Dear members,

We’ve given our members mailings a makeover and new design in order to make it easier to read and to find relevant information more quickly. We hope you like the new look!

Please find below an overview of the activities of European Bioplastics throughout July 2017. 

Regulatory Affairs (WG REGA)

In the first half of June (before the European Parliament went on summer break), EUBP’s lobbying focussed on the revision of the Fertilisers Regulation and the amendments on biodegradable mulch films that were voted in the Parliament’s lead committee on the file – the IMCO committee. EUBP and its members mobilised support on several fronts – from single companies writing to Members of Parliament in the committee to French and Spanish bioplastics organisation joining the effort. On 13 July, the IMCO committee approved all amendments relevant to our industry, and we are part of the report. In October, the plenary will vote the report, and then discussions with Commission, Parliament and Member States will follow. This is a very good interim result, and we thank all participants for the joint effort. We will share an update mailing with Council representatives end of August / beginning of September and will continue to meet the Member States that we did not see yet.

With regard to the trilogues around the waste legislative proposals, EUBP has met with Spain, Austria and Belgium and shared once more information on bio-based plastics as well as bio-based and biodegradable plastics. Up to now, two more trilogues (September and October) are planned, but as the Council is already looking at dates in November / December to finalise their position, we assume that at least one or two more trilogues might be necessary. The files will most likely be handed over to the Bulgarian presidency beginning of 2018, and finalisation is realistic at its earliest in the first half of 2018. We plan to send an ‘informative reminder’ to Council representatives with our key points end of August / beginning of September. Furthermore, several policy officers responsible for the dossiers are changing, and we will ask for meetings with them in autumn.

On the Plastics Strategy, EUBP has been invited to participate in a panel during the Commission’s stakeholder event on 26 September in Brussels.

In the context of the waste legislation files but also the Plastics Strategy, EUBP is currently preparing a discussion paper on compostable plastic products in the circular economy which shall enable stakeholders to discuss this technology on a more specific / application level. Furthermore, we will evaluate which event-formats will be most efficient to push our agenda with regard to the waste legislation and plastics strategy.

For detailed information on the work of the WG Regulatory Affairs, contact Kristy-Barbara Lange (lange@european-bioplastics.org). 

Product Groups

PG Biodegradables: The draft working programme of the PG Biodegradables has been developed and will be shared with the PG in a few days. The programme will focus on relevant issues of the EN13432 (including anaerobic digestion) and give further focus on biodegradation in other environments than organic recycling facilities. The on-going development of a standard on home composting (status quo: on carrier bags) will be of great importance here, as recently a first draft of the standard has been shared. The ad hoc Group EN13432, which is part of the PG Biodegradables until the promotion to a full working group in 2018, will contribute regularly to the identified issues.

PG Bio-based: The work programme of the PG Biobased for 2017 to 2019 was finalized and approved by the members of the PG. The group now will carry out its work in three Task Forces (TF1). TF 1 (lead by Lars Börger) will deal with sustainability evaluation and include topics such as LCA and land use for bioplastics. The study on LCA of bioplastics presented in the last PG meeting has been improved and will be further discussed in this TF. TF2 (lead by Henri Colens) will prepare positions and background information on the end-of-life of bio-based plastics but will exclude biodegradation, as this is already the focus of the PG Biodegradables. TF 3 (lead by Constance Ißbrücker) will take care of chemical and intermediates and start with a mapping of relevant building blocks for the bioplastics industry. Members interested to join in one of the Task Forces can send an email to Constance Ißbrücker before August 14. The first meetings of the TFs will take place in September. The regular meeting of the PG will follow in December.

PG contact: Constance Ißbrücker (issbruecker@european-bioplastics.org)

Communications

Please find a selection of media clippings from July 2017 here.

In case you missed the July issue of our ‘Bioplastics Bulletin’, you can read it here.

On 13 July, we’ve sent out a press release on the report by the IMCO Committee on the revision of the EU Fertilisers Regulation. In its report, IMCO supported the use of biodegradable mulch films in agriculture and horticulture. You can read our press release here.

At the beginning of July, EUBP met with editors from ENDS, one of the most important EU news platforms on environmental policy issues based in London. Apart from the current developments around the revised waste legislation, we spoke about EUBP’s position on the EU Plastics Strategy as well as the revised Fertilisers Directive. EUBP has used the opportunity to explain its position on important policy issues and position itself as a knowledgeable partner for the media on questions surrounding bioplastics. More meetings with other relevant media outlets are planned and scheduled for the coming months.

EUBP finalised a set of new visuals explaining the nature and basic facts about bioplastics in an easy to understand way. The info graphics have been developed by the Working Group Communication (WG Comms) over the first half of the year. The visuals will be used by EUBP online (website, blog, social media), in publications and presentations. EUBP members are encouraged to use the visuals in their communication and marketing materials, too. You can view and download the visuals in the members area on our website (login: Members, password: 2017Bioplastics).

If you have any questions concerning the communications activities of EUBP and the WG Comms, please contact Katrin Schwede (schwede@european-bioplastics.org).

Events

12th EUBP Conference 

The 12th European Bioplastics Conference takes place on 28/29 November 2017 at the Maritim proArte Hotel in Berlin, Germany. Registration is in full swing, and the exhibition space is filling up nicely, so don’t miss the opportunity to showcase your company during the conference and join the group of exhibitors.

The collection of abstracts ended on 31 July, and we’ll start compiling the programme over the coming weeks. If you have missed the deadline but would still like to give a presentation or recommend someone as contributor, you can still get in touch with us or download the abstract submission template.

Book your sponsorship package! Sponsorship is an integral element of the conference. To find out more about how best to promote your brand at the leading industry event in Europe, simply download the sponsorship options here or get in touch with us directly.

If you would like more about the upcoming 12th European Bioplastics Conference please get in touch with Joanna Wilde (wilde@european-bioplastics.org).

Research Projects

European Bioplastics is part of the PolyBioSkin project consortium: High Performance Functional Bio-based Polymers For Skin-contact Products In Biomedical, Cosmetic And Sanitary Industry (BBI JU – EU Horizon2020 research and innovation programme, grant agreement number 745839). The first project press release has been published in July and is available here.

EUBP is currently exploring an involvement in several H2020-BBI-JTI-2017 projects. You can find a summary of the calls under this topic on the EU Commission website. If you would like to find out more about these project calls and explore a potential co-operation, please don’t hesitate to contact Götz Ahrens (ahrens@european-bioplastics.org).

Planned activities August 2017

• WG REGA call on 29 August in Brussels
• CEP: contact programme with Council, monitoring of trilogues, twitter action to urge Council to support our points; preparation of legislation 1-pager on ‘implementation of mandatory bio-waste collection’
• Application to Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform Board
• Draft input to Microplastics Consultation
• Prepare Council mailings on Fertilisers dossier / waste legislation;
• Finalisation of European Composting & AD Landscape update
• Finalisation of the position paper on biodegradable products’ contribution to the circular economy
• Finalisation of three one-page position papers on mechanical recycling, LCA and sustainable sourcing
• Meeting of the ad hoc Group EN13432 (August 9)

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