Packaging plastic circulates relatively well in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area and Lahti – hard plastic and construction plastic not so much

The City of Espoo has produced a report on the current state of the plastic cycle in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area and Lahti. The report also looked into upcoming legislative changes and possible additional measures to increase the total plastic recycling rate to 60% by 2030 to match EU goals. The previous report on the current state of plastic cycles in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area and Lahti was prepared in 2018 as part of the Closed Plastic Circle project led by the Smart & Clean Foundation, later taken over by the City of Espoo. Around 2018, the separate collection of plastics was in its early stages, which is why we wanted a new report to investigate how the trends of plastic use and recycling rates have developed since then. The report was prepared by Gaia Consulting, a provider of corporate responsibility consulting services, in cooperation with Lassila & Tikanoja (L&T). You can find a link to the full report at the bottom of the page.

Based on the report, the amount of plastic taken into use in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area has increased by 10% since 2018. The amount of separately collected plastics, on the other hand, has increased from 13% in 2018 to 17% in 2022. This increase can be considered moderate. Thanks to higher data quality, the new report is slightly more accurate than the one from 2018. With the new data, we can estimate that the actual recycling rate of plastics has increased slightly and is now at 11%. By what we know now, the recycling rate was 9% five years ago. The recycling rate refers to the proportion of material that has actually ended up as recycled raw material.

Plastic packaging circulates best in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area – 22% of plastic packaging was recycled in 2022. However, packaging plastic accounts for only about one third of plastic flows in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. Both hard plastic and construction plastic continued to circulate fairly poorly in 2022: only 1% of hard plastics were recycled and the figure was 3% for construction plastics, despite the fact that these materials accounted for 65% of the plastics taken into use in 2022. The category of hard plastic encompasses all non-packaging and non-construction plastics, such as buckets, plastic toys and plastic garden furniture.

The recycling rate of plastics in Lahti was estimated to be at the same level as in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. The exception to this is hard plastic, which, according to the report, circulates better in Lahti.

In order to increase the total recycling rate of plastics in the future, it would be important to invest in measures targeting hard plastic and construction plastic. The report proposes new measures, for example requiring that hard plastic and construction plastic products contain a certain percentage of recycled plastics (i.e. mandatory recycled content), product design that promotes circular economy and new technological solutions in the recycling process, such as more chemical recycling. At the moment, regulation, voluntary commitments and social discourse are largely focused on packaging waste, which already circulates relatively well.

The circular economy of plastics is an essential means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions because the incineration of plastic waste is a significant source of such emissions: incineration generates almost 30 times higher emissions than recycling. By replacing virgin plastic with recycled plastic in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, an emission reduction of approximately 27,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent was achieved in 2022, which equals to the annual emissions of approximately 2200 Finns.

On the other hand, it is worth keeping in mind that using plastic sustainably is not just about increasing the recycling rate. For example, measures aimed at reducing the amount of plastic consumption do not necessarily increase the total recycling rate of plastics, but they play an important role in reducing the use of fossil raw materials and littering. If a measure aims to reduce the use of plastics that already circulate at a high rate, the recycling rate of plastics may even decrease. This is why it is essential to examine the impact of plastic-related measures as a whole, including efforts to increase the recycling rate and reduce the amount of plastic that is taken into use.

“Instead of being directly reflected in the recycling rate, waste prevention measures affect the total use of plastics. From an environmental point of view, it is important to primarily reduce plastic consumption, which is why it is not just about increasing the recycling rate”, says Project Manager Mari Saario from Gaia Consulting.

The report was prepared as part of the project titled Closed Plastic Circle – from Pilots into Practice, which promotes the circulation of plastics and the market for recycled plastics. One of the objectives is to improve the overall understanding of the current state of plastic cycles and what measures should be taken to increase the recycling rate.

“Although there are uncertainties related to the statistical data about plastics, this kind of report gives us a great overview of the direction of plastic collection and recycling. At the same time, we can spark wider discourse on the methods, potential and significance of plastic cycles”, says Reetta Jänis, Development Manager of the Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development at the City of Espoo.

“Increasing the recycling rate seems to still require better sorting, more efficient plastic treatment and more high-quality material that can be recycled. In the Closed Plastic Circle project, we work to promote these issues extensively with various tests, reports and pilots in cooperation with our expert partners”, says Mia Johansson, Project Manager of the Closed Plastic Circle – from Pilots into Practice project.

Stay up to date with the project on the project page.

Read the full report below.