The circular economy is arriving at some of the world's most-watched events. But circularity only scales when recycled materials can genuinely perform.
Picture yourself at a concert or a football match. Around you, tens of thousands of people are holding cups, unwrapping food containers, and reaching for bottles.
The items in their hands are used for minutes, but their environmental footprint could last for hundreds of years. In Europe, around 40% of them will be recycled - a meaningful start, but this will not be enough to tackle the world’s challenge with plastic packaging, especially if the next batch of items on the shelf are made from virgin plastic. Plastic bottles, for instance, contain just 11.7% recycled content on average. Circular alternatives that deliver the same premium quality are urgently needed.
But there’s a reason plastic became the industry standard. It keeps food fresh, prevents contamination, and meets strict safety requirements. Whether it is a PET water bottle or HDPE detergent container, different plastics are also highly specialized and efficient for their uses. One study found that replacing plastic packaging with alternative materials like aluminium or glass, while still meeting standards, would, on average, “increase the weight of the packaging by 3.6 times, the energy use by 2.2 times, and the carbon dioxide emissions by 2.7%”.
Circular materials must not only help solve the waste challenge, but also deliver the same strict quality, safety, and performance requirements to move circularity from an ambition to a commercial reality.
For OMV, this challenge is an opportunity - to prove that circular innovation can go hand-in-hand with uncompromising quality.
What new EU regulations on recycled content in packaging require
Circularity is no longer optional in packaging. The EU's Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) will begin to apply from mid-2026. As well as stipulating that all packaging must be recyclable by 2030, it also establishes mandatory requirements for recycled content, which vary between different plastic types. For example, a typical plastic bottle must contain 30% recycled material by 2030, increasing significantly by 2040.
These rules will drive two shifts: an increase in recycling rates, as plastic producers look to secure circular feedstocks, and an increase in demand for high-quality circular plastics that match the performance companies are accustomed to.
The companies best positioned to navigate this shift are those that have already invested in the infrastructure, technology, and partnerships needed to deliver circular materials at scale.
Turning end-of-life plastics into high-quality circular feedstock
OMV has been advancing its ReOil® chemical recycling technology since 2009. The process uses pyrolysis to turn recovered plastics into high quality base chemicals that can replace fossil feedstocks, enabling new plastics suitable even for sensitive uses like food packaging and medical products. The ReOil® plant is ISCC PLUS certified, ensuring transparent and verifiable tracking of circular content throughout the supply chain. This combination of technical performance and certified traceability makes OMV’s recycled-based chemicals viable for the most demanding applications.
Sipping from recycled cups at the Eurovision Song Contest
Few settings test the real-world credentials of circular materials more visibly than one of the world’s most-watched entertainment events. The Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) 2026 in Vienna was designed to embed sustainable practices in all aspects. Meeting this ambition required solutions that work on a scale, in real life, and without compromise.
OMV, together with Borouge International, was part of a collaboration with ARA, the main event supplier, and Greiner Packaging that produced 100,000 reusable drinking cups for the event, made from 100% recycled material. After the ESC, the cups were passed on to charity organizations, giving them a second life and extending their lifecycle.
The project demonstrates what is possible when a whole value chain mobilizes.
ARA sorted and guided plastic packaging into a high-performance recycling loop; OMV used ReOil technology to convert it into circular feedstock; Borouge International used that feedstock to produce high-quality circular polymers; and Greiner used those polymers to design the reusable cups.
This collaboration, the Austrian Closed Loop, is a practical example of what cross-industry cooperation looks like when it is oriented around a shared outcome: innovating for circularity without sacrificing quality.
Quality is what makes the circular economy viable
This project is a testament to our mission of reinventing life’s everyday essentials, innovating to transform discarded waste into essential raw materials.
But it also highlights something more fundamental: circularity only becomes commercially viable when the whole value chain works together to deliver products that genuinely meet people’s needs, when circularity meets uncompromising quality.
Manufacturers need high-quality materials they can incorporate seamlessly into their processes, ensuring performance, safety and reliability. For that reason, sustainable base chemicals play an important role in helping customers meet the demand for both circularity and quality. This will become increasingly important as rising EU PPWR requirements place ever-greater demands on companies over the next decade and beyond.
By rooting innovation in pragmatism and partnership, we can build a circular economy that serves all.