Dear members,

Please find below an overview of the activities of European Bioplastics throughout June 2018. 

Members Meeting 2018

On 27 June, the General Assembly of EUBP gathered for the first 2018 meeting in Berlin. During the meeting, the Annual Report 2017 was presented, including an overview of EUBP’s main activities and internal developments throughout the past year. In 2017, EUBP membership showed a record growth with a high number of new additions. A review of the financial report 2017 showed a substantial profit in 2017, also due to the raise in membership fees coming into effect in 2017 and the exceptional results of the 2017 edition of the annual European Bioplastics Conference. At the same time, EUBP continued to raise awareness and acknowledgement of the role of bioplastics as a key enabler of a bio-based and circular economy in Europe and has put bioplastics high on the political agenda in Brussels. All developments and activities throughout 2017 can be found in more detail in the Annual Report 2017.

The minutes of the Members Meeting will be available for download in the members area on our website soon.

If you have any questions on the meeting of the General Assembly, please contact us at members@european-bioplastics.org.

Regulatory Affairs (WG REGA)

With regard to the Fertilisers Regulation, the trilogues between Commission, Parliament and Council are progressing very slowly. Sources in the Permanent Representations shared insights that the Bulgarian Presidency will not be able to finalise this file during their term, and the Austrians will take over the dossier. A conference call with the Danish representation and experts in Copenhagen was very well received and the Danes are prone to support our proposal in the Council. Unfortunately, there seem to be tendencies between the Commission and the rapporteur in the Parliament to suggest a compromise text aiming at a delegated act to develop biodegradation criteria for mulch films. This basically suggests developing a standard even though EN 17033 already exists. On 27 June, EUBP did a widespread mailing to all three trilogue parties to call attention to this matter. We also hope to engage the secretary of the corresponding CEN committee to ask for the reasons behind such a ‘double effort’.

On 9 July, the Parliament’s Environment (ENVI) Committee will vote on the report on the Plastics Strategy of rapporteur Mark Demesmaeker (BE/ECR). In the amendments collected by the rapporteur several positive suggestions were found, including comments from a strong S&D fraction as well as from MEP Marco Affronte (Greens) and Single-use file rapporteur Frédérique Ries (ALDE / BE). We shared our voting recommendation with the Members of Parliament of ENVI on 26 June) and will monitor the vote during our next REGA meeting (which also takes place on 9 July).

On the Directive for the reduction of Marine Litter - Single Use Plastics and Fishing Gear we developed our position paper and corresponding amendments and shared these with the Commission, the Parliament and the Council. Mariagiovanna Vetere (NatureWorks / Chair of WG Regulatory Affairs) and Kristy-Barbara Lange (EUBP) discussed the file with representatives of several Cabinets of the Commission on 19 June. As the file primarily focuses on reduction and prevention measures it will give us limited room for action (asking for exemptions). However, we identified certain points with regard to catering service items as well as with regard to the property of marine biodegradability for selected products. A draft report by rapporteur Frédérique Ries (ALDE / BE) is envisaged for mid July. Our contact programme started with the sending of our position paper but will pick up speed only after summer break when people have formed an opinion on the rapporteurs report.

WG REGA will meet next on 09 July in Brussels. 

Product Groups

PG Biobased met on 28 June. A quick overview of the current policy developments resulted in a comprehensive discussion on the LCA of bioplastics, a topic, which is more thoroughly dealt with in the PG’s Task Force (TF) 1. TF 1 is currently developing a position paper on the topic, which will be shared with the group in the coming month. TF 2 briefly introduced current projects, including a fact sheet on mechanical recycling and a new draft of a fact sheet on chemical recycling. TF 3 presented the mapping on building blocks and is currently working on the background paper based on the collected information. The meeting was concluded by a presentation of Thinkstep’s LCA tool for bioplastics.

The minutes of this meeting can be downloaded in the member section of our homepage soon.

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

PG Biodegradables also met on 28 June. The group discussed the recently published proposal for an EU Directive on the reduction of single-use plastics and the EUBP position paper on this proposal which was developed by EUBP’s WG REGA. Furthermore, the PG talked about the latest development in the revision of the EU Fertilisers Regulation and the role of biodegradable mulch films in this context. A background paper on the biodegradation of mulch films has been shared with the group and can be commented until the end of July. The group also discussed possibilities for the future wording below the Seedling logo as suggested by WG Standardisation.

The minutes of this meeting can be downloaded in the member section of our homepage soon.

For more information regarding biodegradable and compostable plastics and the work of the PG, please contact Constance Ißbrücker (issbruecker@european-bioplastics.org).

Working Group Standardisation

EUBP participated in a web meeting of CEN/TC 249/WG 17, which has developed the draft standard prEN 17228 (“Plastics – Bio-based polymers, plastics, and plastic products – Terminology, characteristics and communication”), which is based on the standards of CEN/TC 411 (Biobased products). The group discussed the comments of the public enquiry by CEN. Of special interest was a suggestion by ECOS to involve a minimum bio-based content of 50%. The participants agreed to add a note suggesting to communicate bio-based content only if it is higher than 25%.

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 June 2018.

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

The WG Communications finalised the scripts for the two animated videos on the benefits and end-of-life options of bioplastics in June, and work on the storyboards and visuals has begun. We aim to finish both videos in the next couple of months.

For more information or questions concerning the communications activities of EUBP, please contact Katrin Schwede (schwede@european-bioplastics.org).

Events

The registration for the 13th European Bioplastics Conference taking place on 4/5 December 2018 at the Titanic Chaussee Hotel in Berlin is in full swing. The exhibition space is starting to fill, with already 12 confirmed exhibitors this early in the year, and we are happy to announce Biotec and Total Corbion PLA as sponsors of the event.

Several (media) cooperation initiatives were taken in June, encouraging delegates and potential speakers to get involved and submit presentation proposals. If you also would like to have the opportunity to speak at the conference, please download the presentation proposal template on our website. The deadline to submit an abstract is 31 July 2018. We also invite proposals for poster presentations giving new projects the opportunity to visualise their work in the fields of biopolymer research, packaging, and building blocks.

If you would like more information about the European Bioplastics Conference or discuss how to get involved this year, please get in touch with Joanna Wilde (wilde@european-bioplastics.org).  

Planned activities July 2018

• WG Regulatory Affairs:
  • Plastics Strategy: monitoring of vote in ENVI + communication;
  • Fertilisers Regulation: engagement with regard to EN 17033 standard, address of AT presidency, mobilisation of CEN secretariat (if feasible)
  • Marine litter / single-use plastics: engagement programme with EP and Council, monitoring of publication of draft EP report.
• Position regarding bioplastics LCA (TF1)
• Development Fact Sheet Mechanical Recycling and Chemical Recycling (TF2)
• Background Paper on bio-based building blocks (TF3)
• Background paper on the biodegradation of mulch films (PG Biodegradables)
• Update Fact Sheet Standardisation
• Draft story board for animated videos (WG Comms)

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