Plastics Recycling Show Europe Announces Conference Programme
The Plastics Recycling Show Europe (PRSE) conference programme has been published ahead of the event’s return to the RAI Amsterdam, The Netherlands on 4-5 November 2021. The latest trends in the plastics recycling sector will be explored in depth throughout the free-to-attend two-day event, providing a holistic view of the whole plastic recycling value chain and drawing together political leaders, major brands, recyclers and the plastics recycling and manufacturing industry.
Virginijus Sinkevičius, Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries at the European Commission will deliver the opening keynote updating delegates on the latest political and legislative developments in plastics recycling in Europe. Additional speakers in the opening session entitled Making plastics fully circular – what’s next? are Ton Emans, President of Plastics Recyclers Europe (PRE) and Peter Goult, Associate at Sytemiq.
Prominent speakers from major brands at the plastics recycling conference include:
- Thor Tummers, External Affairs manager at Unilever
- Eelco Smit, Sustainability Leader at Philips Domestic Appliances
- Gian De Belder, Technical Director – R&D Packaging Sustainability at Procter & Gamble
- Anne Guillou, Sustainable Packaging & Product Development Manager, L’Oréal
- Ermis Panagiotopoulos, Sustainability Director at Natural Mineral Waters Europe
Materials focus sessions on the first day will explore the challenges, issues and opportunities within the sector for mechanical recycling, covering PET, PVC, Technical Plastics and Polystyrene (PS) recycling. In the PET session Ermis Panagiotopoulos covers PET: EU legal obligations on rPET & beverage industry’s actions. In the PVC session Charlotte Röbber, Managing Director, EPPA presents Circular Economy in action – Implementing Collection and Recycling schemes for Windows in Germany, France and Poland. Topics covered in the Technical Plastics and Polystyrene session include: Plastics recycling in domestic appliances Sustainable plastics solutions; and The future of food contact and low carbon footprint: Circular Polystyrene.
The second day’s opening session Recyclability and recycled content: how to make it happen? is chaired by Paolo Glerean, PRE Board Member and Chairman of RecyClass. The following polyolefin material focus sessions will examine the current status of polyolefin waste streams including high- and low-density polyethylene (LDPE and HDPE). In the LDPE sessions Mik Van Gaever, COO, FostPlus looks at Recycling of flexible household packaging in Belgium. A highlight of the HDPE session is expected to be Thor Tummers, External Affairs Manager at Unilever with Accelerating the transition for a circular economy for packaging with all stakeholders. The conference concludes with a final session looking at polypropylene (PP) recycling.
PRSE event sponsors are presenting papers on a wide range of innovations in plastics recycling technology and the wider circular economy including:
- Post consumer recycling – Going into a circular Plastic economy with the latest technology, by Clemens Kitzberger, Business Development Manager Application Post Consumer, Erema Group GmbH
- CirKular+™ Solutions for Recyclates Performance Enhancement and Compatibilization, by Freddy Vervoort, Senior R&D Scientist, Kraton Polymers
- Re-Compounding / tailor made production of Re- pellets Challenges, limitatons advantages and risks of Recycling and compounding in one step, by Herr Ing. Stefan Lehner, General Sales Manager, MAS
- Sustainable additive solutions – enhancing performance and value of circular plastics, by Dr. Gazi Tuerkoglu, BASF SE
- How material expertise and digital means can support the supply of circular plastics feedstock, by Edouard Garreau, Cofounder, Polytopoly
The winners of all seven award categories at the Plastics Recycling Awards Europe 2021 will be announced at 1pm on 5 November. All 55 finalists will be showcased in the exhibition, as will the winners of the 2020 awards, which were presented virtually. Erema Engineering Recycling Maschinen GmbH, Fimic SRL and Tomra Sorting Recycling are platinum sponsors of the 2021 Awards.
The hybrid event will allow people unable to visit the event in person to view elements of the two-day conference programme via livestream including the welcome address, keynote speeches and sponsored as well as the announcement of winners of the Plastics Recycling Awards Europe. Online-only visitors will also be able to interact directly with exhibitors.
