Plastic waste – opportunities and challenges in a Circular Economy
Posted on February, 23 2017
What
are the main opportunities and challenges for the European plastics industry in
the circular economy? What are the best practices and most advanced know-how in
waste management around Europe and the world? How can we prevent plastic waste
ending up in the environment?
These are some of the key questions raised
during the 13th edition of IdentiPlast – PlasticsEurope’s international
conference on the recycling and recovery of plastics. Some 300 experts from European
municipalities, local authorities, policy and decision makers, waste management
organisations, NGOs, plastics value chain, academia and research institutes
gathered in Vienna on 22 and 23 February to share their views and experiences
in the fields of plastic waste management and circular economy.
The event focused on how countries in Central
and Southeast Europe can best benefit from the latest experience in Europe and
in other parts of the world (particularly in US, Japan and Turkey) in order to
improve their own waste management practices and infrastructure.
"The
circular economy creates a momentum to look towards the future and improve
Europe’s competitiveness and resource efficiency” said Karl-H. Foerster,
Executive Director of PlasticsEurope. "For
this to happen, we must not only accelerate innovation but also look at the
overall resource savings a particular product provides over its entire life
cycle, not just after use. These two elements: innovation and full life
thinking, must go hand in hand to achieve a resource efficient circular economy”.
In his keynote speech, Maurits van Tol,
Senior Vice President of Borealis, emphasised the importance of closing the
loop to avoid waste entering the environment. "Plastics should never end up in the environment. Used plastics should
be considered a valuable raw material”, Van Tol pointed out. "A better implementation and
enforcement of existing waste legislation has the potential to increase
recycling and recovery rates while creating jobs in Europe” he added.
Dr Hugo-Maria Schally, European
Commission, DG Environment (Eco-innovation & Circular Economy), emphasised
on the type of circular economy that the EU should aspire to: "Plastic materials are a driver of our
economy, but a number of environmental issues related to their production, use,
and end-of-life need to be tackled. Plastics is therefore one of the five
priority areas addressed in the "EU action plan for the Circular Economy".
The plan sets out a clear commitment to preparing a strategy that addresses the
challenges posed by plastics throughout the value chain and taking into account
their entire life-cycle, such as reuse, recyclability, biodegradability, the
presence of hazardous substances of concerns in certain plastics and marine
litter”, said Mr Schally.
IdentiPlast 2017 also hosted the 2017 EPRO
Awards ceremony which selected the Best Recycled Plastic Products. This years’
edition was organised by PlasticsEurope in cooperation with "Umweltbundesamt”,
the Environmental Agency of Austria; and supported by Borealis, EREMA Group,
Altstoff Recycling Austria (ARA), American Chemistry Council (ACC), Canadian
Plastics Industry Association (CPIA) and Plastics Waste Management Institute of
Japan.