Ten EU countries had already met a 2025 target for collecting single-use plastic drinks bottles by 2022, new figures published by the European Commission show.
The Commission said on Thursday its first report under the Single-Use Plastics Directive uses data supplied by member states and will serve as the baseline for tracking progress towards binding 2025 and 2030 targets for the separate collection of single-use plastic beverage bottles.
Across the EU, 71% of single-use plastic beverage bottles were separately collected in 2022.
Estonia, Poland, Finland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Lithuania, Croatia, Slovakia and Belgium had already reached the 2025 collection target of 77%.
Six of those countries — Estonia, Poland, Finland, Germany, Denmark and Sweden — had already met the 2030 target of 90% separate collection.
Countries with higher collection rates generally operate Deposit and Refund Systems, which return money to consumers when they bring empty containers back for recycling.
Food containers, cups and fishing gear
Sales of single-use plastic food containers in the EU totalled 524,003 tonnes in 2022 — about 1.6 kg per person — while single-use plastic beverage cups totalled 152,037 tonnes, or about 0.5 kg per person, the Commission said.
The report noted later updates will assess whether Member States have reduced consumption of those products by 2026, and listed measures used by countries including economic instruments such as extended producer responsibility obligations, as well as awareness campaigns.
In 2022, 22,900 tonnes of plastic-containing fishing gear were placed on the market in the EU, with about a third collected as waste.
The Single-Use Plastics Directive targets the 10 most commonly found single-use plastic items on European beaches, as well as plastic-containing fishing gear, and includes EU-wide bans on certain products where alternatives exist.
