The entire PET industry has set itself ambitious recycling targets and is committed to increase its role in the circular economy. Petcore Europe and the Parliament Magazine therefore organised a breakfast discussion in the European Parliament to present the PET industry's best practices and to bring together EU policy makers, NGOs and stakeholders to discuss the PET recyclers’ unused capacity.
Jean-Yves Limet
Speakers
Speakers of the event (L-R) Robin Latchem; Christian Crépet; MEP Theresa Griffin; MEP Maria Spyraki; Patricia Fosselard; Gian De Belder; Sarah Nelen; and Grzegorz Radziejewski
The event was hosted by MEP Maria Spyraki.
While Petcore Europe set itself the objective to recycle 100% of all collected PET packaging material by 2030, this commitment is undermined by proposed reduction targets for PET food containers in the Single Use Plastics Directive.
Christian Crépet, Executive Director of Petcore Europe, said: "European PET recyclers currently lack material to reprocess, to an extent that there is an unused capacity of 296,400 tonnes which can be caused by numerous reasons, one of them being the quality of the collected PET. Moreover, insufficient quantity of collection can be observed – a lack of 115,000 tonnes in 2017. Increased collection and sorting of PET bottles and trays would therefore ensure sustainability and circularity of plastics."
Spyraki added: "We have to congratulate the PET industry for setting up its own initiative for circularity ... Nevertheless, it is essential to focus on communication with consumers to increase awareness."
Other speakers at the event included Gian De Belder (P&G) and Patricia Fosselard (EFBW) who presented industry best practices. Both speakers showed that most PET packaging is perfectly recyclable, the issue is that in Europe not enough material is collected and sorted.
Plastics and policy
MEP Theresa Griffin and Grzegorz Raziejewski, a member of of Commissioner Jyrki Katainen’s cabinet were also present and Both agreed that investment and innovation are key drivers to make all plastics re-used or recycled by 2030.
Sarah Nelen, Head of Unit Waste Management and Secondary materials at DG Environment, European Commission, gave a short update on the work the European Commission is doing to help reach the targets.
The Commission is due to publish guidance on separate collection for members states at the end of 2019.
Minimum requirements for EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) schemes are also in place.
The discussions with policy makers will continue and focus will shift to collection and sorting.