Paprec x Recycling Europe interview
This interview was prepared and published in the framework of Recycling Europe’s 2025 Annual Report.
Interview with Sophie Sicard, Deputy Director for Sustainable Development & Institutional Affairs
1.The past year has been particularly challenging for the recycling sector. From PAPREC’s perspective, what were the main developments or turning points for the industry in 2025?
In 2025, Paprec continued to grow, achieving a turnover of 3.5 billion, despite the challenging context marked by sluggish growth in France—one of our key markets—and major challenges in the plastics sector. Fortunately, Spain is showing a very strong momentum, and other recycling and related service sectors remain robust.
Politically, 2025 was also marked by the long-overdue recognition of the existential risk posed by Europe’s industrial decline.
While this realisation is a step in the right direction, concrete action is long overdue. As recyclers, we are intertwined with the European industrial ecosystem as suppliers of circular raw materials and therefore have a direct interest in its vitality.
2.Looking ahead to 2026, what are PAPREC’s key priorities, both in terms of industrial development and contribution to Europe’s circular economy and engagement with Recycling Europe?
In 2026, Paprec’s priorities are to expand in Europe and continue diversifying its activities. Our presence in Spain has been a success, and we believe Paprec’s expertise in recycling and waste management can be valuable to other markets as well. Among our new areas of activities, metal recycling is the priority area for development. Through these developments, Paprec is contributing directly to the European Union’s ambitions for greater circularity and strategic autonomy.
The current geopolitical context is a stark reminder that the circular economy is a opportunity not to be missed – an opportunity to reduce our most critical dependencies, without abandoning our ambition to preserve the living environment for future generations.
The recycling industry must therefore be fully involved in the effort to reindustrialise and empower Europe. This is the message we wish to convey with the profession, within Recycling Europe.
3. Europe is currently shaping major policies affecting the recycling sector. Which regulatory developments will be most decisive for recyclers in the coming years?
Like the rest of European industry, we will be paying close attention to the Industrial Accelerator Act, which we see as a great opportunity to support industrial recovery. However, European policy makers must avoid ‘false good ideas’ driven by urgency, such as export restrictions, which would create economic distortions without strengthening circularity.
The Circular Economy Act is also eagerly awaited, although its scope and interaction with other initiatives, particularly on CRMs and WEEE, remains unclear. We see this as a key opportunity to “reorient” EPR schemes, making them both more economically efficient and more effective in driving circularity in Europe (through more design for recycling, more incentives for recycled content, and more inclusive governance that can increase cooperation along the value chains).
EPR must remain an exception; and wherever possible, the free and competitive functioning of recycling markets should remain the preferred approach.
Finally, in the plastics sector—currently facing an exceptionally severe crisis—the concrete follow-up and effectiveness of the Winter Package will be crucial. Strengthening cooperation across the value chain will be essential.
4.The concept of “end-of-waste” remains a key issue for the markets for recycled materials. What progress would PAPREC like to see to ensure recycled materials can circulate more freely across Europe?
Simplifying criteria and accelerating the development of harmonised EU-wide End-of-Waste (EoW) criteria would significantly strengthen circularity in Europe—an opportunity the Circular Economy Act could help unlock.
Paper is a clear candidate, with several national EoW frameworks already in place and the finalisation of the European EoW for plastics. In the metals sector, value chains also need to make greater use of existing EoW criteria; too many opportunities to simplify business are being missed.
5.Europe’s recyclers increasingly face competition from third countries, particularly where environmental and labour standards differ. How does this affect the European recycling industry and what policy responses would be needed?
Competition from third countries is particularly fierce in the plastics recycling sector. Combined with high production costs in Europe, particularly for energy, and extremely low prices for imported virgin polymers (which is another major challenge), this pressure is severely undermining the European plastics recycling industry.
Already, nearly 1 million tonnes of recycling capacity have been lost since 2023, which is equivalent to France’s plastic recycling capacity. To put an end to this carnage, it is urgent that recycled content requirements be accompanied by very robust and effectively enforced mirror clauses: only recycled materials from countries with circularity policies equivalent.
to those of the EU (e.g. recycled content requirements) and recycling facilities that meet European standards should be authorised. This is not only a matter of fair competition, but also of safety for European consumers.
6.If you could identify one priority that policymakers should address urgently to strengthen Europe’s recycling sector, what would it be?
Developing demand for locally recycled raw materials is essential not only for our sector but also to truly benefit from the circular economy in terms of strategic autonomy and resilience. Investment incentives and public financial support for the transformation and modernisation of European industrial facilities should systematically integrate this dimension of circular and local supply, especially as it also directly contributes to decarbonisation. From both an environmental and strategic perspective, it is a clear win-win.
