of ambitions covering all aspects of the plastics life cycle.

The roadmap was developed with the external expertise and support of Deloitte and involved:

55 Plastics Europe members.
The analysis of over 100 industry initiatives.
The contribution of over 20 civil society organisations, policymakers and value chain partners contributed to the roadmap.
More than 100 hours of interviews with Plastics Europe executives.

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