PETpla.net Insider 05 / 2021

imprint EDITORIAL PUBLISHER Alexander Büchler, Managing Director HEAD OFFICE heidelberg business media GmbH Vangerowstraße 33 69115 Heidelberg, Germany phone: +49 6221-65108-0 fax: +49 6221-65108-28 [email protected] EDITORIAL Kay Barton Heike Fischer Gabriele Kosmehl Michael Maruschke Ruari McCallion Waldemar Schmitke Anthony Withers WikiPETia.info [email protected] MEDIA CONSULTANTS Martina Hirschmann [email protected] Johann Lange-Brock [email protected] phone: +49 6221-65108-0 fax: +49 6221-65108-28 LAYOUT AND PREPRESS EXPRIM Werbeagentur | exprim.de Matthias Gaumann READER SERVICES Till Kretner [email protected] PRINT Chroma Druck Eine Unternehmung der Limberg-Druck GmbH Danziger Platz 6 67059 Ludwigshafen, Germany WWW www.hbmedia.net | w ww.petpla.net PETplanet Insider ISSN 1438-9459 is published 10 times a year. This publication is sent to qualified subscribers (1-year subscription 149 EUR, 2-year subscription 289 EUR, Young professionals’ sub- scription 99 EUR. Magazines will be dispatched to you by airmail). Not to be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher. Note: The fact that product names may not be identified as trademarks is not an indication that such names are not registered trademarks. 3 PETplanet Insider Vol. 22 No. 05/21 www.petpla.net rPET and tethered caps have been occupying the industry for some time now. In the last PETinar we were able to oblige Dr Rana Pant, Directorate-General for Environment, from the European Commission, dear friends of PETplanet, to answer your questions. While the cap topic hardly got a mention in the question and answer session, the audience pounced when the topic of the proportion of rPET in the bottle came up. It should be 25% by 2025 and 30% by 2030. But already then the first discussions began. The percentage should be achieved on average and member states can set their own requirements. So each bottle must contain at least 25% - or 25% on average across all bottles. The doors and gates are once again open to diversity. Woe to anyone who wants to import a bottle from one country to another. The control of the recycled material and its supply chains is also in the hands of member states. Fears were voiced in the auditorium that cheap rPET from non-EU countries will flood the market, to the detriment of the strictly regulated European recycling industry. Dr Pant was unable to rule out this possibility but considered it unlikely. He pointed out that the relevant authorisation process of FCM (food contact material) should finally be completed quickly. To summarise the event, the EU has set a framework that the member states now have to implement. They have so much freedom that it is unlikely that we will get uniform regulations across national borders. We already have these kinds of different regulations today. It is a shame that the new EU guidelines have not improved the situation and have left the smaller countries exposed. Yours sincerely, Alexander Büchler Dear readers,