Lindner: New Recycling Regulations Increase Demand for Recyclates in Latin America

(Photo: Lindner Recyclingtech).

New legal requirements for recycling rates, recycled content and extended producer responsibility are changing the regulatory framework for plastic packaging in Latin America. Brazil, Chile and Colombia in particular have introduced or tightened mandatory requirements. As a result, recyclers and plastics processors face growing demand for industrial capacity to produce high-quality recyclates.

In Brazil, Decree No. 12,688/2025 on reverse logistics for plastic packaging came into force in October 2025. The regulation requires manufacturers, importers, retailers and other stakeholders along the value chain to participate in corresponding take-back systems. For 2026, the decree stipulates a recovery rate of 32 percent and a mandatory recycled content of at least 22 percent in plastic packaging. The recycled content requirement is set to increase gradually to 30 percent by 2030 and 40 percent by 2040.

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Brazil is thus following a trend that can also be observed in other major plastics markets in Latin America. In Chile, Law No. 20,920, which has been in force since 2016 and is known as the REP Law on extended producer responsibility, provides the basis for mandatory collection and recovery targets. It makes manufacturers and importers of certain product groups, including packaging, responsible for organizing and financing waste management.

Colombia has also introduced mandatory requirements for plastic products and the use of recyclates. Law 2232, adopted in 2022, includes progressively increasing minimum recycled content requirements for PET bottles. For bottles used for treated drinking water, the mandatory recycled content has been at least 50 percent since 2025 and is set to rise to 90 percent by 2030. Separate, progressively increasing requirements apply to other beverage bottles.

The regulatory developments are increasing demand for suitable post-consumer material streams and sufficient recycling capacity. One example is Recupac, the waste management and materials recovery division of Chile’s Coipsa Group. The company processes more than 150,000 tonnes of waste into secondary raw materials each year and operates an LDPE recycling plant in San Bernardo with a capacity of 500 tonnes per month.

According to the company, the recyclates produced there already replace around 40 percent of virgin plastic in film production. To process heterogeneous and contaminated post-consumer plastics, Recupac uses washing technology from Lindner Washtech. The cleaned material stream is subsequently processed on an extrusion line from Erema. Coordinating pre-sorting, shredding, washing, drying and extrusion is crucial to ensuring consistent recyclate quality.

For recycling technology suppliers, the Latin American market is also becoming increasingly important as a result of the regulatory requirements. Lindner strengthened its presence in the region in 2025 by establishing its subsidiary “Lindner Latam” in São Paulo, Brazil. Headed by Frederico Hartmann, the company is responsible for project development, sales and technical support in the region, among other activities.

The statutory minimum quotas for collection and recycled content are thus creating increasingly reliable market opportunities for secondary raw materials. At the same time, requirements for the quality and availability of recyclates are rising, making investments in sorting, washing and extrusion capacity increasingly important in Latin America.

More information: www.lindner-washtech.com, www.recupac.cl

Lindner Washtech GmbH, Feistritz/Drau, Austria + Großbottwar, Germany

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