The report addresses a core challenge for the circular economy: plastics can contain thousands of different chemicals, some of them substances of concern, and this information can become incomplete or lost entirely as materials move through recycling, since new contaminants or degradation products can also emerge during reprocessing itself. The heterogeneity of plastic waste streams, combined with limited source separation in many collection systems across different countries, adds a further layer of complexity to tracking chemical content reliably from collection through to the finished recycled product.

Drawing on a review of existing standards and certification schemes, the report finds considerable variation in how thoroughly chemical content is characterised and verified across different quality assurance systems, with some relying on relatively basic screening while others apply more sophisticated analytical techniques capable of detecting a broader range of substances. This inconsistency has implications for how much confidence downstream users, and ultimately regulators, can place in claims that a given batch of recycled plastic meets applicable chemical safety requirements.

The report concludes that ensuring chemical safety in recycled plastics requires an integrated approach combining harmonised international standards, robust analytical techniques, chemical traceability systems that follow material through the recycling chain, targeted economic incentives, and closer research collaboration between industry, standard-setters and regulators. Taken together, these elements are presented as mutually reinforcing: none alone is sufficient to guarantee safety at the scale needed to support ambitious recycling targets, but combined they could allow the circular economy to expand without compromising on chemical safety, a balance that remains central to ongoing EU discussions on End-of-Waste criteria for both mechanical and chemical recycling routes.

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