Dear members,

Please find below an overview of activities carried out by European Bioplastics throughout June-August 2021.

Regulatory Affairs (WG REGA)

The European Bioplastics’ Working Group Regulatory Affairs (WG REGA) last met on 14 July.

The main topic discussed was the revision of the PPWD. It was agreed that implementing an integrated public affairs outreach strategy would be a top priority for the coming months. Establishing an understanding of timeline for Institutional trialogue and conducting outreach to MS and members of the MS Waste Expert Group would be an important part of this strategy.

EUBP and members had already participated in and contributed towards a series of online workshops on the PPWD revision hosted by Eunomia and the European Commission. Further written feedback was prepared after the workshops and was sent through to Eunomia.

A response to the Commission’s public consultation on a Roadmap for the Bioeconomy would be prepared over the summer break.

EUBP would seek to better understand the scope of a tender currently under preparation by DG GROW seeking to develop a study on the behaviour of biodegradable mulch films in soil and aquatic environments.

Additional topics for further work would be taxonomy, microplastics and the potential registration of bio-based polymers under a revised version of REACH.

For detailed information on the work of the WG Regulatory Affairs, please contact Joanna Dupont-Inglis (inglis@european-bioplastics.org).

BON Europe

BON Europe (Bioplastics Organisations Network) is an alliance of European Bioplastics and European national bioplastics organisations. The group held web meetings on 24 June and 15 July. Members shared insights on the unharmonized transposition of the SUPD in their countries and on other national developments relevant to the bioplastics industry. Plans were discussed to draft an open letter to EU and Member State officials emphasizing the inconsistent transposition of the SUPD and the chances that are lost by ignoring the benefits of bioplastics. Next to the comprehensive table on SUPD implementation, a shortened version will be created for public use.

The workshops held by Eunomia on aspects of the PPWD were also discussed. It will be evaluated together with WG REGA how BON members can support EUBP’s outreach on this topic. There was no meeting in August.

With input from BON members, the European Composting landscape – a service for EUBP members on the website’s members area – is currently being updated.

For more information regarding BON Europe, please contact Katharina Hinse (hinse@european-bioplastics.org).

Product Groups

Product Group Bio-based

The group held a web meeting on 29 June. During the meeting, new chairpersons were elected. Lars Börger (Neste) was re-elected as Chair and Patrick Zimmermann (FKuR) was elected as Vice-Chair. Topics discussed during the meeting were an upcoming study on “bio-based plastics: sustainable sourcing and content” as well as the recently published methodology part of the JRC study on alternative feedstock for bio-based plastics. EUBP is currently preparing a response with support from TF1(Sustainability Evaluation).

An important part of the meeting was to identify relevant topics for the Working Plan of the PG for the upcoming two years. Items such as the JRC study, land use estimation, and the Fact Sheet on energy recovery will continue from the last Working Plan. A future topic will be the mass balance approach with a focus on allocation of bio–based content but also in the context of chemical recycling. Bio-based additives will also play a role in the coming months. The Working Plan will be completed and shared with the group in September.

The PG also agreed to meet more frequently in the future, i.e. on a 3-months-basis. The next meeting will take place on 28 September, at 10:00am.

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 group met online on 30 June. During the meeting, Katharina Schlegel (BASF) and Erwin Lepoudre (Kaneka) were re-elected as Chair and Vice-Chair of the group.

After a policy update on the SUPD implementation and the recently held Eunomia workshops on the PPWD, the group discussed the draft EUBP position paper on microplastics and its key messages.

A major topic of the meeting was the behaviour of compostable plastics in anaerobic digestion. Whereas most compostable plastics do not biodegrade/disintegrate in anaerobic digestion (without post-composting), this technology will continue to grow within Europe. This is also why EUBP considers to developing a position paper on this topic.

For the upcoming Working Plan, the following topics were identified: update of the composting landscape, position on AD (see above), update of the paper on home composting, and a best-case collection on industrial composting of compostable plastics.

An additional important topic will be compostable plastic in other waste streams (e.g. mechanical recycling). The Working Plan will be finalized together with the chairs and presented to the group in September.

To monitor the EU activities of having polymers registered under REACH, it was decided to form a small ad hoc Working Group with experts from the PG and the WG Standardisation. It will be crucial to have reasonable rules for biodegradable/compostable plastics.

A small Task Force group met on 23 August to compile and discuss information and data on compostable plastics in mechanical recycling that will be provided as input to the CEFLEX initiative.

The PG will meet more frequently in the future, i.e. on a 3-months-basis, and the next meeting is set for 12 October 2021.

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

Working Group Standardisation

On 10 June, the CEN/TC 261 SC 4 WG 2 met for a first discussion on the revision of EN 13432. The WG had sent a comprehensive list of comments to CEN prior to the meeting. The comments will be evaluated in smaller expert groups until the next meeting, which will take place in October.

CEN/TC 249 WG 9 is currently preparing a technical report on the prospect of standardisation of biodegradable plastics. Additional input was requested for mid of July. The next meeting is scheduled for 7 September.

An extraordinary WG meeting on anaerobic digestion was held on 21 June with Alberto Confalonieri of Italian C.I.C. presenting on anaerobic digestion technologies and the treatment of compostable plastics. This meeting was set up to gain a better understanding of AD in the context of requests to have “AD-ability” of plastics standardized. The meeting and the subsequent discussion were used to develop an opinion in the group.

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

Seedling Logo

Starting in June, EUBP Event Management reached out to potential sponsors and was already able to sign three Gold Sponsorships (Conference Drinks Reception to Wacker, Conference Lottery to BIOTEC, Meeting Point Sponsorship to Total Corbion PLA) as well as two Bronze Sponsorships (Participants face masks to NatureWorks, Conference bags to BASF). In June, EUBP also sent out a mailing to extend the early bird rate until 6 August. EUBP Event Management formed an internal group to assess the abstracts which were sorted according to possible sessions afterwards. The programme is expected to be finalized in the course of September. The outreach to additional speakers is on-going. EUBP was able to win Kestutis Sadauskas, Director at DG ENVI for Circular Economy and Green Growth to hold the keynote speech on the first conference day. EUBP Event Management visited the event location and compiled a floorplan for the venue. A modification of the conference format to include a hybrid/digital event platform is currently dicussed. The final decision will be taken in September.

For more information or questions concerning the annual conference and further EUBP events, please contact Denise Valdix (valdix@european-bioplastics.org or conference@european-bioplastics.org).

Communications

Please find under the following link a selection of relevant media clippings from June-August 2021 (online).

In June, EUBP Comms successfully completed the work on the Annual Report 2020 which was made available to the members right after its presentation during the Members Meeting on 22 June.

The same month, Comms completed the draft for an EUBP press release in response to a study by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission (EC). It focuses on the use of LCAs to compare the environmental impact of fossil and alternative feedstock in plastic production. It is planned to conduct a mailing once the study is published. EUBP’s EU Affairs is trying to gather additional support by having EUBA co-sign the press release.  

Throughout the last three months, EUBP Comms was deeply involved in the preparation of the EUBP Conference. Comms was able to sign off on a total of twelve media partnerships by reactivating last year’s partnerships related to the European Bioplastics Conference and by signing additional ones. In August, EUBP Comms has started to prepare a social media kit with visuals and draft posts to facilitate the media partner’s activities to promote the conference.

On 4 August, Comms had a web meeting with the US Plastics Industry Association (PIA) - host of the Bioplastics Week (BPW) - to prepare this year’s social media campaign (13-17 September). As in past years, EUBP supports the BPW as official partner. Short videos with interviews on bioplastics-related topics, a Youtube playlist, and a resource list with documents were discussed as key campaign tools.

EUBP Comms was also able to strengthen the link to the Indian bioplastics industry. As a follow-up activity of a joint call between EUBP and the Indian Compostable Polymer Association, the latter provided a guest article for the August edition of the EUBP Newsletter.

With the aim to improve EUBP’s monitoring of political processes, EUBP has started on 30 August with a one-week trial version of a political monitoring tool by the PANALIS company.

Additionally, EUBP Comms coordinated the responses to several requests by journalists, organizations, and companies regarding detailed information on different aspects of bioplastics or speaking offers for EUBP staff.

For more information or questions concerning the communications activities of EUBP, please contact Oliver Buchholz (buchholz@european-bioplastics.org).

Events

Starting in June, EUBP Event Management reached out to potential sponsors and was already able to sign three Gold Sponsorships (Conference Drinks Reception to Wacker, Conference Lottery to BIOTEC, Meeting Point Sponsorship to Total Corbion) as well as two Bronze Sponsorships (Participants face masks to Natureworks, Conference Bags to BASF). In June, EUBP also sent out a mailing to extend the early bird rate until 6 August. EUBP Event Management formed an internal group to assess the abstracts which were sorted according to possible sessions afterwards. The program is expected to be finalized in the course of September. The outreach to additional speakers is on-going. EUBP was able to win Kestutis Sadauskas, Director at DG ENVI for Circular Economy and Green Growth to hold the keynote speech on the first conference day. EUBP Event Management visited the event location and compiled a floorplan for the venue. A modification of the conference format to include a hybrid/digital event platform is currently dicussed. The final decision will be taken in September.

For more information or questions concerning the annual conference and further EUBP events, please contact Denise Valdix (valdix@european-bioplastics.org or conference@european-bioplastics.org).

Projects

BIOnTop (Project month: 28 of 48)

https://biontop.eu/ (BBI-JU)

As BIOnTop reached half-time, dissemination activities have been increased.

The first two years of the project have already produced promising preliminary findings, including the formulation of the developed co-polymers by batch polymerisation and reactive extrusion and scaling-up of the selected lactic acid copolymers to semi-industrial scale. Furthermore, first steps towards the fabrication of the final products have been taken with the characterisation of the PLA-based copolymer compounds and the processing parameters for sheets, films, and filaments. The next phase of the project’s pilot production and validation of the developed bio-based packaging materials is currently ongoing. Initial experimental tests of the different desired end-of-life routes including recycling and reprocessing, as well as industrial and home composting are well underway. Moreover, first interims life cycle sustainability assessments have been conducted for the developed materials.

On 16 June 2021, BIOnTop and the sibling project ECOFUNCO organized a joint workshop on their bio-based materials research. The purpose was to share with the interested stakeholders the expertise gained by the partners during the research activities, in particular, BIOnTop partners Centexbel and ASU gave a presentation on their current research on protein-based coatings and water-based PHA formulations for coating and printing. The presentations from the workshop can be viewed on the ECOFUNCO website.

BIOMAC (Project month: 9 of 48)

https://www.biomac-oitb.eu/ (Horizon 2020)

EUBP and the University of Thessaloniki finalised all official amendments and contracts for IBB to join the project consortium and take over the project’s Single Entry Point (SEP) tasks, which were originally assigned to EUBP. IBB officially joined the consortium on 1 August 2021. That leaves EUPB with tasks on regulation and standardisation, which will commence in 2022.

PRESERVE (Project month: 9 of 48)

https://www.preserve-h2020.eu/ (Horizon 2020)

In close collaboration with all consortium partners, EUBP has been leading the compilation of two reports (deliverables D2.2 and D2.3) to define the specifications for a set of 10 pre-selected bio-based packaging applications (demonstrators) that are being developed throughout the PRESERVE project. A preliminary version of both reports was submitted on 30 April. Yet, as several details weren’t available yet, and as some changes in the partner structure occurred, EUBP prepared a revision of the two deliverables over the past three months, which were submitted on time at the end of August 2021. The two reports are confidential and only accessible to the partners of the project consortium.

As part of the EUBP’s role as Communication Manager, we are currently preparing a Training Plan (Deliverable 8.3) that sets out a plan for knowledge transfer activities and educational sessions throughout the project. These activities are to ensure that the project’s research data and findings are made available according to the Open Data Management principles of EU-funded projects. The deliverable is due at the end of 2021 and will be available on the project website.

EUBP is also taking an active part in exploring cooperation options and cluster activities for the PRESERVE project. In particular, a close cooperation between PRESERVE and two Horizon 2020 sibling projects, UPLIFT and upPE-T, which receive funding from the same call (CE-BIOTEC-09-2020: Upcycling bio-plastics of food and drinks packaging) has been established in recent months.

The three sibling projects aim to share knowledge and efforts to achieve the common objective of reducing plastics waste created by food packaging. One of the first milestones is organising a joint workshop, foreseen in October 2021, about circular economy, recycling, and biodegradable packaging. All projects will also share information about results achieved and set up a joint roadmap for dissemination and social humanities activities, and elaboration of a joint policy paper. Members of each consortium will meet monthly to discuss and coordinate the foreseen activities.

BIOSUPPACK (Project month: 4 of 42)

As all administrative tasks had been completed, BIOSUPPACK was able to enter the active project phase. Therefore, the project partners have adopted and signed the grant agreement and consortium agreement. To prepare the BIOSUPPACK’s kick-off meeting, the major WP7 (communication and dissemination) partners, ENCO and EUBP, provided templates for all projects partners in advance of the meeting. The aim was to already develop a basic strategy for the project website and social media involvement. The kick-off meeting took place on 15-16 June online.

During first four months of the project, EUBP has compiled the project’s Master Plan for Communications & Dissemination guidelines (Del. 7.2, EUBP in lead). The plan was submitted on time at the end of August 2021 and is only available to partners of the project consortium.

Status of project partnering, other HORIZON 2020/EUROPE projects, and proposal/grant agreements:

With the opening of several new calls in the upcoming HORIZON EUROPE framework, EUBP will continue monitoring opportunities and reports on further developments.

For more information or requests concerning EUBP’s project involvements, please contact Christian Schulz (schulz@european-bioplastics.org).

Planned activities

WG Regulatory Affairs:

• REGA WG Meeting on 15 September
• Development of an engagement plan on ERs and PPWD
• Preparation of response to call for feedback document: Draft report by the Platform on Sustainable Finance on preliminary recommendations for technical screening criteria for the EU taxonomy (DL 24 September)
• Preparation of position on the requirement for registration of bio-based polymers under REACH
• Further coordination with BON on SUPD implementation.

Communications:

• PANALIS monitoring trial (30 August-5 September)
• Preparation of Bioplastics Week 2021 (13-17 September)
• EUBP Conference 2021: implementation of media partnership agreements
• EUBP Conference 2021: guest article for Packaging Journal (submission 24 September)
  

BON Europe:

• next web meeting on 16 September
• Update of “European Composting Landscape”
• Draft reaction on SUPD implementation
• Create summary of national implementation of SUPD

PG Bio-based:

• Next PG meeting on 28 September
• Prepare reaction on methodology part of JRC study
• Finalize Working Plan 2021-2023

PG Biodegradables:

• Next PG meeting on 12 October
• Finalization of position paper on microplastics
• Preparation of position on anaerobic digestion
  

WG Standardisation:

• Following the work of CEN/TC 261 SC 4 WG 2 and the revision of EN 13432

Seedling Logo:

• ACS Meeting on 3 September

Projects and Networks:

• BIOnTop Newsletter 2nd issue due in October 2021
• PRESERVE Del. 8.3 due end of December 2021
• PRESERVE sibling project workshop in October 2021

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

Disclaimer

The information transmitted by this email is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed. This email may contain proprietary, business-confidential, and/or privileged material. If you are not the intended recipient of this message, be aware that any use, review, retransmission, distribution, reproduction, or any action taken in reliance upon this message is strictly prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from all computers.