What does “recyclable” really mean?
Before working on the Unbottling Greenwashing action we launched in November 2023 with our member organisations, I thought that “100% made of other bottles” meant that plastic bottles would be seamlessly recycled back into new ones. However, I quickly found that there was a huge gap between my expectations and the reality of plastic recycling. But now I can no longer see a plastic water bottle without analysing the label.
The journey of plastic bottles
The recycling process of a plastic bottle is far more complex and less green than what manufacturers lead us to believe. Recycling a plastic bottle is a multi-step process that begins with proper collection and sorting. Various collection schemes exist across the EU, including deposit return systems, each with its own intricacies. Once collected, bottles undergo a series of treatments, such as cap and label removal and colour sorting, to prepare them for mechanical recycling — the predominant method in the EU.
Mechanical recycling involves washing and shredding the bottles into small flakes, which are then melted and moulded into recycled PET (rPET). While recycled plastic bottles lower CO2 emissions compared to virgin plastic, it still entail significant energy consumption, emissions, and overall pollution[1].
The downside of downcycling
Despite efforts to recycle, plastic bottles rarely return to the same form in a closed loop. Instead, they often undergo “downcycling.” The transformation of bottles into lower-grade products like bags or shoes perpetuates plastic waste.
In fact, I might have been buying pieces of clothing made from plastics from recycled bottles and virgin plastics, thinking they came from recycled ocean plastic.
The limits of recycling
Plastic isn’t infinitely recyclable through mechanical means. With each recycling cycle, the polymer chains degrade, limiting the material’s usability. Even PET, commonly found in plastic bottles, succumbs to this degradation, needing the addition of virgin plastic to maintain quality[2]. In the long run, this is unsustainable.
Decoding “100% recycled” claims
“100% recycled” claims often mask the reality that manufacturers do not recycle all components of the bottle. By law in Europe, bottle lids must be made of new plastic and labels rarely incorporate recycled materials. Moreover, companies often add “pre-consumer scraps” to their “fully recycled bottles”. Pre-consumer scraps are in essence virgin plastic. They come from materials unused during the manufacturing process of other plastics. So, consumers might be surprised to learn that the 100% recycled bottle in front of them is actually made of some new plastic or plastic from production inefficiencies. These claims blur the line between true recycling and greenwashing even further.
Challenging misleading practices
This deceptive practice has not gone unnoticed.
BEUC and member organisations raised the alarm about the misleading claims made by major bottled water companies. Our action, supported by environmental NGOs ECOS and ClientEarth, alerted the competent authorities about the discrepancy between the “100% recycled” claims and the actual practices of these corporations, emphasising the need for greater transparency in the packaging industry. The CPC-Network[3] and the European Commission are currently assessing the complaint.
Nevertheless, every day I see in my local supermarket bottles with claims of 100% recycled material. And while now I know that this is not the case, I’m also very aware that most consumers do not know that these claims are simply not true. BEUC has unbottled the greenwashing. Now it is time authorities ensure that traders stop misleading consumers by using such claims.
[1] Brown, E., MacDonald, A., Allen, S., et al., “The potential for a plastic recycling facility to release microplastic pollution and possible filtration remediation effectiveness” (May 2023). Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances – Volume 10, 100309. Available at: The potential for a plastic recycling facility to release microplastic pollution and possible filtration remediation effectiveness – ScienceDirect. [Accessed 27 Oct. 2023].
[2] Researchers found that maintaining the quality of PET over multiple recycling loops (11 in the study) required adding 25% virgin plastic to each loop. Pinter, E., Welle, F., Mayrhofer, E., et al. (2021) Circularity Study on PET BottleTo-Bottle Recycling, Sustainability, Vol.13, No.7370.
[3] The CPC-Network is the European network of national consumer protection authorities. More info here: https://commission.europa.eu/live-work-travel-eu/consumer-rights-and-complaints/enforcement-consumer-protection/consumer-protection-cooperation-network_en