imprint EDITORIAL PUBLISHER Alexander Büchler, Managing Director HEAD OFFICE heidelberg business media GmbH Hubweg 15 74939 Zuzenhausen, Germany phone: +49 6221-65108-0 info@petpla.net EDITORIAL Kay Barton Heike Fischer Gabriele Kosmehl Michael Maruschke Ruari McCallion Anthony Withers Editorial & WikiPETia. info petplanet@petpla.net MEDIA CONSULTANTS Martina Hirschmann hirschmann@petpla.net Johann Lange-Brock lange-brock@petpla.net phone: +49 6221-65108-0 LAYOUT AND PREPRESS EXPRIM Werbeagentur Matthias Gaumann www.exprim.de READER SERVICES reader@petpla.net PRINT Chroma Druck Eine Unternehmung der Limberg-Druck GmbH Danziger Platz 6 67059 Ludwigshafen, Germany WWW www.hbmedia.net | www.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’ subscription 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. 25 No. 06/24 www.petpla.net The time has now come; as from “...3 July 2024, singleuse plastic beverage containers may only be placed on the EU market if their plastic closures and lids are firmly attached to the containers for the entire period of use.” This is what EU Regulation 2019/904 says somewhat cumbersomely. It cost the beverage industry a lot of effort and money to implement this. Money and effort that bottlers would have loved to invest in more meaningful projects. The preamble “...but its increasing use in short-lived items that are not intended to be reused or recycled cost-effectively means that the associated production and consumption habits are becoming increasingly inefficient and linear...” is – at least when it comes to PET bottles and their closures – way off the mark. No plastic has a higher recycling share than PET. And since the closure almost always comes with it, the polyolefin component is also in the recycling loop. But what’s the good of crying? The industry has tried to change the committees’ minds with factual arguments, but to no avail. Now we have a mess, or rather the tethered cap. Simply because the locking ring on the previous closure is cut differently or manufactured with new moulds, which is very complex, the sensitive closure now gets stuck in the feeders, and is a challenge for quality assurance as well as being extremely unpopular with consumers. The many good sides of the EU are overshadowed by these and other regulations that are difficult to understand. This plays into the hands of the EU sceptics and right-wing populists, who gained 10% more seats in the recent EU election with 370 million eligible voters, increasing their number of seats to 131 (out of a total of 720). May the future regulations make more sense and perhaps involving experts when they are drawn up. Yours, Alexander Büchler Dear readers,
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