Dear members,

Please find below an overview of the activities of European Bioplastics throughout January 2019.

Regulatory Affairs (WG REGA)

With regard to the draft directive on ‘Marine pollution and the reduction of single-use plastics’, the three trilogue meetings took place on 6 and 28 November as well as on 18 December. They were flanked by several technical meetings in the Parliament (EP) and COREPER meetings of the Council. The process was declared final on 20 December during an Environment Council meeting. On 22 January, the European Parliament's Environment Committee adopted the found compromise. The vote in the plenary is envisaged for March 2019.

The new directive includes biodegradable/compostable plastics under its scope. There are no exemptions planned for such materials. However, there are several recitals and articles in the document that might allow exemptions during the transposition phase (2019-2021) of this directive into national law.

On 29 January, WG Regulatory Affairs discussed the outcome of the final text that is to be ratified in March by the plenary:

Results in short:

• The relevant Recitals are:
• Recital 11 includes explicitly biodegradable and/or bio-based plastics in the scope of this directive.
• Several other recitals (1,2,7,8,13,14,16,35) deliver aspects that can be interpreted as supportive for the bioplastics industry (e.g. less waste management, circularity, recycling, innovative business models, etc.)
• The relevant articles are:
• Art 1 linking to circular economy and sustainable business models
• Art 2 banning oxos
• Art 3 definition of oxo-degradable plastics and biodegradable plastics (linking to norms for composting)
• Art 11 asking that all reduction, banning, and marking actions (Art 4-9) shall not compromise food hygiene and safety rules of the Union
• Art 15 asking for a report on how the Member States have implemented the Directive       

WG REGA agreed that

• the stressing of innovative and more sustainable business models in combination with
• underlining circularity
• the clear distinction of oxo-degradable plastics and biodegradable/compostable plastics
• the call to guarantee the integrity of food safety and hygiene
• as well as the evaluation and reporting
  
  represent an opportunity to ask for exemptions for biodegradable / compostable plastics on national level during the transposition phase of this directive into national law. Especially in countries such as ES, FR and IT, where regional or national laws have been introduced already, there is room to argue for keeping such laws intact.

Please note that the legal basis of this directive is the environment title, which gives some implementation freedom to MS.

The implementation of this directive will be tricky, and our arguments to exempt biodegradable plastic in closed loop systems (be it plates, cutlery or other items) could still be heard on national level – especially when food hygiene is concerned. A closed system after all prevents littering, and this is the main goal of the directive.

EUBP will develop a narrative summarizing the text passages of the directive and suggesting argumentation for national lobby efforts.

In addition to the discussion of the Directive on Single-use plastics, WG REGA also discussed and prioritised the focus dossiers for 2019. The most important files for lobby efforts of this year are:

• The finalisation and transposition of the Directive on Single-use plastics
• The preparation of an Implementing Act for labelling biodegradable and compostable plastic carrier bags
• The revision of the Packaging Directive's Essential Requirements
• The preparation of guidelines for the eco-modulation of fees (feeding into the revision of the Essential Requirements)
• The JRC project on LCA for alternative feedstock for plastics.

WG REGA: the next WG REGA meeting is taking place on 25 February in Brussels.

Product Groups

Product Group Biobased

As a follow-up on the on-going study on LCA of alternative feedstock EUBP has sent out a further letter to the JRC. This letter asked for further clarification on the planned LCA case studies and furthermore for an involvement of our industry in the entire upcoming process. In a phone call between Hasso von Pogrell and Rana Pant (responsible scientist at JRC) it was made clear that EUBP will not have any special role in the study. It is therefore necessary to develop a public position on comparing LCAs of bioplastics and conventional plastics as soon as possible.

The next meeting of the PG Biobased will be via web and will take place on 13 February, 10 a.m. CET.

For more information regarding bio-based plastics including sustainability issues and the work of the PG and TFs, please contact Constance Ißbrücker (issbruecker@european-bioplastics.org).

Product Group Biodegradables

The PG is working on a positive list for biodegradable applications in different environments. Currently no meeting is scheduled.

For more information regarding PG Biodegradables, the TF Marine, and Seedling certification, please contact Constance Ißbrücker (issbruecker@european-bioplastics.org).

Working Group Standardisation

The 3^rd draft for the new standard on home compostable carrier bags has been shared in the beginning of January and can be commented on until 8 February. The next meeting of the according committee (CEN/TC 261/SC4/WG2) will take place on 18/19 February in Brussels. WG Standardisation is currently scheduling a personal meeting for March to discuss this standard, the upcoming revision of EN 13432, and relevant developments on ISO level.

For more information on standards for bioplastics, current standardisation processes, and certification of bioplastics, please contact Constance Ißbrücker (issbruecker@european-bioplastics.org).

Communications

Please find at the following link a selection of relevant media clippings from January 2019.

In January, we have written an article on compostable mulch films for the Deutscher Bauernverband. The article will be published in February.

Additionally, the market data information has been updated on all online publications. Currently, we are working on further updating the content of the following fact sheets:

• Bioplastics in the automotive market
• What are bioplastics?
• Standards for bioplastics
• Bioplastic carrier bags
• Bioplastic packaging
• Renewable resources in bio-based plastics

The project proposal in cooperation with the University of Bologna has been successfully submitted.

The WG Communications has officially resumed the production of the bioplastics clips. A new storyboard has been drafted and has been sent to the WG for approval. The next meeting will be held in February.

For more information or questions concerning the communications activities of EUBP, please contact Elena Cantos (cantos@european-bioplastics.org).

Events

Please save the date: the 14th edition of the annual European Bioplastics Conference will take place on 3/4 December 2019 at the TITANIC Chaussee Hotel in Berlin, Germany. Following last year’s success, we are very happy to have secured a date at this venue.

The conference will again put bioplastics in the spotlight for over 400 senior executives from across the bioplastics value chain. We will soon start the process of collecting presentation submissions, so If you would like to register your interest to speak, recommend someone you know as a contributor, or suggest relevant topics that really should be addressed at the 2019 edition, please download the Abstract Template 2019 or contact us on conference[at]european-bioplastics.org.

For more information regarding the EUBP Conference 2018 and 2019, please get in touch with Götz Ahrens (ahrens@european-bioplastics.org).  

Projects

At the end of January, the PolyBioSkin project consortium successfully completed its mid-project reporting to the BBI-JU and is all set for completing the second term of the project.

EUBP has been involved in the submission of project proposals responding to the project call CE-BG-06-2019: Sustainable solutions for bio-based plastics on land and sea. The outcomes of the evaluation are expected in May 2019.

For more information regarding on-going and future project involvements, please get in touch with Götz Ahrens (ahrens@european-bioplastics.org).

Planned activities

• WG Regulatory Affairs:
  • Evaluation of SUP trilogue outcomes
  • Evaluation of dossiers and priorities for 2019
  • Organisation EUBA meeting on 15 January in Brussels
  • Organisation of REGA meeting on 29 January in Brussels
  • Bioplastics Organisations Network Europe – meetings 2019
• Position regarding bioplastics LCA (PG Biobased, TF1).
• Web-Meeting PG Biobased 13 February
• Positive list for biodegradable materials in different environments.
• Meeting CEN/TC 261/SC4/WG2 18/19 February
• Kick off meeting Plastic leak project 11 February
• Publication of PolyBioSkin newsletter and website update.
• PolyBioSkin mid-project reporting review meeting
• WG Communications meeting
• Update of fact sheets

If you have any suggestions regarding the content and/or format of our monthly report, please do not hesitate to share them with us. 

This email is sent to all the contacts of our member companies that we have registered in our database. If you would like to share it with further colleagues, kindly send us an email to members@european-bioplastics.org.

Kind regards,
Hasso v. Pogrell