Please Select Language: French | German | Spanish | Italian | Danish

The Project | The Partners | Intelligent Energy Europe
The Project

The European plastics processing industry faces intense competition from lower wage economies and an alarming rise in energy prices. To remain competitive a business must have an effective energy management process, good market knowledge and an awareness of technology and support mechanisms.

RECIPE (Reduced Energy Consumption in Plastics Engineering) was a 3-year project to provide European plastics processors with the knowledge, justification and tools needed to reduce their energy consumption through the implementation of best practice and the introduction of new technologies.

This industry comprises more than 27,000 companies (more than 80% SMEs) employing more than one million people, and with total sales of over 100 billion euros. If it were possible to reduce energy consumption across the industry by 10%, this would result in an annual reduction in CO2 emissions of more than 3 million tonnes.

Achieved Results

During the 36-month action the following achievements were made:

- The '2005 European Benchmarking Survey and Adoption of Best Practice' report was written using data collected from the benchmarking questionnaire. In total, 246 companies from 13 different countries participated.
- A 'Review of Energy Management Practices, Best Practice and Trends within the Plastics Processing Industry' was conducted and the resulting report made available for download from the project website.
- 'Low Energy Plastics Processing: A European Best Practice Guide' was published in 6 languages and made available in both printed and electronic format.
- A series of factsheets entitled 'Design Fundamentals for Energy Efficiency' were produced and made available to download from the project website.
- A 'Cost of Ownership Model'was developed to enable processors to calculate the cost of operating a piece of equipment over its projected lifetime, based on energy efficiency and projected usage. The available reports show comparisons of the lifetime cost of different machines as well as the differences in cost when producing a specific part.
- An 'interactive toolkit' was developed and integrated into the RECIPE website to help plastics processors understand how energy is being used at their plant and how to save energy and money. The toolkit provides an overview of the energy that a plant purchases and the major systems that consume energy and provides a report that helps the user to understand where the largest opportunities are for energy and cost saving.
- Six newsletters were published and distributed across Europe in both electronic and printed format.
- A comprehensive dissemination programme was conducted including seminars, participation in conferences and exhibitions, press releases, posters and electronic media.

Lessons Learnt

- The results of the ‘2005 Benchmarking Survey of Energy Consumption and Adoption of Best Practice’ show that there is a low level of energy management and awareness within the plastics processing industry. It also demonstrated that there was a need for the RECIPE project in order to increase the understanding of the business benefits of lower energy consumption. The survey generated enough information to set benchmarks for specific energy consumption across Europe, and enables processors to calculate their own energy consumption and compare themselves against the average.
- Energy costs are frequently a secondary consideration after machine, staff and material costs within the plastics processing industry. However, energy efficiency should be a key contributor to improving productivity and is an essential part of good management.
- There is a large variation in the cost per unit of energy, types of fuel utilised and attitudes towards energy issues across Europe. However, the future of the European plastics industry may depend in how we manage the issue of energy consumption and its increasing cost.




The sole responsibility for the content of this website lies with the authors. It does not represent the opinion of the Community. The European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.