How should we move towards plastic circularity?

To achieve the European recycling targets for plastic packaging waste, waste companies are redesigning their sorting and recycling processes. However, little guidance exists on what matters when designing circular systems. This study analyses the environmental benefits of three circular strategies for short-lived plastic products, each targeting a different product market. Furthermore, the influence of different product lifetime, market sizes, value chain losses and uptake potential of secondary material is evaluated. The results show that each strategy delivers the same environmental benefits if there is sufficient demand for recycled material. Under these conditions, strategies that generate maximum amounts of recycled material with minimal impact from recycling should be prioritized. Strategies where recycled material flows between product markets, however, are susceptible to oversupply. When this occurs, recycled material should be redirected to other (existing) product markets, thereby justifying additional impacts from recycling. As such, the preferred circular strategy changes over time.