PETpla.net Insider 01+02 / 2018

8 NEWS PET planet Insider Vol. 19 No. 01+02/18 www.petpla.net WikiPETia .info New contents at wikipetia.info PlasticsEurope’s reaction to Europe’s Plastics Strategy PlasticsEurope welcomes the pub- lication by the European Commission of “A European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy”. PlasticsEurope supports the creation of a joint vision for a truly circular and resource efficient Europe, the promotion of actions aimed at tackling plastics leakage into the environ- ment, increasing recycling and re-use and boosting innovation. The Strategy calls for the adoption of harmonised rules to ensure that by 2030 all plastic packaging placed on the EU market can be reused, recycled and are not littered. “We, the European plastics manufac- turers, are committed to ensure high rates of reuse and recycling with the ambition to reach 60% for plastic packaging by 2030. This will help achieve our goal of 100% reuse, recycling and recovery of all plastics packaging at European level by 2040”, said Karl-H. Foerster, Executive Director of PlasticsEurope. In order to support the ambitious recycling goals, the Strategy for Plas- tics stresses the need to discourage the landfilling of plastics waste and recog- nises that effective waste management systems are key to avoid littering and ensure that collected waste finds its way to proper treatment. In this context, PlasticsEurope is thrilled to announce the publication of its “Plastics 2030 - Voluntary Commitment”, which contains a set of ambitious targets and initiatives representing the plastics industry contribution to achieve a fully circular and resource efficient Europe. This voluntary commitment focuses on (1) increasing re-use and recycling (with the ambition to reach 60% for plas- tics packaging by 2030), (2) preventing plastics leakage into the environment, and (3) accelerating resource efficiency. By mid-2018, PlasticsEurope will set up concrete action plans and time-based performance indicators which will be used to evaluate the achievement of these objectives. The results will be monitored by an independent committee, made of representatives of academia, the Euro- pean Commission, the European Parlia- ment, civil society and PlasticsEurope. Also, from 2019, an annual progress report will be published. www.plasticseurope.org State of the US Market: Bottling According to analyses of Perc Pineda, Chief Economist, Plastics Industry Asso- ciation, recent data continue to under- score the vitality of the U.S. as a market for plastic bottles. Businesses that use plastic bottles showed an uptick in sales in December. Retail sales at food and beverage stores rose 0.5% in December - a 4.5% increase from December 2016. Healthcare and personal care stores’ sales rose 0.4%, increasing 3.6% year over year. With the U.S. economy operating at full capacity, it can be expected that the demand for goods and services using plastic bottles will continue to increase as well. Beverage and food manufacturing continue to be the largest market seg- ments for the plastic bottles market, and will probably not change dramatically this year and the next. Last year, estimates showed that beverage and food bottle usage held the largest share of the market at 42% and 16%, respectively. Not only is the U.S. an important market for plastic bottles, it is also a viable plastic bottle manufacturing base. U.S. imports of plastic bottles far exceed its exports. Advanced estimates show that last year, the U.S. exported $597 mil- lion and imported $930 million worth of plastic bottles. The trade deficit proves a robust U.S. market and suggests room for domestic plastic bottle manufacturing to grow. Low manufacturing costs are also influencing growth, with U.S. cost advan- tages coming as a result of an abundance of natural gas, which is keeping feedstock prices for polyethylene production low. Plastic bottle manufacturing technol- ogy and innovation will be part of the main showcase at NPE2018 (May 7-11, 2018 in Orlando, FL, USA). Technology for plastics bottle manufacturing including caps and closures, from the simple twist caps to more sophisticated dispending pumps and safety closures, will be on full display in the Bottle Zone at the show with supporting partners PETplanet, drinktec and the International Society of Beverage Technologists (ISBT). The zone’s more than 80 companies within more than 5,300m 2 on the show floor will promote the latest advancements and trends in bottling and container manufacturing for this booming sector of the plastics industry. Additionally, the Bottle Zone Technical Forums will provide industry insights and innovation Monday-Thursday of the show. With higher consumption of bottled products and low cost of materials, and now that investments in capital equip- ment can be immediately and totally expensed by companies as a result of newly-approved U.S. tax bill, now is the time and the NPE Bottle Zone is the place for manufacturers and suppliers to explore ways to incorporate new technology, sup- plies and equipment into their manufactur- ing processes. www.npe.org/bottlezone