• FORVIA reported H1 2026 sales of €10.51 billion, down 4.3% year-on-year and 1.9% organically. • Operating income increased by 1.6% to €632 million, while the operating margin improved from 5.7% to 6.0%. • Performance varied sharply between business groups: Electronics and Clarion grew strongly, while Seating and Lighting recorded significant declines. • China remained particularly challenging, with FORVIA sales in the country falling 20.1% on a reported basis.
• Aliplast recycled 91.7% of the plastic film waste generated by Italian wine producer Cantina Pizzolato in 2025. • Around 19.8 tonnes of plastic film were collected and sent for recycling through a dedicated closed-loop system. • The recovered material is sorted, washed and processed into recycled plastic granules. • The recyclate is used to manufacture new film containing 30% recycled material, which returns to Cantina Pizzolato for use in its operations.
• The European Commission is seeking concrete commitments from China to address the widening EU-China trade imbalance. • Chinese exports of plastics, chemicals, textiles, machinery, batteries and electric and hybrid vehicles to the EU have increased sharply over the past year. • Brussels links part of this growth to Chinese industrial overcapacity and wants initial measures from Beijing by early October. • The EU's trade deficit with China reached €360.6 billion in 2025 and widened by a further 9% in the first half of 2026.
• Leuna Polyamid will continue production until the end of September, followed by a controlled shutdown of its facilities. • The search for an investor has ended without a viable offer. • The company points to difficult market conditions, high energy costs and pressure from Chinese imports. • Around 400–440 employees are affected, while the shutdown could also have consequences for other companies within the Leuna chemical site.
• Three major European recycling and waste management organisations are calling for stronger recognition of plastics collected and recycled within Europe. • Plastics Recyclers Europe, FEAD and Recycling Europe argue that European recycled materials should receive preferential treatment when companies comply with EU recycled-content targets. • The organisations warn that increasing imports of low-cost recycled plastics are putting European recyclers under severe competitive pressure. • They argue that EU circularity policies should create demand not only for recycled content, but also for recycling activities taking place within Europe. • The debate is becoming increasingly important as PPWR and other EU legislation progressively introduce mandatory recycled-content requirements.
• Türkiye’s total polymer imports fell below 500,000 tonnes in July 2026, reaching their lowest monthly level since November 2025. • Import volumes declined by 12% compared with June and by 18% year on year. • The total value of polymer imports dropped to USD 707 million. • In value terms, imports decreased by 9% month on month and 11% compared with July 225. • The figures provide another important signal of weaker activity in one of Europe’s neighbouring major polymer markets.
• European natural gas prices have returned to levels not seen since the 2022–2023 energy crisis. • Dutch TTF futures climbed above €75/MWh in early September, while Northeast Asian spot LNG reached its highest level since December 2022. • Disruptions linked to the Strait of Hormuz and restricted LNG flows are intensifying competition between European and Asian buyers. • Europe enters the approach to winter with relatively low gas inventories, increasing its exposure to prolonged high energy prices. • The situation could create renewed cost pressure across the European petrochemical, plastics processing and recycling industries.
• Dacia has invested approximately EUR 4 billion in Romania, but the company’s management is warning about deteriorating conditions for industrial competitiveness. • Energy costs and the lack of a concrete strategy to reduce them are highlighted among the major challenges facing Romania’s automotive industry. • The issue is no longer only whether Mioveni can attract new models: Dacia management says it cannot currently confirm that the next generation of the Duster will continue to be produced in Romania. • The warning is relevant to the entire industrial ecosystem surrounding the plant, including suppliers of plastic components, compounds, masterbatch, moulds and industrial services.
• Plastinfo publishes PPWR 15, dedicated to the EN 18120:2026 family of Design for Recycling standards for plastic packaging. • The 15 standards provide a technical framework covering general principles, sortability, design guidelines and evaluation protocols for six packaging streams. • PPWR 15 explains the difference between designing packaging for recycling and technically evaluating its behaviour in relevant sorting and recycling processes. • EN 18120 should not be confused with legal compliance under PPWR: the criteria and methodologies required under Regulation (EU) 2025/40 are still being completed at European level. • PPWR 15 is available free of charge on Plastinfo.eu.
• Investment: approximately €75 million • Location: Werne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany • Planned capacity: around 100,000 tonnes of plastic per year • Materials: HDPE caps, PS, PET trays and PET beverage bottles • Completion: scheduled for late 2027 to early 2028
↑ Energy costs and some key feedstocks came under renewed upward pressure in Europe. ↑ Low Rhine water levels disrupted logistics and affected operations at several German chemical producers. ↓ Weak demand and ample supply continued to limit producers’ ability to pass higher costs through to polymer prices. ↓ Recycled polymers remained under pressure, although the pace of decline began to moderate for some grades. ↕ Recovered paper and cardboard markets moved in different directions across Europe, with no single regional trend. ○ For recycled glass, available evidence was insufficient to establish a reliably documented European price trend.
• Around 4.5 tonnes of recycled plastic were incorporated into a test section of State Highway 205 in Rockwall, Texas. • The recycled plastic replaces approximately 8–10% of the bitumen used as asphalt binder — not the entire bitumen content. • The project is testing performance under real traffic, high temperatures, cracking and rutting conditions. • Researchers are also evaluating whether the technology could provide an outlet for low-value plastic waste that is difficult to recycle through conventional routes. • The road section was constructed in May 2025 and is being monitored over time to assess its long-term performance.
• The European Commission is proposing harmonised End-of-Waste criteria for plastic waste. • The draft covers thermoplastics and mixtures of thermoplastics processed through mechanical recycling or solvent-based dissolution recycling. • It introduces requirements concerning material quality, traceability, statements of conformity and quality management systems. • The proposal also contains important provisions for recycled materials produced outside the EU and placed on the European market as non-waste. • The regulation has not yet been adopted. The deadline for comments is 20 September 2026. • Plastinfo has published a detailed examination of the proposal and its potential consequences for industry in the ANALYSIS section.
• European PA6 contract prices increased in August. • Higher feedstock costs were the main driver behind the upward movement. • The development affects an important engineering polymer used in automotive, electrical, industrial and technical applications. • Demand conditions remain an important factor for the sustainability of the price increase.
• Amcor has developed shrink and pallet stretch films containing 30% post-consumer recycled plastic (PCR) for Tiptree. • The new solutions are certified for their recycled content. • The move comes ahead of changes to the UK Plastic Packaging Tax framework. • The project illustrates how regulatory and fiscal requirements are translating into direct demand for recycled plastics.
• The Plastinfo PPWR Series is now complete, with 14 articles available free of charge. • The series covers the main areas of PPWR implementation, including packaging design and minimisation, recyclability, recycled content, reuse and refill, labelling, technical documentation, EPR and operator responsibilities. • The articles were developed from an industry perspective, focusing on how regulatory requirements translate into practical decisions inside companies. • PPWR 14 brings the previous topics together in a practical readiness checklist and implementation roadmap towards 2030.
Sumika Polymer Compounds Europe is investing more than EUR 13 million in a new mechanical recycling facility in Saint-Martin-de-Crau, France. The project targets polypropylene waste from end-of-life vehicles and industrial sources. The facility is expected to support around 10,000 tonnes per year of recycled PP production. Together with Sumika's existing recycling operations in Turkey, the group's recycled PP capacity is expected to exceed 25,000 tonnes per year. The investment comes as European automotive manufacturers prepare for increasing requirements for recycled plastics in new vehicles.
• Antolin has entered into a temporary standstill agreement with a group of holders of its notes due in 2028 and 2030. • The initial agreement runs for two weeks and can be extended, giving the parties additional time to negotiate a consensual recapitalisation. • Certain related legal actions and proceedings in Spain, the United States and the United Kingdom have been temporarily suspended or postponed. • Antolin has not entered Chapter 11 proceedings in the US. Chapter 15 is being used to seek recognition of the Spanish restructuring proceedings. • The financial restructuring includes extending debt maturities and providing a long-term working-capital facility of up to EUR 220 million. • The development is particularly relevant to the plastics industry because of Antolin's position as a major global Tier 1 supplier specialising in automotive interior solutions.
• BMW, FORVIA HELLA, Covestro and other industrial and research partners have launched the KOLLEKT project to develop automotive components designed for circularity. • Automotive headlamps are being used as a model for developing a complete value chain based on Repair, Re-Use, Remanufacture and Recycle. • The project is developing a flexible robotic disassembly cell supported by artificial intelligence and digital product twins. • After disassembly, contaminants will be removed and different plastics fractions will be separated and characterised. • The project runs from June 2026 to May 2029 and is receiving EUR 4.371 million in funding from Germany's Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space.
• The European Commission is preparing three important acts for implementing PPWR requirements on recycled content in plastic packaging. • The upcoming rules will address the calculation and verification of recycled content, criteria applicable to recycling technologies and conditions for recycled materials originating outside the EU. • The Commission's consultation is open until 16 September 2026. • The Bulgarian Industrial Association (BIA) is calling on companies to provide real-world data on costs, recyclate availability, technological capabilities and administrative burden. • For producers, converters and recyclers, the secondary legislation will turn general PPWR requirements into concrete procedures for calculation, documentation, traceability and verification.