Follow the latest news from Petcore Europe. This is the first newsletter of 2023 featuring messages from our President and Interim Executive Director, updates on the activities of our Working Groups, the latest on our Communications Campaign 2023 and social media, details on EU Policy and Regulatory Developments and many other interesting insights.

 A Message from the President of Petcore Europe

Dear Petcore Member,

One year ago we started on our journey to reshape Petcore and make the voice of the PET value chain louder and more profitable for all the members.

So far the message has been well received by the entire value chain and the number of the companies affiliated has grown steadily. We now boast 167 members and are still growing! – as illustrated in the graph below.

This success requires Petcore to become better equipped to support its members’ positions vis a vis the increasing challenges coming from the implementation of the Green Deal that obliges our value chain to drastically  modify  how it manufactures and distributes its products.

In this respect I strongly encourage each one of you to spell out any suggestion that could make Petcore more successful and effective in his overall activity. From our side we will continue to debate all potential actions in the Working Groups and increase the Advocacy efforts where we see the need to amplify the voice of our value chain.

The Petcore Networking event in Brussels at the start of February was a real success with more than 250 people attending the conference. The large number of attendees is pushing us to evaluate other locations that are a better fit for our needs.

The activity reports from the various Working Groups allowed all of us to review their activities and receive direct information  on the many topics that are discussed, debated and become the subject of position papers prepared by each working group.

These position papers are the basis for two activities that are close to our hearts: communication and advocacy, where, with the support of all the members, Petcore is planning  to invest more resources.

During Day 2 of the conference, we had the opportunity to meet the EU institutions and understand the complexity of the evolution of the Green Deal.  We plan to increase our  interactions with the Institutions based on a detailed monitoring of the activities in The Council and the European Parliament.

In this respect I solicit every member interested to receive more information on our monitoring activity to send an email to both Maria Trofimova: maria.trofimova@petcore-europe.org and Andrea Balmes: abalmes@ianusgroup.com asking to be added to the distribution list of those receiving detailed information.

With all these activities and ongoing support we are proceeding to make Petcore’s voice even stronger and more successful.

Antonello Ciotti,

President of Petcore Europe

A Message from Petcore Europe's Executive Director

Dear Members,

First of all, I am delighted to serve Petcore Europe as interim Executive Director and to work with a very dedicated team here in Brussels.

On 1st and 2nd of February 2023, we had a very successful annual conference and I would like to thank all of you for making it possible. We had 243 participants, 54 speakers and moderators and thanks to the team’s hard work, the event went very smoothly.

Petcore Europe is in restructuring mode and together with the Board of Directors we are reflecting on ways to become more agile and better represent our members’ interests in Brussels but also in Member States, which lately have become more and more important.  

The membership of the association keeps growing, now accounting for 167 members, which is a demonstration that the technical and communication work is successful. We are also thinking to invigorate the regulatory/advocacy work and make sure that PET is the material of choice.

Recently, we celebrated Petcore Europe’s 30 year anniversary and with your support we intend to continue doing so in the years to come.

Ermis Panagiotopoulos,

                                                                                                            Interim Executive Director of Petcore Europe

RecycletheOne communications campaign rolls over into 2023 

Petcore’s RecycletheOne communications campaign promoting the collection and recycling of PET packaging has now been rolled over into 2023.

The campaign continues to focus on driving up collection and recycling rates for PET bottles and trays and creating awareness of the properties of PET plastic: fully recyclable and made to be remade.

As in 2021 and 2022, the message is predominantly pushed out via social media and directed at two, separate audiences: EU Stakeholders in Brussels and motivated consumers in France, Germany and the UK.

The campaign has nevertheless evolved in 2023 in line with the political and media landscape and the needs of the sector:

-          The messaging has been updated to include PET’s ability to be reused and refilled and will include more specific references to deposit return schemes (DRS).

-          The established social media channels of LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram have been joined by TikTok which has proven effective in reaching a younger demographic.

-          The markets too have been updated and will now include outreach in Italy alongside the three existing countries.

-          And finally, the RecycletheOne logo has been updated to depict a PET tray alongside the bottle as the recycling of trays features increasingly in the communications outreach to both EU stakeholders and consumers.

Regulatory Updates

• On 30 November 2022, the European Commission published its proposal for a Regulation on Packaging and Packaging waste, repealing the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive 94/62/EC. The proposal comes under 65 Articles with 10 Annexes to complement the legal text and is accompanied with an impact assessment. The proposal needs to be further complemented by more than 50 (if not combined) different implementing and/or delegated acts for which a clear timeframe is missing for many of them. As the proposal is a regulation and no longer a directive, it will help to minimise the differences across Member States. The proposal introduces specific recycled content, re-use and refill and recyclability targets, some for all packaging materials, others for plastic packaging only. The methodology for the calculation of recycled content is still to be developed in an implementing act by 31 December 2026. EPR fees would be modulated based on the recycling performance grade (A-E) and, for plastic packaging, on the percentage of recycled content used in the packaging. Deposit and return systems would become mandatory for single use plastic beverage bottles and single use metal beverage containers, with possible exemption for Member States reaching separate collection rates above 90%. The proposal introduces harmonised labelling to provide consumers with sorting instructions, the percentage of recycled content and information on the re-usability of packaging. However, certain provisions allow Member States to introduce further labelling requirements.

   

• The European Commission informed Member States that the voting of the 17th amendment of plastics regulation (EU) 10/2011 will most likely be delayed and not take place in the Standing Committee meeting of April 2023 as was foreseen earlier. The 17th amendment is mainly aimed at ensuring alignment with the recycled plastics regulation (EU) 2022/1616. It is planned to set purity requirements for substances manufactured from waste, set requirements for the reprocessing of off-cuts and scraps from plastic materials and articles that are considered to be a by-product according to the waste framework directive 2008/98/EC, update the template for a declaration of compliance in Annex IV by introducing requirements specific to the use of recycled plastic including an indication of the total content of recycled substances in the plastic material and article. It also would amend Annex B to GMP regulation (EC) 2023/2006 on minimum requirements for quality assurance systems for recycling facilities.

• The European Commission has updated its website with resources for plastic recyclers in the context of Commission regulation (EU) 2022/1616 on recycled plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with foods that entered into force on 10 October 2022 and repealed recycled plastic regulation (EC) No 282/2008. For registration purposes, all forms for the registration of a recycler (Form 3), a recycling facility (Form 2) and a recycling installation (Form 1) are combined in one link EUSurvey - Survey (europa.eu). In addition, a form for the notification of a novel technology is made available: EUSurvey - Survey (europa.eu).

   

• The foreseen outcome of revision of the food contact materials legislation is delayed. The European Commission informed Member States that they will strive to have an agreed working paper that contains the main concepts, options and implementation scenarios for the revised legislation by the end of 2023. Conclusion on the preferred policy options and the legislative text proposal are foreseen in 2024 and beyond.

   

• On 19 December 2022, the European Commission published its proposal for the revision of the Regulation on classification, labelling and packaging of chemical (CLP) (EC) 1272/2008 which i.a. would also give the Commission the right to develop proposals for harmonised classification of potentially hazardous substances which is considered to speed up the pace at which hazardous substances are identified. At the same time a delegated act was adopted that introduces under the CLP regulation new hazard classes for endocrine disruptors as well as for persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) and very persistent and very bioaccumulative (vPvB) substances or mixtures. The proposal for revision of the CLP regulation follows the ordinary legislative procedure and will be subject to the approval of the European Parliament and Council while the delegated act will undergo scrutiny by the European Parliament and Council before entering into force.

 Updates on Working Groups & Recyclability Evaluation Platforms 

THERMOFORMS WG updates: the main activity of the last 3 months is related to EU 2022/1616 regulation on functional barriers. The taskforce establishing the dossier that “Unequivocally show that the functional barrier is capable, (…) of acting as a functional barrier... “ is hard at work. The data gathering among members of the task force (more than 50) has been fruitful. Now modelling of migration is ongoing and the scientific and regulatory experts meet each week to deliver the dossier by April 10th. Willing to join the taskforce ? Please contact Jose Antonio Alarcon (jose-antonio.alacon@petcore-europe.org).

PET DEPOLYMERISATION WG: main tasks for the depolymerisation WG will be to revise the position paper and mass balance specific position for PET depolymerisation. It is a key element along with recycled content calculation to make sure the monomers produced via this technology are included in the SUP implementing acts as soon as possible giving visibility to the industry.

LCA WG: food packaging plays a significant role in our society today, securing food quality and consumer safety. PET as the ‘number 1’ circular and recyclable material has an imperative contribution to make to consumer safety and environmental protection both as bottles for beverages and as thermoforms for foods. 

The LCA WG analysing the End-to-End value has realised that a 360o LCA analysis for PET will add considerable value and help our stakeholders in decision making towards the 2025, 2030 EU mandates and 2050 climate neutrality. For this reason, Petcore’s technical team is developing a plan for supporting members to have the right data for comparing PET with other materials.  

An LCA assessment study is a very detailed study with numerous parameters to be analysed.  

Petcore’s technical team has prepared a detailed Request for Quotation and shared it with well-known and experienced agencies working on the development of LCAs. Quotations have now been received and are under evaluation. In parallel, Petcore’s technical team has established links and is working together with other industry stakeholders in the PET value chain, leveraging their experience and the work already planned/done in the specific area. 

LABELS WG updates: the design guidelines for glues has been modified by EPBP following discussion with the labels WG. A great step forward has been achieved to minimise glues’ impact on the circularity of PET. The Labels WG, including some members of FNIAT and EUPIA and the NIAS WG have joined forces to build recommendations regarding NIAS within labels. These recommendations will shortly be shared with members of the different associations.

PING/GENI WG: the GENI initiative (mapping NIAS through the value chain, is progressing. Volunteers for the first trila run have supplied data and the analysis is in progress. The amount of data is quite significative and the level of details still needs to be fine-tuned (measurement method, type of material measured). Once this first exercise is finalised, the intiative will be open to more members. If you want to join reach out to Raphael Jaumotte (raphael.jaumotte@petcore-europe.org). Other topics around NIAS will be on the agenda of the PING group in 2023 (monitoring for EU 2022/1616 for example). Stay tuned in the coming quarter.

REUSE WG: PPWR brings significant changes to EU Markets. 

The Reuse WG is directing its activities towards: 

·       Follow up on the PPWR implementation on Country and EU level 

·       Focus on best practices sharing

·       Inform stakeholders about the potential and challenges of reusable PET 

·    Inviting expert-guest speakers to the WG meetings to help our markets to better understand the details, benefits, prerequisites and challenges towards REUSE transition 

·    Push for clear calculation rules ahead (not in 2029 but earlier to allow the industry to  deploy the right investments)​. With all these activities, led by Petcore Europe and the Reuse Working Group, we continue  to communicate the REUSE concept as another pillar (together with REDUCE and RECYCLE) supporting Climate neutrality by 2050.

OPAQUE & FUNCTIONAL WG: the design guidelines for opaque PET bottles have been finalised and should be published on the EPBP website in the coming days. Next to come is the fine- tuning of these design guidelines (% of opacifiers for example) and the testing protocols to assess recyclability of white opaque PET bottles in conjunction with EPBP.

TCEP WG: to drive and promote circularity in the PET tray value chain, providing industry with design guidelines and package – technology assessments. 

Objective: the mission of the platform is to give support to the value chain of thermoformed PET trays to improve recyclability of thermoforms and strive towards circularity. The Platform consists of technical experts in the field of PET thermoforms design, production and recycling, whose only objective is the evaluation of existing technologies and innovation and providing an independent and confidential assessment of their impact on PET recycling processes across Europe. 

The momentum continues on TCEP. The first endorsements have been granted and uploaded on TCEP site. 

We also continue to work for the update of labs calibration and testing protocols. 

In addition, we are working to build more interaction with the value chain, in order to attract more applications for evaluation. 

The BOPET WG is working on the establishment of a protocol to assess recyclability of BOPET film materials as lidding films for thermoforms.

·       A coordinated work with the Tray Circularity Evaluation Platform (TCEP) will start in the coming weeks to make sure this protocol is fit for purpose.

·       The protocol will be lab scale and industrial scale.

EPBP drives and promotes circularity in the PET bottle value chain, providing industry with design guidelines and package – technology assessments. 

Objective: the European PET Bottle Platform is a voluntary industry initiative that provides PET bottle design guidelines for recycling, evaluates PET bottle packaging solutions and technologies and facilitates understanding of the effects of new PET bottle innovations on recycling processes. This initiative fully supports a circular economy for the European PET value chain. EPBP assessments are performed ensuring strict business confidential information protection and the opinions are fully recognized by decision makers that source PET bottle packaging solutions. 

The Agreement between EPBP and RecyClass is already in place for one year and is working and delivering results.

Deliverable news since last Newsletter 

·       New endorsements have been granted 

·       Based on the new operating model RecyClass is managing a number of applications 

·       The new QT 508 has been published 

·       The new full test protocol has been published 

·       One more lab has been accredited for performing EPBP Quick Tests.  

EPBP Priorities for the next months: 

·       Maintain the existing momentum 

·       EPBP started to work toward circularity. The main steps are: 

o   Define the principles 

o   Set up the design guidelines 

o   Develop testing protocols 

o   Calibrate the testing protocols 

·       Finalise the Design Guidelines for White Opaque bottles 

BHET taskforce: the industry players that apply depolymerisation of PET into BHET have joined forces to:

-       Register their technologies as per EU 2022/1616

-       Notify their technologies as per EU 2022/1616 (dossier to be submitted explaining the technologies and why they are capable of producing food contact materials)

-       Register BHET under EC 10/2011.

Again, another joint industry initiative that runs every week to deliver files by April 10th.

Petcore Europe Welcomes New Members 

So far from November 2022 till March 2023 Petcore Europe has welcomed 22 New Members: Fucine Film,

Euskoplast, Eurocast, Sodesa, NGP Mustad Packaging, Galvanotek Embalagens (LTDA), Omnifol, MERBA, KGL, EKOREK, Palamidis, Aldi South Group, Kreyenborg, TwinPack SPA, Interzero, Drava International, Repetco, Elit Pak, Jaun Neoform GmbH, Polsur, Pragmagest & Envaplaster. Petcore Europe now counts 167 Members and represents the PET value chain more than ever.

Updates on Social Media: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn & YouTube.

News related to past and present activities and conferences 2023 for members and all stakeholders interested in PET value chain developments.

Updates on Petcore Europe's Website

News from Our Members and Allies! 

How improving the EU packaging legislative framework can mark a turning point for the circularity of beverage packaging?

The European Commission’s proposal for an EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation finally came out last November. This proposal reflects the strong ambition of the EU to reduce packaging waste and accelerate the transition to a circular economy.

The European soft drinks sector, represented by UNESDA, fully supports the EU’s objective of driving packaging circularity forward. This sector is on a journey towards delivering fully circular soft drinks packaging by 2030: UNESDA aims to reach 100% recyclable soft drinks packaging and use an average of 50% recycled content in PET bottles by 2025. UNESDA has also pledged that by 2030 they will achieve at least 90% collection for all the packaging (plastics bottles, metal cans and glass bottles), use only PET bottles made from 100% recycled and/or renewable material and increase the offer of reusable beverage systems.

The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation has a crucial role to play in providing the sector with the right enablers to help to fulfill circularity commitments. UNESDA is supportive of this Regulation, but they should acknowledge the complexity of regulating at EU level without understanding the various local realities across Europe, in particular in areas such as Deposit Refund Systems and reusable packaging.

They have put forward suggestions for crucial improvements to be implemented in the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation to make it more supportive. Read the full article here.

Petcore Europe Annual Conference 2023

Petcore Europe has just successfully conducted its event of 2023 for the PET industry: "PET value chain in a fast-paced environment for CIRCULARITY".

A key event at the European level dedicated to innovation and sustainability in the PET packaging industry, our Annual Conference 2023 was dedicated to recycling and circularity, and the PET industry’s contribution to the EU’s carbon neutrality goals.

At Petcore Europe we commemorated 30 years anniversary by taking our time to honour the milestones we have achieved, recognize our members for their hard work and commitment, thank loyal partners, sponsors and allies & announce new association’s endeavours during our hybrid Annual Conference 2023.

Our 2023 Annual Conference was held over two days, from 1-2 February, at DoubleTree by Hilton Brussels City, followed by a dedicated GALA Dinner & a cocktail reception at Le Plaza Hotel on the first day of the event.

The first day of the conference was focusd on latest technical developments in the industry from all 10 Petcore Europe Working Groups. These developments have led to a current circularity rate well beyond 90% for mineral water and carbonated drink bottles in Europe – a result also achieved thanks to a long-time effort by the industry to collaborate to “Design for Recycling” guidelines which first were elaborated by PETCORE in 1993. 

The second day was dedicated to high-level interventions from the institutions and the business community. Several keynote speakers touched upon a wide range of issues, spanning from the EU’s net zero carbon strategy (Alexandre Paquot from the European Commission) to the ongoing work on the European Green Deal and the upcoming regulatory developments on packaging and packaging waste regulations (Wolfgang Trunk, European Commission).

We had a great pleasure to gather together 250 specialists from the entire PET value chain & we are already looking forward to Petcore Europe Annual Conference 2024, a new date of which will be annouced soon. Check our dedicated website to stay updated.

Media Coverage - Petcore Europe activities

Petcore Europe is always interested to collaborate with the media in order to expand its outreach and deliver its message more widely. Recently, we had a chance to collaborate with a number of media on key topics:

• Plastech

• PETPlanet

• Plasteurope

• Plastech

• Polimerica

• S&P Global

   

Upcoming Events and Meetings

9 March  – Meeting of Labels WG

15 March – Meeting of BOPET WG

16 March – Meeting of Thermoforms WG

15 May – Meeting of LCA WG

22 May – Meeting of Reuse WG

19 October – Depolymerisation Webinar