CAPS & CLOSURES 18 PETplanet Insider Vol. 27 No. 01+02/26 www.petpla.net Interview with Benoit Henckes, Chief Executive Offi cer (CEO) at UNITED CAPS “The US, EU and Asia are moving in different directions on industrial policy” The start of a new year invites reflection on the past and offers an outlook on the future. 2025 has not been a year that allows for simple headlines. It was a year of regulatory acceleration, shifting customer expectations, geopolitical pressure on supply chains and a rising demand for credible sustainability proof, not just positioning. CAPS & CLOSURES CEO Benoit Henckes reflects on a year shaped by regulatory acceleration, shifting customer expectations and deep operational transformation inside UNITED CAPS. In this interview, he discusses the challenges and opportunities that will define 2026 - from PPWR implementation to circular design, mass balance, automation and the future of supply chains. PETplanet: If you had to describe 2025 in one sentence, what would you say? Henckes: It was the year when ambition met reality. Many commitments were made in the last five years, but 2025 exposed who is actually prepared for PPWR, who understands the impact of mass balance, who is ready to secure credible recycled feedstock and who is still hoping the rules will soften. We do not think they will. PETplanet: Let’s start with that regulation. Is the industry ready for PPWR? Henckes: Not uniformly. UNITED CAPS is aligned with the direction of PPWR, but the wider ecosystem is uneven. We still do not have harmonised mass balance rules. Enforcement differs across Europe. And the chemical recycling sector has been unstable, with several European plants closing. There is a clear need for our industry to develop a much stronger voice at this table. But one thing I am certain of, customers who wait will find compliance more difficult. The smart ones are moving now. One positive development is the stronger collective stance emerging through EuPC. A coordinated communication effort is being built to defend fair competition and support the shift to a circular, low carbon plastics industry. UNITED CAPS intends to contribute actively to that work. PETplanet: Mass balance became a defining theme. Why will it matter even more in 2026? Henckes: Because it is the system that allows circular and bio-based feedstock to scale without building a parallel chemical infrastructure. Mass balance is not about shortcuts. It is audited accounting with chemistry attached. You match sustainable input with sustainable claims. The fuel use exclusion discussions are important here. If part of the feedstock ends up as fuel, it must be subtracted from what can be claimed as recycled or bio-based content. This is likely to become the default allocation method for SUPD and PPWR. It will bring clarity, and it will expose overstatement where it exists. We also increased our engagement with the European Commission this year. The message from Brussels is consistent. Industry needs to provide concrete input if PPWR is to drive real circularity. UNITED CAPS will be an active voice in that process. PETplanet: What concerns you most about recycled content as we look toward 2026? Henckes: Credibility. There is no shortage of material in a global sense, but not all of it is certified to the standards Europe will require. Imported recycled materials with inconsistent verification create market distortion and undermine European recyclers. Europe will need stronger enforcement to avoid that. At the heart of PPWR and SUP is a simple expectation. Circularity means recycling the waste generated within Europe, not relying on material produced elsewhere. PETplanet: The Sustainability Week at UNITED CAPS held in November 2025 highlighted real operational progress inside. What mattered most for you? Henckes: The work the team presented at Sustainability Week is fundamental. We reduced the carbon footprint of our closures through operational changes that touch every part of production. Switching to 100% green electricity across European plants, modernising compressors and energy systems, adding solar capacity, improving machinery efficiency, reducing internal scrap, installing LED lighting. These are mostly invisible improvements to customers, but they change the baseline of every closure we make. We also expanded product level carbon footprint measurement for our closures. That allowed us to reduce the cradle to gate footprint of standard products by more than 12% compared to 18 months ago. Progress is not theory. It is in the numbers. And most importantly, 2025 made one thing very clear: Recyclability starts at the design table. Most of a cap’s foot-
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