Dear members,

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

Regulatory Affairs (WG REGA)

Analysis of EU election (May 2019) outcome:

In its June REGA meeting EUBP presented a brief analysis of the European Parliament (EP) election results. The EPP (Christian democrats) and S&D (social democrats) suffered substantial losses, and no longer represent a majority in the EP. ALDE&R (liberals) became third largest group and the Greens registered significant gains, making them fourth largest group. Also the populist and euro-sceptic parties now occupy around 25 per cent of seats, fewer than anticipated but still a considerable growth. Despite losing seats, pro-EU parties still represent a majority.

Fragmentation will make coalition-building harder (e.g. it could be on issue-by-issue basis). Furthermore, pro-EU groups will work to keep unity on essential dossiers, but no longer “business-as-usual” due to combined force of populist and anti-EU groups.

The Member States (MS) with the most seats are Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland, France and the UK. Depending on Brexit the UK-seats might be vacated and (partially) re-distributed at a later stage this year. Otherwise several of the big countries are countries already having put bioplastic relevant legislation in place (at least on regional level) – this might help with pushing our agenda further.

But not only the changes in fractions and the country allocation is relevant to us – a considerable number of Members of Parliament (MEPs) is joining the EP as ‚first timers’. Since the formation of the EP Committees (e.g. Environment – our most relevant committee), in late June it has become clear that the Committees now look considerably different than in the past years. We will need to focus on our key contacts of which luckily many have returned and also actively engage and inform ‚newcomers’.

In this respect EUBP has teamed up with MEP Franc Bogovič (EPP / Slovenia) and will organise an EP breakfast debate on bio-based feedstock for plastics production and biodegradable plastics in a circular economy in late September.

Revision of the Packaging Directive's essential requirements / preparation of guidelines for the eco-modulation of EPR fees:

In June EUBP applied for the second workshop of this initiative (which was scheduled for 09 July) and got accepted as a stakeholder. The application specified our position on the integration of bio-based feedstock into the ER as well as the mention of organic recycling / composting as an end of life option for packaging.

The next steps of the ER process comprise detailed phone interviews on singular topics as well as a conference around middle of October 2019 in Brussels.

We furthermore continued to compile a number of success cases of composting of compostable packaging across 3-6 EU composting plants to share as input with Eunomia on the topic of EPR fees.

Study on ‘Relevance of biodegradable plastics in a circular economy’:

Another study mandated by DG Environment to Eunomia kicked off in March. On 3^ June, a full workshop on the ‘Relevance of biodegradable plastics in a circular economy’ was held in Brussels. EUBP has started to prepare its follow-up input aiming to answer questions such as ‘Why should a flexible packaging contaminated with food be switched to compostable plastics’, ‘Is consumer experience of collecting bio-waste with compostable plastics really transferable to other packaging products?’, and ‘How do you want to ensure that consumers do not misinterpret compostability claims and litter?’ (The last question aimed at approaches beyond marking, which the EC did not consider sufficient enough.) The study ultimately aims to formulate criteria for when a packaging should be made of compostable plastics and identify example applications.

During our REGA meeting on 10 June Simon Hann – project coordinator of Eunomia for the study – joined us via phone conference and we discussed an interim version of our input. Until summer break REGA and PG Biodegradables will receive a complete version for feedback.

JRC project on LCA for ‘alternative feedstock for plastics production’

The position on ‘Sound LCA as basis for policy making’ drafted by PG Bio-based TF 1 in collaboration with WG REGA was very much appreciated by the Directorate General for Growth of the European Commission. Following policy officer Laure Baillargeon the input triggered an intense internal discussion and DG GROW as well as JRC saw that many of the points delivered were valid. An extension is decided but it is not clear yet for how long the project will be prolonged exactly.

We will share more information on the next steps of this project with WG REGA and PG Bio-based TF-1 after liaising with the JRC shortly.

Single-use Plastics Directive – remaining EC actions and transposition into national law

Even though adopted, the Single-use Plastics Directive (SUP) is still of vital interest to EUBP and its members. A core action of the EC still needs to be delivered by mid of next year (mid-2020) with the (Art 12) specification of criteria what a single-use plastic product actually is. This process will kick off in July and we will share more information on the scope and process as soon as available. The responsible policy officer is Anna Bobo Reminj (who just started beginning of June in this function).

WG REGA: the July meeting of WG REGA took place on 10 July, and the next WG REGA meeting is taking place on 04 September in Brussels.

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

Product Groups

Product Group Biobased

PG Bio-based met on 25 June in Berlin. The group elected a new chair (Lars Börger from Neste was re-elected) and vice-chair (Stefano Facco - Novamont). Ideas for the new working plan 2019 to 2021 were discussed. The TF structure will be kept but TF 3 (Chemicals and Intermediates) will get a new focus, concentrating on bio-based feedstock issues. The working plan will be sent to the PG in August for approval.

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

On 25 June PG Biodegradables met in Berlin. The PG elected a new chair (Katharina Schlegel – BASF) and vice-chair (Erwin Lepoudre – Kaneka, was re-elected).The group discussed the new Working plan for 2019 to 2021, which will be shared with the group in August for approval. Other topics were the current policy developments in Europe and the member states and Plymouth study on biodegradable bags and how EUBP can react on such kind of false studies.

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

Working Group Standardisation

EUBP participated in a web meeting of CEN/TC 249/WG9 (Characterisation of degradability) on 21 June.

The next meeting of CEN/TC 261/SC4/WG 2, in which the standard for home compostable carrier bags is discussed, will take place on 20/21 August in Berlin.

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 2019.

In June, we have released the Annual Report 2018 with very good results in Communications: From January to December 2018, European Bioplastics again reached a high level of online media coverage with about 1,000 articles (60% increase compared to 2017) with peaks around our statement on the EU Plastic Strategy in January and in July, when the discussions on plastic pollution and marine litter reached a peak coverage. Bioplastics in general were mentioned in around 52,000 articles (online worldwide) throughout the year, which is an increase of about 50% compared to 2017. A detailed description of the results can be found on the report.

Additionally, Elena Cantos participated in the BIOnTOP kick-off meeting in Valencia (Spain) jointly with Götz Ahrens. In this meeting, the consortium members discussed the different work packages and the next steps to launch the project (for further information, please see “Projects”).

Furthermore, we have signed partnership agreements with several media to promote the European Bioplastics Conference (for further information, please see “Events”).

Currently, we are working on further updating the content of the following fact sheets:

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

The WG Communications’s Twitter campaign to inform (elected and upcoming) MEPs about the benefits of bio-based plastics and the different end-of-life solutions for bioplastics has been very succesful so far.

Here are some Tweets examples:

https://twitter.com/EUBioplastics/status/1144597450377826304
https://twitter.com/EUBioplastics/status/1143129787998834688
https://twitter.com/EUBioplastics/status/1139077330608021504
https://twitter.com/EUBioplastics/status/1131825444058222592

After the European Parliament election celebrated at the end of May, the list of tagged MEPs has been updated accordingly. The campaign will keep running until October 2019.

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

Events

In June, the first media cooperations to promote the European Bioplastics Conference were signed. We have currently closed partnerships with Coating International, Packaging Europe, EuropaBio, EUWID, Green Chemical Blog, nova Institute and Packaging Journal.

With registration open, our first wave of bookings came in, taking advantage of the Early Bird fee. The deadline ended on the 12 July.

In our last ‘Call for Paper’ - email we have started accepting presentation proposals, which need to be handed in by 31 July – if you have any interest, or want to recommend someone, please download the Abstract Template 2019 or feel free to contact us.

We have already started looking through the handed in Speakers Proposals and will wait for the next wave of abstracts to be handed in till end of this month, in order to create a program for the 14^th European Bioplastics Conference taking place on 3/4 December 2019 in the Titanic Chaussee Hotel, Berlin.

Furthermore, we have signed our first sponsor for this year’s conference. Several potential sponsors have expressed their interest in this years event, and we are looking forward to finalise the next agreements next month.

If you would like to discuss sponsorship to promote your brand through the European Bioplastics Conference, exhibit your products and services, or otherwise be involved, please get in touch with our new Event Manager Hannah Heimann (conference@european-bioplastics.org).

Projects

In June, the kickoff meeting of the BBI-JU funded BIOnTop project took place at the premises of EUBP member AIMPLAS in Valencia, Spain. You can find out more about the project here https://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/222682/factsheet/en, or by contacting Götz Ahrens on ahrens@european-bioplastics.org.

European Bioplastics has recently set up a new service that will connect EUBP members with organisations looking to set up project consortia and submitting research proposals. Anyone looking for project partners from among our members can fill in and submit it to European Bioplastics. We then distribute it to all members who have signed up for the service.

NB: To receive project enquiries, you need to contact us to be included on the distribution list for legal and data protection reasons.

For more information regarding on-going and future project involvements or to sign up for the Project Partnering Request service, please get in touch with Götz Ahrens (ahrens@european-bioplastics.org).

Planned activities

• WG Regulatory Affairs:
  • Provide additional input on EPR to Eunomia
  • Compile follow-up information regarding workshop of 3 June on ‘Relevance of biodegradable plastics in a Circular Economy’ – DG ENVI and Eunomia
  • Follow-up on new timeline for LCA study with JRC
  • Draft follow-up to workshop on Essential Requirements of 9 July
  • EU election: Mailing of introductory infograph to old and new contacts, meeting requests, save the date for EP breakfast debate with MEP Bogovic
  • Planning of EP breakfast with MEP Bogovic in September 2019
  • Find potential new date for NGO workshop on feedstock for bioplastics (Sept)
• Publication Position Paper LCA for bioplastics
• Development Working Plans of PG Biobased and Biodegradables 2019-2021
• Publication of PolyBioSkin newsletter
• Update of fact sheets
• WG Communications: Continue working on video about bioplastics

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