Circularity and the economic situation
Despite some progress towards circularity, economic statistics for Poland paint a mixed picture of the plastics industry. According to Eurostat data, overall industrial production in Poland fell 1.0 per cent in 2023 compared to the previous year; in the chemical industry (which includes polymer production), the drop was as large as 8 per cent. In the case of plastic and rubber products, there were some positive signs up to September 2023, but then production began decreasing from October onward. Seasonally adjusted indicators for the sector remained stagnant throughout most of 2023. Poland remains a net importer of plastics in primary forms and a net exporter of plastic products with a trade balance of -3,076,000 tonnes and 1,098,000 tonnes, respectively. Importantly, with Germany being Poland’s main trading partner in the import and export of both plastics and plastic and rubber products, the condition of Poland’s economy is directly dependent on that of its German counterpart, which is currently not showing any signs of significant recovery. Data from Poland’s Central Statistical Office also confirms the downward trend. The significant decreases in production volumes observed in Q1 and Q4 2023 across the manufacturing industry and in the rubber and plastic products sector continued in Q1 2024.
Country-level statistics from the Central Statistical Office indicate that the level of employment in the sector remains steady; another positive development is that capital expenditure in the industry is also increasing. While the chemicals and chemical products sector showed little overall growth in 2023, the rubber and plastic products sector grew considerably to PLN 7.4 billion (compared to PLN 6.1 billion in 2022).
Although industrial production in Poland fell 1.0 per cent in 2023 year on year, the plastics industry and its allied industries in the EU 27 - including the food and beverages, electricals and electronics, building and construction, and automotive sectors - recorded an increase in production. The fastest-growing sector was the automotive industry with an increase in production of 12.3 per cent compared to the previous year. The food and beverages sector and the electricals and electronics sector grew more slowly at 1.5 per cent and 1.4 per cent, respectively. “Looking at the big picture, the periodic upward and downward fluctuations in the industry contribute to economic uncertainty in Poland and leave Polish businesses in a limbo. If you combine this with the legislative pressure, the industry is faced with even greater challenges,” said Anna Kozera-Szałkowska.
Closer collaboration with policy-makers
Following the Plastics Transition roadmap, the authors of The Circular Economy for Plastics: A European Analysis point out how policy-makers could support the transition to a circular plastics system through appropriate policies and regulatory frameworks. One of the major enablers is public procurement, which can play a crucial role in promoting circularity - for instance by including circular plastic content as a criterion in public tenders. Furthermore, the authors point to the need to adopt a mass balance model (which is already used in sectors such as renewable energy, wood production or fair trade cocoa/chocolate) as a means of determining the content of chemically recycled plastics in new plastic products, and to introduce more ambitious recycled content targets for sensitive applications.
The report emphasises that collaboration between all actors within the European plastics system and policy-makers and regulators needs to be intensified. This is why the authors call upon the European Commission to urgently initiate a Clean Transition Dialogue with the plastics industry so as to identify the roadblocks and propose the solutions and investments that will enable the creation of a sustainable, net-zero circular plastics system in Europe.
