AGENDA

Europe has set ambitious plastics circularity objectives through the PPWR, SUPD, Green Deal, and mass balance rules. Yet, the gap between legislation and implementation continues to challenge recyclers, brands, and municipalities. This session will explore not only where the bottlenecks lie but also the opportunities for collaboration, innovation, and policy alignment that can unlock real progress.

Europe’s recycling sector is under mounting pressure: high energy costs, fragmented regulation, and competition from cheap imports have already triggered PET plant closures and delayed investment. Yet Europe also holds unique strengths — from world-class recycling technologies to brand-owner demand and ambitious policy frameworks. This panel will examine whether these advantages are enough to prevent a repeat of the solar industry’s decline, and how Europe can turn today’s challenges into a competitive edge for a resilient circular plastics economy.

• What lessons can be learned from Europe’s solar industry exodus?
• How do high energy costs directly affect the viability of recycling projects?
• Are cheap imports of recycled plastics undermining investment confidence in Europe?
• What kind of regulatory and policy fixes would restore competitiveness and support scaling?
• Can Europe realistically retain leadership in recycling technology while keeping industry at home?

Chemical recycling is moving from the lab to industrial reality, offering pathways to process plastics that mechanical recycling cannot handle. This session will showcase pioneering companies across pyrolysis, depolymerisation, and enzymatic recycling, highlighting their progress, partnerships, and commercial milestones.

The plastics value chain is split: some argue chemical recycling is the future, others call it a distraction. This session brings together technology developers, sceptics, and investors to assess the reality.

Circularity begins with collection, but current systems are fragmented, underfunded, and designed more for landfill/incineration than high-quality recycling. This session digs into how Europe can improve feedstock purity and scale sorting infrastructure.

This session explores how digital technologies and brand-owner strategies are converging to deliver on Europe’s circular economy goals. From packaging design to end-of-life sorting, data-driven tools are becoming critical for compliance, traceability, and consumer engagement.

Europe’s circular economy is at a crossroads. Ambitious targets haven’t yet turned into widespread implementation, but momentum is growing through policy, technology, and stronger collaboration. This closing roundtable will tackle the toughest questions — from mass balance and traceability to defining “circular” plastics — and explore how to move from stalled progress to real impact.

• What is the single biggest reason Europe is failing to meet its circularity ambitions?
• How is regulatory uncertainty (esp. mass balance rules) blocking investment and trust?
• Can industry agree on a common standard for certification and traceability — or will fragmentation continue?
• What trade-offs are the industry unwilling to make — but must?
• Where are regulations helping, and where are they actively harming?
• If we fast-forward to 2030, what will be our biggest regret if we don’t act now?
• What one action could each stakeholder — brands, recyclers, municipalities, policymakers, investors — commit to tomorrow?

Europe’s plastics industry remains caught in a polarising debate — mechanical vs chemical recycling — while millions of tonnes of plastics are still incinerated or landfilled. A new systemic approach, the Recycling Cascade, offers a pathway forward. By prioritising the right technology for the right waste stream — from mechanical to depolymerisation, pyrolysis, and gasification — the cascade could lift Europe’s recycling rates to 70% by 2050. Research suggests this approach could displace nearly 69% of virgin naphtha demand, putting plastics recycling on par with aluminium, steel, and paper.

Mechanical recycling remains the backbone of Europe’s circular plastics economy, but pressure is mounting. This session showcases the latest innovations in extrusion, filtration, and AI-driven sorting, alongside new plant developments and hybrid approaches.

Mechanical recycling has long been the workhorse of Europe’s circular plastics industry, but it now faces challenges — from overcapacity and feedstock shortages to tough economics and rising competition from chemical recycling.

• How can Europe address the gap between overcapacity and lack of quality feedstock?
• What business models or policy frameworks could make mechanical recycling profitable again?
• Where are the success stories — PS, PET, HDPE, PP — and what can we learn from them?
• How can mechanical and chemical recycling complement each other instead of competing?

Europe is not alone in its struggle to balance policy ambition with market realities. Around the world, governments and industries are experimenting with different approaches to circular plastics — from EPR schemes to large-scale recycling infrastructure and innovative reuse models. This session will highlight international lessons that can inspire Europe’s path forward, while addressing the risks posed by substandard imports and global competition.

Global Outlook & Case Studies:

The circular economy cannot be delivered by any single stakeholder. Real progress comes when brands, retailers, and recyclers collaborate — aligning design, demand, and infrastructure.

• Joint projects in practice – lessons from successful brand–recycler partnerships (e.g. closed-loop PET bottle-to-bottle, retailer-led collection schemes).
• Data & transparency – how brands and recyclers can share information on material flows and traceability without losing competitiveness.
• Retailer’s role – using shelf space, private labels, and consumer engagement to build demand for recycled packaging.
• Investment confidence – how brand commitments can serve as long-term demand signals for recyclers.
• Policy alignment – where collaborative industry efforts can help close the gap between EU targets and practical implementation.
• Scaling pilots – why many collaborations stay small, and what’s needed to reach national or EU-wide impact.

Leading innovators present how bio-based plastics are moving from pilots to commercial scale, offering alternatives to fossil-based feedstocks and new opportunities for packaging, fibres, and consumer applications.

This session highlights flagship projects reshaping Europe’s plastics and petrochemical landscape. Each case study demonstrates how large-scale investments and technology shifts are positioning the industry for a circular and competitive future.

Despite billions pledged to the circular economy, too many recycling projects stall at pilot stage. Investors remain hesitant due to volatile virgin plastic prices, uncertain policy frameworks, and the unproven economics of new recycling technologies. Yet there are bright spots: structured EPR systems, long-term contracts, and landmark projects like Indaver’s €100m Plastics2Chemicals plant in Belgium show that circularity can attract serious capital.

Highlight Presentations:

Why do so many recycling projects stall? This discussion explores what makes technologies bankable, the role of policy and off-take agreements, and how blended finance can finally unlock large-scale investment in circularity.

• What makes a recycling technology bankable — and why so few qualify today.
• The impact of volatile virgin prices and high energy costs on investor confidence.
• How long-term off-take agreements and brand-owner commitments can de-risk projects.
• The role of EPR design and policy certainty in attracting infrastructure-scale financing.
• How to make both mechanical and chemical recycling investable at scale.
• What investors need from technology providers, policymakers, and brands to unlock billions in capital.
• The future role of blended finance (banks, VC, EU funds, green bonds) in scaling recycling.

We have curated three deep-dive presentations from BASF’s leading minds to address the most pressing technical and regulatory challenges in the circular economy.