Follow the latest news of Petcore Europe. This is the third newsletter of 2020 featuring messages from our President and Executive Director, updates on our Technical Committee Webinar series, the White Light Barrier PET Applications SIG kick-off meeting, the 2020 PET Monomer Recycling Forum, an update on the Communication Campaign, the announcement of the PET tray evaluation platform and many more topics.

Messages from the Petcore Europe President and Executive Director

Dear Petcore Europe members and partners,

It’s now 12 weeks, or we can say 3 months, or even one quarter of a year that we have all felt the change in our lives caused by Covid-19. The leadership of Petcore Europe extends the best wishes to all our members and their associates for a safe environment and that recovery from this ordeal is as swift as possible, even if fundamental changes will be established.

It has been amazing how through the innovation (not new but so much more effective) we have become computer savvy, running our required communications through so many variations of web-enabled teleconference. I personally admit it has been more successful than I had expected. Through this I can confirm Petcore Europe has remained operational and may I add very effective in playing its role in the advocacy of the sustainability of the PET business.

More focus on circularity, health & safety, and eventually actual evidence of the need for PET/Polyester in “Personal Protection Equipment” has given us much to debate and promote about. Petcore Europe has a leading position with the Commission on “Design for Recycling” (DfR), recovery of polymeric waste by depolymerisation to base monomer materials,  and now the Communications Platform. 

I wish to express gratitude on behalf of you all to our Executive Director Mr Christian Crepet, and our Communications Expert Mr Sebastian Lemp for the hard work during these times as working from there homes has been more than a full time occupation. 

The newsletter depicts the activities but does not give the effort profile required to achieve this. You have to be “in-it to understand-it”. I’m more than pleased at this mid-year moment to say we are in good shape and fit for purpose. To this we are increasing and bolstering our staffing more representative for the activities required. With this we are becoming more a force in Brussels to be listened to. 

Please enjoy the update and give us the feedback to ensure we are doing the right things and attending to you needs as members.

Stephen Short, President of Petcore Europe

Petcore Europe continues to grow. In 2020, 13 new members have joined the association and we have reached the symbolic figure of 100. It means that we can continue to have our presence felt more and more in Brussels as well as reinforce and create new working groups. On top of that, we could hire, in support of our small team, Julie Legrain as Administrative Manager and Stephanie Vuong as Technical Support and Development Manager while extending to Central Europe and even more so to concentrate on the European Parliament which is becoming “greener” and more influential.

In parallel, as regards our activity with Brussels institutions and the public, we have programmed an impactful communications campaign. As developed further-on in this newsletter, our objectives are to make sure that PET represents an entire circular solution polymer for packaging.  The campaign is advancing well and is currently in its fund-raising phase.

Also, the CPA (Circular Plastics Alliance) initiated by DG GROW is taking shape in partnership with DG ENVIRONMENT and an enlarged plastics industry. As far as the packaging is concerned, most of the working groups are successfully achieving their goals and objectives. Nevertheless, if all themes developed are essential, it is important to indicate that in view of harmonising recycling in the EU a lot of emphasis is given to Design for Recycling (DfR) guidelines which will lead to EU standards.

As a conclusion, the Petcore Europe team including Julie Legrain, Stephanie Vuong, Stephen Short, Sebastian Lemp and myself would like to thank you for your support and fantastic participation to the success of Petcore Europe.

Christian Crépet, Executive Director of Petcore Europe

PS: for further information please contact Sebastian Lemp regarding our Communication Campaign and Stephen Short/Christian Crépet regarding the CPA.

Technical Committee Webinar Series

PET white light barrier applications Special Industry Group

On 28 April, Petcore Europe held the Kick-off Online Workshop of the recently created White light barrier PET applications Special Industry Group.

The SIG was established due to the switch from other materials to PET packaging for dairy products. At the same time, the Circular Plastics Alliance and Essential Requirements of Packaging require full recyclability. It is therefore necessary, to convince EPRs as well as European and National Policymakers by developing technical guidelines and business models including design / collection / sorting / recycling / closed stream proposals for full circularity. 

The kick-off  online workshop gathered around 40 participants, divided in three subgroups:

• Opaque white light barrier PET bottles;
• Opaque light barrier sleeves;
• White PET pots, tubes and trays.

The next steps of the SIG will be to host follow-up webinars to decide on the way forward, develop country case studies and develop a position paper.

Communications Campaign Update

Over the past months, the Petcore Europe Communications Taskforce has been working on the preparation of a communications campaign to inform policy makers and the public about the advantages PET brings and that the material is indispensable for a circular economy. 

Petcore Europe and PET as material have a compelling story to tell and are part of the solution in a circular, sustainable economy, but our voice must be heard.

The initiative, planned to start with an analytical and strategy development phase in July, already counts several financial contributors from the PET value chain, but in order to drive an influential campaign, Petcore calls on the entire industry to support the campaign. 

Interested companies can get in touch with the Petcore Europe secretariat for further information.

Opaque and Functional Bottles Working Group - New Structure

In early 2020, Alessandra Funcia (Sukano) took over as Chairwoman of the Opaque and Functional PET bottles - O&F WG (formerly ODR WG) at Petcore Europe. Together with the management team of Petcore Europe and the previous task force leaders of the WG she developed a new vision, mission and structure for the working group.

Petcore members interested to contribute to the different taskforces should get in touch via management@petcore-europe.org.

PET Tray Evaluation Platform Announcement

In the course of July, Petcore Europe will launch its PET tray recyclability evaluation platform to evaluate the recyclability of PET thermoformed containers and to promote the recyclability of PET thermoformed containers on the market by proposing European harmonised guidelines for PET tray (and other thermoformed containers) recyclability that will be accepted across the whole value chain and by encouraging industry to test new PET tray concepts and/or materials before market launch.

The platform will combine the expertise of the entire PET value chain including representatives from the Petcore Europe Thermoforms Working Group, Plastics Recyclers Europe, EPRs and last but not least brand owners. Petcore Europe members and partners will be kept up-to-date in the coming weeks and months.

With ZeLoop, close the loop of the new plastic circular economy!

Analyzing the new circular economy for plastic, Zeloop figured out there was a missing link. The industry combined with retail is very efficient at bringing products to consumers and then a large range of companies are managing the waste with increasing performance so more plastic is recycled every day. But consumers are left one from the moment they have used the product they have purchased and the moment the waste eventually reaches a point of collection if not discarded in nature.

ZeLoop ambitions to address this missing link with inspiration from the problem that 'Planet Earth, our home, is suffering and aims to drive consumers towards collection stations and reward them so there is no more [waste deposited in] nature.

Major global plastics manufactures and members of Petcore Europe like RETAL have already had their heads turned by ZeLoop, with more and more major players in the plastic packaging industry appreciating our role in supporting a circular economy.

The ZeLoop business model is composed of :

- a mobile application: focusing on rewarding consumers with a first focus on plastic bottles. It encourages people to 'Gather used plastic bottles. Drop them at collection centers for recycling. Upload a picture of deposited bottles on the app. Win tokens to get exciting rewards!
The solution is universal as we don’t manage the collection stations ourselves.

- a platform that hosts our mobile application but is designed to host other eco-friendly mobile applications creating a suite of solutions reducing the human impact on our planet.

The ZeLoop app will be available on iOS and Android app stores worldwide.

Zeloop is looking for partners who would be willing to be associated with the initiative through sponsorship or gamified challenges for users within the application. Read more here: http://www.zeloop.net/

2020 PET Monomer Recycling Forum

Don´t miss your chance to register and get key insights about PET Monomer Recycling and the circularity of PET. Get your tickets here!

Launched in July 2019, the Petcore Europe Special Industry Group "PET Monomer Recycling" aims to establish a strong and sustainable value chain in the development of re-using the monomers from PET waste. Due to the growing interest in PET Monomer Recycling, Petcore Europe recently announced the 2020 PET Monomer Recycling Forum on the 7th of October 2020 in BluePoint Brussels, 80 Bd. A. Reyers, 1030 Brussels.

To register & learn more about the delegate fees, please click here.

To find out more about the Special Industry Group, visit www.petmonomerrecycling.org, where you can get the latest updates from the Core Activity Committee members, which are engaged in development and/or commercial operation of new technologies to process plastic PET waste into monomer constituents.

Petcore Europe welcomes 13 new members in 2020

So far in 2020 Petcore Europe has welcomed 13 new members: Kraft Heinz, Toyobo, AMB Packaging, Perstorp, Poseidon Plastics, EMMTEC, Omya, Recoup,  Dentis Recycling, Reifenhauser, Croda, Gr3n and Moretto. Petcore Europe now counts 100 members and represents the PET value chain more than ever.

Welcome the new hires of the Petcore Europe team

To help Petcore Europe advance in its many activities and projects the operational team is growing and counts two new members: Julie Legrain, Administrative Manager and Stéphanie Vuong, Technical Support and Development Manager.

Both, Julie and Stéphanie are looking forward to working together with the Petcore Europe members on the circularity of PET. Let’s give them a warm welcome.

News from our members

Upcoming events and meetings

July-December 2020 - Technical Committee Webinar Series (see above)

07 October 2020 - PET Monomer Recycling Forum

3-4 February 2021 - General Assembly and Petcore Europe Conference 2021
"Post Covid-19 - Strategy and Trends for the Circular PET Economy"