PETpla.net Insider 04 / 2017

PET planet Insider Vol. 18 No. 04/17 www.petpla.net 65 TRADE SHOW REVIEW related issues outlined in the strategy: the high dependence on fossil feedstocks, the low rate of recycling and reuse of plas- tics in general, and the signifi- cant leakage of plastics into the environment. Stéphane Arditi from the European Environmental Bureau insisted on the imple- mentation of deposit systems to encourage consumers to pull together with the industry. “If you want to put responsibility on the consumers, you have to raise awareness by touching their wallets and consider a deposit system,” Arditi outlined. Sander Defruyt from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation concluded the session with his presentation on the New Plastics Economy, which had been recently presented during the World Economic Forum at Davos, where 40+ busi- ness and government leaders endorsed a global action plan on plastic packaging. “Three strategies are needed to trans- form the global plastic packag- ing market: fundamental pack- aging re-design and innovation, reuse systems and recycling with radically better economics and quality,” he pointed out. “59% of PET bottles were collected and recycled in Europe in 2015,” outlined An Vossen from Epro/Plarebel in her pres- entation. “But what about other PET applications, like trays or stf·sorting line stf·washing line professional plastic recycling solutions – made in germany The stf· group is the leading manufacturer of plastic sorting and washing machinery, especially for PET post-consumer bottles, with more than 60 turn-key plants and several single machines delivered worldwide. stf·group Industriestr. 1-3 94529 Aicha v. Wald – Germany fon +49 8544 960-110 mail contact@stf-group.de web www.stf-group.de scan for vCard stf ·group F.l.t.r.: Helen McGeough, Eric Liégeois, An Vossen, Sander Defruyt, Stéphane Arditi and Casper van den Dungen F.l.t.r.: Francoise Poulat, Gian de Belder, Johannes Burghaus, Antonello Ciotti and Carsten Lauridsen opaque and difficult to recycle containers that represent sig- nificant recycling challenges?” She further emphasised that the common practice of “cherry picking” the most recyclable fraction from the complete plastic waste has to stop. “We have to adapt our collection and recycling systems, and have to make sure that all plastics waste is recycled,” said Vossen further. “In order to implement such a Circular Economy, packaging and recycling cannot be looked at in isolation, you need to com- bine innovation and recycling.” From the recyclers’ perspec- tive, Casper van den Dungen, Vice President of the Plastics Recyclers in Europe (PRE) , clearly emphasised that a lot has to be still implemented to meet the European Commission’s 2025 target proposal of 55% recycling rate for the complete plastic waste stream in the EU. PET bottle recycling is best in class today with more than 55% recycling rates. “However, for achieving these overall targets for all plastics and packaging, the most important thing is that the right infrastructure is in place, which is not yet the case,” he stated during his presentation. The next Petcore Europe Conference will take place in the first quarter of 2018. The exact date and place will be announced in the second half of 2017. www.petcore-europe.org