EVENT REVIEW PETplanet Insider Vol. 26 No. 03/25 www.petpla.net 36 Petcore Annual Conference 2025 “Turning back is not an option, but moving forward requires a lot of support and protection” by Heike Fischer The Petcore Annual Conference 2025 took place in Brussels on February 4-5. More than 370 delegates attended and were able to witness first-hand the PET value chain’s commitment to sustainability and innovation.The conference underlined Petcore Europe’s ability to represent the EU PET value chain as reflected in its growing membership numbers: nine associations and more than 150 organisations, with a cumulative turnover in 2022 of 15 billion € and 27k employees. PETplanet Insider spoke with Antonello Ciotti, President of Petcore Europe. PETplanet: Firstly, I would like to congratulate you on the successful Petcore Annual Conference 2025. Let’s talk about the European industry, which is currently facing many challenges. The PET and plastics industry is also affected by this. In your opinion, what were the most important key statements on market dynamics and European competitiveness - PET value chain views that were made? Antonello Ciotti: The main statement is the need to regain competitiveness by requiring the creation of a level playing field. Today, this is not yet the case as a fair implementation of the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive (SUPD) is not yet fully clarified. The same is true for the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) which, with 53 Delegated Acts to be defined in the next two years, is requiring a lot of monitoring from the whole value chain. A quote from one of our members sums it up nicely: “We want to invest our resources in operations and not in reporting!”. PETplanet: Where do you see the strengths of the European PET industry? Antonello Ciotti: The main strength of the EU industry is its ability to continuously innovate by introducing new technologies for the lightweighting of both PET trays and bottles - including increasing their recycled content - without reducing the importance of consumer safety. PETplanet: Three highly interesting innovation papers were presented by Alpla & Avantium, Husky and Sipa, well-known `big players´ in the PET industry. What did you find particularly forward-looking about the respective presentations? Antonello Ciotti: The Alpla & Avantium project provides an interesting view on the opportunities to enhance PET package properties (e.g. higher barrier to CO2 and O2) and visual characteristics, while taking into account the guidelines provided by Petcore Europe’s European PET Bottle Platform (EPBP). Husky and Sipa presented technological innovations which improve the quality control and quality consistency of the final product while at the same time allowing for the smoother inclusion of recycled PET. All these improvements are going to help in driving the concept of circularity within our industry. PETplanet: Of course, there was also detailed information about sustainability and plastics recycling. Do you think Europe is doing enough? And can it continue to fulfil its pioneering role? What do you hear from the industry, what are the biggest challenges that companies have to overcome if they want to produce sustainably? Antonello Ciotti: This is a key dilemma facing EU industry in general. It is clear that the new US administration is reducing its focus on the Green Deal, and as a result, EU industry finds itself at a crossroads: turning back is not an option, but moving forward requires a lot of support and protection. Here, the level playing field that I mentioned earlier is a must if the EU is to retain its manufacturing power. To be more specific, the Green Deal is based on the reduction of fossil energy and its replacement with
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