Plastics Recyclers Europe

The dataset provides industry-average greenhouse gas emission factors for mechanically recycled plastics in Europe, published through openLCA Nexus and developed with support from Plastics Recyclers Europe. The dataset covers multiple recycled plastic types (e.g., rPP, rHDPE, rPET, rABS, rHIPS, rLDPE, rMPO, rPVC) in flake and pellet form, derived from post-consumer and post-industrial waste streams depending on the polymer. Emission factors represent mechanical recycling processes, covering activities such as sorting, shredding, washing, separation, extrusion, and pelletisation where applicable, including supporting process inputs such as electricity, fuels, materials, and transport within the recycling system boundary. European average datasets represent both gate-to-gate and cradle-to-gate system boundaries, while country-specific datasets adapted to regional production contexts (e.g., Austria, Germany, France, Netherlands, Great Britain) represent only gate-to-gate system boundaries. The datasets are based on primary data collected from European recycling facilities in 2022 and aggregated into European industry averages. Climate change emission factors are retrieved from the LCIA EcoProfiles and represent the production of 1 kg of recycled plastic output (flakes or pellets).