In preparation for the upcoming EU Plastics Strategy, the European Commission hosted the Stakeholder Conference ‘Reinventing Plastics – Closing the Circle’ on Tuesday, 26 September 2017, to engage with relevant stakeholders and gather feedback and input for the on-going process of drafting the plastics strategy. European Bioplastics (EUBP), the association representing the interests of the bioplastics industry in Europe, was invited to provide insights and comments regarding the potentials and challenges of bioplastics and their contributions to a circular economy in Europe.
EU Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, Elżbieta Bieńkowska, said that the EU Plastics Strategy will focus on addressing three specific challenges: 1) to reduce the use of fossil-based feedstocks and shifting towards domestically available feedstocks; 2) to boost the market for secondary raw materials; and 3) to reduce the environmental impact of plastics by focussing on sustainable design.
My remarks at today’s #PlasticsStrategy stakeholders’ conference in Brussels https://t.co/KPKE9fpGxL pic.twitter.com/GrztChNLeC
— Elżbieta Bieńkowska (@EBienkowskaEU) September 26, 2017
Mobilise benefits of alternative feedstock
EUBP welcomes the priority the Commission has given to assess how to decarbonise the plastics economy in the plastics strategy. In a conference session dedicated to discuss the sustainable solutions provided by bio-based plastics, Kristy-Barbara Lange, Deputy Managing Director of European Bioplastics, stressed that by replacing a significant proportion of the conventional fossil-based feedstock by certified bio-based alternatives, bioplastics can help to reduce our dependency on imported fossil resources and help to reach the UN Sustainable Development Goals and EU climate protection targets.
The mobilisation of EU-grown biomass would provide the opportunity to EU farmers to va