Follow the latest news from Petcore Europe. This is the first newsletter of 2022 featuring message from our President, updates on the activities of our Working Groups, the latest on our Communications Campaign 2022 and social media, details on EU Policy and Regulatory Developments and many other interesting insights.

The interview given to Packaging Europe by Petcore Europe's President

"As Petcore chairman I see my role in strengthening the links between all the members to increase the synergies and make Petcore's impact more powerful and central to the EU debate" - says Antonello Ciotti, President of Petcore Europe.

What are the key objectives of this role? Have you identified any major marketplace challenges that you’ll be confronting?

I see Petcore communicating on three different levels: 1) to the EU institutions (both centrally in Brussels, but also in the most prominent Members States) 2) to the Petcore's associates and 3) to the market.

The number one conversation today – from policymakers to board rooms to family dinner tables – is sustainability. PET is recyclable and made to be remade, and PET packaging is more sustainable than alternatives like glass or aluminium, which have higher environmental footprints.

The PET industry needs to align our communications, as the main challenges are coming from how we as a society manage the ecological transition to a sustainable future. While we all agree with what needs to be achieved, we struggle with the “how” as some of these steps are driven more by ideology than proven technical evaluations.

The price gap between rPET and PET continues to widen. What are your overall thoughts on the effects that this could have on sustainable packaging efforts?

The issue here is supply. Administrative delays by the Commission are preventing investment around PET recycling. While one arm of the Commission demands more recycled content, the other arm has delayed food contact approval. We must have joined-up government. The price gap may stay as rPET availability, until we have optimal regulation that allows recycling to grow. The collection of bottles is increasing as more countries take action on collection. I personally expect the situation to ease up in the medium term.

In terms of collection, the EU’s Single-Use Plastics Directive has set a collection target of 77% for beverage bottles by 2025 – rising to 90% in 2029. Are you confident that the European PET value chain can deliver  this? If so, how can it seek to boost collection rates?

From 2016 to 2020, I served as Corepla chairman. Corepla is the main Italian EPR scheme, and I saw PET collection reaching 70% in 2020, even without a DRS in place. Now 10 EU states have publicly announced their plan to roll out DRS. Strong cooperation between institutions, local communities and end-users can help in reaching the ambitious target. We need nevertheless consider that some countries still today are lagging behind acceptable collection rates: this requires strong attention from the EU authorities Another point that is close to my heart is the risk of ‘greenwashing ‘and I am going to be extremely clear on this. While in the EU we have strong legislation in place and the authorities are checking and auditing, in some cases, the declaration on rPET content, how could the same authorities act to check the rPET content when a final product (i.e. a bottle or a tray) comes from outside EU? This could open the space for unfair competition.

While PET has the potential to be 100% recyclable, a recent report from Zero Waste Europe and Eunomia asserts that 40% of all PET bottles are landfilled or incinerated. What are your thoughts on how this situation can be improved?

PET is a valuable resource uniquely positioned to be recycled back into its original form. Every PET bottle can be and should be remade into a new bottle. BUT sadly, local regulations can hinder progress such as failing to separately collect the PET. This will change as the SUPD is transposed into member state law. Government regulations supporting the use of recycled content in packaging and global brands’ commitment to use more recycled material will be the catalysts to make this a reality! This will push investment in better collection systems and sorting infrastructures, keeping more PET in the economy and less in landfill. 

To read the full interview tap the link.

Communications Campaign Updates 2022

Communications programme gets underway for 2022. Following last year’s successful communications programme encouraging people to "Recycle the 1", planning is now underway to launch the 2022 programme. Contributing companies approved the plan and budget at the end of February and the first Google Adwords social media initiatives were launched at the end of March. Once again, the programme targets two distinct audiences - consumers in key markets and Brussels-based influencers. It explains the unique properties of PET and encourages people to ensure that their PET bottles and trays are collected and recycled. Social media channels of Facebook, Instagram and Tiktok will be used to target consumers while LinkedIn and Twitter will target the influencer audiences. In addition to new visuals and video, the campaign will engage with key journalists and media in Brussels and beyond. This year, as well as France and Germany, a third consumer market has been added: the UK. As a large and influential market, its English language campaign will also have resonance with pan-European audiences more widely. Timelines and content are now being created and full details of outreach and impact will be shared with Petcore members on a regular basis.

Regulatory Updates

Petcore has been actively monitoring the European regulatory developments and projected 2022-2023 action programmes related to Waste, Chemicals Sustainability Strategy, Microplastics, Policy framework for bio-based, biodegradable and compostable plastics, Sustainable Product Policy initiative, BPA, Taxonomy and Food Contact Materials (FCM).

The most notable developments are :

• Three new drafts of the regulation on recycled plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with foods, and intended to repeal Regulation (EC) No 282/2008, have been issued since the closing of the public consultation launched by the European Commission in December 2021. 96 respondents, amongst them Petcore, submitted their feedback, with the main input coming from Company/business organisations (40) and from business associations (35).

This new regulation comes with a significant number of changes intended to clarify and strengthen the scope, requirements and obligations of the different actors involved in the recycling and use of recycled plastics in contact with food (FCM). It also introduces a new approach by drawing a distinction between technology, processes and installations. Under this new regulation, only processes operated under a suitable technology may be used to manufacture recycled plastics for FCM. The decision for a technology to become suitable is taken by the EC following EFSA assessment - including whether the processes that will be/are operated under a given technology will be/are subject to individual authorisation.

At the time of the regulation’s entry into force, only two recycling technologies will be granted the “suitable” status: Post-consumer mechanical PET recycling and Recycling from product loops which are in a closed and controlled chain. These two technologies shall comply with the detailed descriptions and conditions written in the Annex. As an example, in the case of mechanical PET recycling, only a small and unintentional molecular weight decrease is permitted during the recycling process.

The new regulation also foresees the possibility for new recycling technologies to be temporarily operated under very strict conditions (novel technology provisions regime) until they are assessed and granted the suitability status. PET recycling processes where intentional decrease of the molecular weight takes place will need to be operated under the temporarily and very strict conditions of the novel technology regime.

The latest draft was discussed during the Standing Committee - PAFF - Novel Food & Toxicological safety- meeting on 24th March. As it was a remote meeting, the vote takes place by written procedure and the outcome will be known on 5th April. In case of a favourable vote, the draft will be submitted to the Parliament and Council for scrutiny (3 months), with entry into force in the course of 2022 or early 2023.

• EFSA has issued a new draft opinion on BPA which has been submitted for public consultation. Following its last evaluation in 2015, EFSA proposes lowering the safety limit for Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI) by a factor of 100 000. The consultation is now closed and a final opinion is expected to be published by the end of 2022.

• Actions arising from the SUP: The Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/162 with rules for the calculation, verification and reporting on reduction in the consumption of SUP beverage cups (&lids) and food containers for immediate consumption has been published. The implementing act with the rules for the calculation and verification of the attainment of the targets on minimum recycled content of SUP beverage bottles and format for reporting data and information is still in preparation.

• A 12-week online public consultation on Non-Intentionally released microplastics was launched on 22 Feb and will end on 7 May 2022. The EC is interested to receive information/data related to three sources of microplastics: from tyres, textiles and plastic pellets. The consultation will be followed by workshops and interviews before the EC selects the best policy option to address these three sources of microplastics. By pellets should be understood pellet, flakes, powder and particles that could be lost within the production, transportation, supply and use of PET and recycled PET.

• The EC has launched a consultation (18 Jan 2022 – 15 March 2022) that aims to provide further insight on a Framework on Biobased (BBP), Biodegradable and Compostable Plastics (BDCP) which is currently under preparation (by EC) and expected to be finalised before end of 2Q2022.

 Updates on Working Groups & Recyclability Evaluation Platforms 

THERMOFORMS WG: the group has started to aggregate all the initiatives around thermoforms recycling in Europe. There are more than 15 projects (new production capacities announced in Europe) demonstrating the great interest around the feedstock (as a reminder 1MT/y is placed on the market). Petcore thermoforms WG will investigate how to be more involved in these projects and bring support. The other hot topic is the recast of EC282/2008 which initially was not dealing with functional barrier, but addresses it in the latest version of the draft. The Food contact task Force is currently analysing it.

PET DEPOLYMERISATION WG: Two new chairmen have been elected: Marco Brons (CURE) and Bruno Langlois (CARBIOS) following the departure of Stephen Short and Martin Stephan to whom we express our sincere thanks for their continuous support. The WG is now an open WG and will hold 2-3 meetings per year and the traditional October webinar. Two task forces have been established: Food safety of depolymerization recycling (NIAS) BHET EFSA registration & 282/2008 recast. Each has received a number of volunteers keen to participate and the first meetings will be held in the coming two weeks.

The activity of LCA WG is very much linked to the Reuse WG and the Groups work in parallel. Data have been collected from the market and reviewed in detail by the Task Force. The target is to present the first aggregated data during the Petcore Europe Annual Conference. Reviewing the numerous LCA publications, the Group Members have realised that LCA analysis is strongly linked to the geography under discussion. Different standards are used in the LCAs that the Task Force reviewed. For these reasons the WG has planned the following activities: LCA webinar at the end of April, in order to have an objective evaluation there is a plan to set up a research assignment with two universities: one in a market with a high recycling rate and one in a market with a low recycling rate.

LABELS WG: a lot of progress has been made on the collaborative work with EPBP in regard to the design guidelines and the test protocol for glues. The exchange between experts from the label industry and EPBP experts has generated some new ways to approach adhesives for labels that may help to reduce the amount of glues polluting both PET flakes AND water. Work is also ongoing to develop a new approach towards full body sleeves sorting. Sleeves manufacturers working in close collaboration with sorting machine suppliers are striving to determine which are the most influencial factors to improve the sorting of sleeved bottles in the right fraction and minimise losses.

PING/GENI WG: Two main topics are being dealt with by the NIAS WG: General NIAS (GENI) initiative and Labelling and NIAS in collaboration with the labels WG. GENI is focused on data collection on NIAS throughout the value chain to have a proactive approach towards any appearing NIAS. As this is a value chain exercise that involves the sharing of confidential data, we are finalising the selection of a third-party partner that would collect and analyse the data to recommend focus on specific NIAS and support action to tackle it. This is a long-term exercise that will ask its participants to commit to a long journey, but that will protect bothconsumers and industry. Labelling and NIAS is gathering the members and will hold its first meeting in April. The objective is to tackle potential NIAS that may arise in rPET due to IAS (intentionally added substances) for labelling.

REUSE WG: has held a number of successful meetings and is now adding value. The Position Paper demonstrating the contribution of PET in the area of reuse, complementary to recycling, was sent to be approved by the Board. The main areas it covers are: What is PET and why does it matter? When does reuse become pertinent in addition to recycling? Best practice examples of reusable PET packaging. The Position Paper also delivers a second pillar for the circular economy when it makes sense from an environmental perspective.. The Reuse WG is working in close collaboration with the LCA WG to make sure that data regarding environmental impacts are well understood and relevant.

OPAQUE & FUNCTIONAL WG: work is ongoing on the LCA of opaque PET in collaboration with the LCA WG. The objective is to also build data for opaque PET compared to competitive materials. We are still gathering initiatives around white opaque recycling into food contact pellets. Finalisation of the opaque bottles design guidelines is scheduled for Q2/2022 and we will make sure they are coherent with those for thermoforms. The group is exploring the possibility of holding a webinar on sorting during Q3 2022 to get an update on the sorting technologies that may help the better separation of opaque containers.

TCEP WG: the mission of this platform is to contribute towards developing a tray-to-tray recycling industry by:

1. Developing design guidelines.
2. Developing testing protocols.
3. Evaluating the recyclability of PET thermoformed container technologies & products.
4. Assessing new PET thermoformed container innovations, while at the same time minimising economic and environmental consequences for the European PET recycling industry.
5. Promoting the recyclability of PET thermoformed containers on the market. As we speak the first four applications are under testing in the accredited by Petcore Europe laboratory.

Petcore is creating a new BOPET WG that will:

1. Build awareness of the positive role that BOPET films currently play in the flexible packaging industry;
2. Develop Mono PET pouches as a circular alternative to other mono material structures;
3. Demonstrate that flexible PET structures are the gold standard in terms of material efficiency, processing efficiency and high yield closed loop recycling;
4. Develop test protocols to evaluate best in class compatibility in both mechanical and monomer recycling streams;
5. Work with other stakeholders to analyse the necessary conditions and create a collection and recycling stream for BOPET;
6. Work with the thermoforms evaluation platform to establish recyclability assessment of BOPET Films used in packaging.

Volunteers are welcome to join! Interested to know more? please contact us on: bopetwg@petcore-europe.org.

EPBP and RecyClass decided to join forces to give a clear direction and one voice to the industry on topics surrounding the recyclability of PET with an overall goal of sustainably improving its production, collection and recycling in Europe. Based on this agreement: RecyClass will run the standard and ad-hoc Recyclability Evaluation Protocols, assess results, submit opinions, proposals and recommendations to the RecyClass Steering Board. EPBP EPBP TC will be the governing body for recycled food-grade PET in Europe. In the light of properly developing and delivering the protocols, EPBP will assume the responsibility for testing the innovations when there is either a new protocol under implementation or an ad-hoc test. Labs will be jointly approved by EPBP and RecyClass, prior to use. Applicants may apply to either EPBPO or RecyClass.  

Petcore Europe Welcomes New Members 

So far in 2022, from January to March, Petcore Europe has welcomed 6 New Members: Extricom Extrusion GmbH, Krones Group, Schwarz Group, Umincorp, UNESDA Soft Drinks Europe & SI Group. Petcore Europe now counts 119 Members and represents the PET value chain more than ever.

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

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

Updates on Petcore Europe's Website

News from Our Members and Allies! 

PolyREC® launches RecoTrace™ to record European recycled plastic data 

As a member of PolyREC®, Petcore Europe is thrilled to announce that the organisation has been recogniszed as a data collector for the Circular Plastics Alliance (CPA). RecoTrace™ is now the first comprehensive data system to monitor plastic recycling and recycled plastics use. We encourage all plastics recyclers and converters to register recycled plastics data in RecoTrace™.

If you are inerested to learn more, then check the Press Release for more information.

Carbios: construction of the first plant for fully BIO-Recycled  PET

Carbios is to build its first-of-a-kind manufacturing plant for fully bio-recycled PET in France in partnership with Indorama Ventures. This important development will undoubtedly benefit players in both chemical and enzymatic recycling, presenting the technologies as complementary to mechanical recycling and moving PET recycling into large scale operations. Indorama’s co-investment highlights its confidence in PET enzymatic recycling. Enzymatic recycling expands the capability of collecting any type of packaging or textile containing PET for infinite recycling and echos PETCORE Europe's message that PET is the number 1 material of choice for recycling.

Interested to learn more? please check the Press Release for more information.

Eastman to invest up to $1 billion to accelerate circular economy in France

We are happy to applaud and congratulatee our member Eastman for its ambitious step in accelerating the circular economy through the construction of the world’s largest molecular plastics recycling facility in France. French President Emmanuel Macron and Eastman's CEO Mark Costa jointly announced Eastman’s plan to invest up to $1 billion in the recycling facility in France. With the technology’s inherent efficiencies and the renewable energy sources available in France, materials can be produced with greenhouse gas emissions up to 80% less than with traditional methods. Annually, the plant would recycle up to 160 000 MT of hard-to-recycle plastic waste that is currently being incinerated.

Interested to learn more? please check the Press Release for more information.

PET Markets in Europe: state of play 2022 

The Eunomia report, delivered by PRE in partnership with PETCORE Europe, NMWE and UNESDA Soft Drinks Europe, provides the latest data and trends on the current state of the PET market in Europe. It covers the key changes impacting the market, the challenges faced by the supply chain and  explores how the future PET market will look . The report shows that PET packaging in Europe is moving steadily towards circularity, in terms of collection, recycling capacity and production. This evolution is largely due to: increased collection & recycling capacity, ambitious recycled plastics targets and producers' commitment and goal to incorporate recycled content in bottles. If you are keen to read the full report, please follow the link.

PET bottles: from recyclability to circularity 

Following the numerous commitments of industry players to increase the uptake of recycled plastics -, including the new mandatory target of 25% in PET bottles by 2025 - the European PET Bottle Platform (EPBP) and RecyClass have joined forces to further support value chain actors in making the right design decisions in PET bottle production so that its recyclability, and therefore, circularity is guaranteed. If you are interested to learn more, please see the Press Release for more information.

Petcore Europe Annual Conference 2022 

 Don't miss the event of the year for the PET value chain "Strategy and Trends for the Circular PET Economy"

Building upon the success of its 2021 conference which gathered more than 250 participants, we are delighted to remind you that our Petcore Europe Annual Conference 2022 will be held over two days, from 14-15 June, at the  DoubleTree by Hilton Brussels City.

Given the improving public health situation, we are pleased to reintroduce a physical conference whilst maintaining the option for online participation (hybrid format).

The first day of the programme will focus on Perspectives, Strategy and Legislative Challenges for the PET value chain, while the second day is dedicated to trends in PET Collection, Sorting, Recycling and Circularity.

Don't miss your opportunity to network and to gain invaluable insights into the latest developments in the PET industry. Guarantee your place now!

For those colleagues planning to join physically, there are currently no covid limitations in terms of accessing the venue. However, there remains a room size restriction, so we strongly encourage you to seize the moment and register for both the conference & the networking dinner today.

Should you need to stay overnight in Brussels be advised that we have negotiated a preferential rate at the conference venue, DoubleTree by Hilton, which is offering a special group rate of 170 € per night including breakfast, free cancellation - 72 hours prior to your reservation. For more details, please follow the link.

Please find below some pra ctical information in case you still have questions:

1. All information regarding the event can be found on Petcore Europe’s dedicated website.

2. There are different types of tickets available for purchase:

• for members – associated members & non-members
• for both 2 days
• for 1 day only
• for the networking dinner (for members - associated members & non-members)
• online access to the conference in case you are unable to attend in person.

3. To learn more about the covid safe regulations in Belgium prior to your arrival, we invite you to visit the website.

4. Important: In Belgium, the EU Digital COVID Certificate (EUDCC) is not currently required to access public spaces, such as bars and restaurants, fitness centres, museums, swimming pools, large events. Please, consult the measures section for further details as the situation is liable to evolve.

The Petcore Europe Conference will be sponsored by organisations and individual companies, thus we invite you to contact us should you wish to join this growing list. As a sponsor, your company's name and logo will be displayed prominently on all our communication materials (including invitations, agendas, press releases and website) as well as promoted during the event. If you are interested to hear more about our sponsor package, please contact management@petcore-europe.org.

If you are a media or news agency you are more than welcome to become our media partner. Your organisation's name and logo will be displayed on all our communication materials (including agendas, press releases and websites) as well as promoted on social media during the event, you will also be granted one free access for the event. If you are interested to hear more about our media partnership package, please contact: maria.trofimova@petcore-europe.org

We are looking forward to meeting you in person after such a challenging period!

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 have had the pleasure of collaborating with a number of media channels on key  topics:

• Packaging Europe
• PlastEurope
• Packaging Europe
• PETnology

Upcoming Events and Meetings

1 February 2022 – Technical Committee WG Meeting

2 February 2022 – Board Meeting 

2 February 2022 – General Assembly Meeting

22 February 2022 – Webinar on Regulatory Affairs

22 March 2022 – Board Meeting 

21 April 2022 – LCA Webinar

5 May 2022 – TCEP Webinar

25 May 2022 – Reuse Webinar

14 June 2022 – Board Meeting 

14-15 June 2022 – Annual Conference 2022

22 September 2022 – Labels Webinar

11 October 2022 – Depolymerisation Webinar

17 November 2022 – Thermoforms Recycling Webinar

22 November 2022 – Board Meeting