PETpla.net Insider 04 / 2020

TRADE SHOW REVIEW PETplanet Insider Vol. 21 No. 04/20 www.petpla.net 34 Petcore Europe Conference February 2020 Circularity and innovation - Shaping the future of PET Each year the European PET value chain meets in Brussels for the annual Petcore Europe Conference. This year the two-day conference was held in Brussels to welcome more than 300 industry delegates. Under the theme “Circularity and Innovation - Shaping the future of PET”, the complete PET industry sector shared perspectives and strategies for a succesful and more circular future. From PET resin producers, mas- terbatch producers, packaging design- ers and manufacturers, equipment manufacturers, label producers to major brand owners, EPR schemes, waste management organisations, recyclers, waste sorting and recycling machinery manufacturers - the entire value chain was represented. Addi- tionally, speakers and participants from the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and Eunomia shared their thoughts on the PET market as well as the plastics industry in the Circular Economy. “Petcore Europe represents the entire PET value chain since 1993. The strength of the organisation is the engagement of over 90 partici- pating member organisations work- ing together on the circularity of PET through working groups and projects”, stated Stephen Short, President of Petcore Europe, when opening the conference. “This engagement of all members, in combination with Petcore Europe’s commitment to look for the entire sustainable packaging solution as a united industry, is a great value for all stakeholders involved. Petcore Europe’s growth over the past two years is remarkable, we could wel- come over 50 new members”, added Christian Crépet, Executive Director of Petcore Europe. Perspectives and strategy for the PET value chain The focus of the first session was the current PET market. Andy Grant from Eunomia gave an overview of the PET collection and recycling rates for 2018/2019 as well as the key drivers of the market. According to Eunomia, significant improvements have been made in recycling processes and with the increasing quality of materials, rPET could reach as much as 55% of total PET demand by 2030. “A long- term trend shows overall growth in production and demand for PET, par- ticularly in high viscosity PET”, Andy pointed out. According to Eunomia 3.4mt of PET is placed on the market for PET bottles, 0.9mt for PET trays. Alessandra Funcia, Head of Sales and Marketing Sukano, presented Petcore Europe’s two major working groups: The WG PET Thermoforms Recycling and WG on Recycling of Opaque and Functional PET packag- ing (former ODR). Alessandra focused on design for recycling as well as solutions for the uptake of recycled material from PET trays and ODR packaging. Sebastian Lemp, from Petcore Europe then focused on the need for the PET industry to communicate and showcase the (environmental) benefits of PET. Sebastian introduced some projects e.g. ZeLoop, the first circular economy rewarding plattform and strat- egies of other like-minded organisa- tions and iniatives and concluded: “It’s time to work together and make the circularity of PET understood amongst policy makers and the public”. F.l.t.r.: Christian Crépet (Executive Director of Petcore Europe) and Stephen Short (President of Petcore Europe) opening the conference. Alessandra Funcia (Sukano)