Navigating Volumes and Value Chains Towards Circularity - Total
CPNL maps plastic volumes and value chains - What's needed to close the loop?
Circular Plastics NL (CPNL) has published a foundational analysis of the Dutch plastics system: "Navigating Volumes and Value Chains Towards Circularity." This analysis is key to understanding how plastic volumes flow through different application sectors - and identifying what's needed to transition toward a circular economy.
The Netherlands aims for full circularity by 2050, halving primary resource use by 2030. Plastics are a priority, with €220 million allocated via the National Growth Fund's CPNL to support innovation. To guide this investment, CPNL needed a cross-sectoral overview of where plastics are used, how they move through the economy, and where bottlenecks lie.
This publication addresses that need, analyzing volumes across sectors like packaging, construction, automotive, and textiles, broken down by chain step and polymer type. Developed with Conversio, it draws on data from Plastics Europe and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management.
What's needed to close the loop in the Dutch plastics system?
Join the conversation on key findings from Navigating Volumes and Value Chains Towards Circularity .
Key Findings & Recommendations
1. We are not on track to meet circularity goals.
Only ~13% of plastics (excl. Textiles) came from post-consumer recycled content in 2022. Recycling efficiency is below 50% across all chains, with Packaging as the frontrunner (~46%). Losses mainly occur during collection and sorting, among others, weak market conditions for recyclates.
Recommendations:
- Make sectors accountable for their own recyclates to secure access for sectors.
- Set mandatory recycled content by sector (eg fiber-to-fiber in Textiles).
- Strengthen EPR schemes with tariffs that favor recycled plastics.
2. Governance is too fragmented to support circularity.
Many value chains lack effective coordination. EPR systems are missing or incomplete, with limited scope and poor data infrastructure, making compliance with (EU) regulations difficult.
Recommendations:
- Expand EPR schemes to all sectors, including currently uncovered ones.
- Broaden EPR responsibility to include recycling.
- Give EPR systems a leading role in data coordination.
- Harmonize performance metrics across sectors.
This publication lays the foundation for coordinated, chain-specific interventions across the Dutch plastics sector. But several urgent questions must be answered:
- What infrastructure investments are required across the value chains? How can market conditions for high-quality recyclates be improved? Which systemic changes will deliver the biggest gains in the short and long term?
The answers demand collective action – not only in technology, but especially in governance, organization, and data. Answering these questions will require a joint effort. CPNL invites stakeholders across the plastics value chain to engage with the findings and contribute to the next phase of the transition.
What's needed to close the loop in the Dutch plastics system?
Join the conversation on key findings from Navigating Volumes and Value Chains Towards Circularity .
A series of value chain deep dives has been published previously to support targeted strategies per application.
Deep dives:
Packaging – included in full report
Textiles
Electrical & Electronics
Building & Construction
Automotive
Houseware, Leisure & Sports
Agriculture, Farming & Gardening
Others
The specific deep dives were proofread by Verpact, BRBS Recycling (Branchevereniging Breken en Sorteren), Stichting OPEN, Auto Recycling NL, and MODINT (the trade association for fashion, interior design, carpets, and textiles). We thank them for their time and effort.
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