Dear members,

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

Regulatory Affairs (WG REGA)

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

The process has just started with a workshop on 11 March. EUBP has drafted a position paper in March/April and invited one of the consultants for this workshop (Joe Papineschi of Eunomia) to its May meeting to clarify need for further input and remaining questions. Mr Papineschi is mostly responsible for the EPR aspect of the initiative and asked for more information on ‘potential contamination of mechanical recycling streams’, cases where EPR was applied to compostable packaging, and cases where compostable packaging was successfully composted across Europe.

On the revision of the Essential Requirements, an additional workshop will be held on 9 July. EUBP will apply to participate in this workshop (deadline 24 June) and will report back on the discussions in the REGA meeting on 10 July.

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

Another study mandated by DG Environment to Eunomia kicked off in March. On 3^rd June, a full workshop on the ‘Relevance of biodegradable plastics in a circular economy’ was held in Brussels. The preparation of the consultancy was thorough and formulated clear questions on e.g. criteria for compostable packaging. In addition, the Commission had remaining 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.) Negative contributions were provided by German NGO Deutsche Umwelthilfe and waste manager Suez. But both contributions were showing clear lack of experience or understanding of existing standards and studies – which was noted by the present EC representatives.

For more details on the workshop, please consult the minutes of the last REGA meeting.

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

Following the decision in the April meeting, EUBP (Product Group Biobased TF 1 and WG REGA) prepared a position on ‘Sound LCA as basis for policy making’ in May. The position also featured an annex that focussed in detail on the JRC project and its problematic process and assumptions.

Thank you to all the valuable contributions from all the LCA experts involved!

The position paper was shared with DG GROW (the DG mandating the project) as well as key DGs with an interest in the initiative (ENVI, Research, AGRI) and, of course, Rana Pant (the project leader of the JRC). The key approach of EUBP is to ask for an extension of the project, so that more consultation can be held, better transparency can be generated, and a sound methodology /data basis can be achieved.

In early June we will follow-up on the sharing of the position.

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 just kicked-off internally at DG Environment, and first work meetings will take place in September. The responsible policy officer is Anna Bobo Reminj (who just started beginning of June in this function).

Now that a few months have passed and Member States (MS) have started to transpose the SUP into national law, EUBP will start to monitor the transposition and will draft a first overview of what is happening and relevant with regard to bioplastics. We aim to provide a first ‘living-document’ by end of July.

WG REGA: the June meeting of WG REGA took place on 4 June, and the next WG REGA meeting is taking place on 10 July 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

TF1, together with WG REGA, finalised the Position Paper on LCA for bioplastics, including a comprehensive Annex specified for the JRC project on alternative feedstocks for plastics production. In June the paper will be published on the EUBP website, but without the Annex, as a more general paper.

The next meeting of the PG will take place on 25 June 2019 in Berlin and include the election of new chairpersons. Anyone interested in being a candidate for the position of chair or vice-chair, kindly contact us 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

The PG is working on a positive list for biodegradable applications in different environments. This will be discussed in the next PG meeting, which will take place on 25 June in Berlin. During this meeting the PG Biodegradables will also elect new chairpersons. If you are interested in being a candidate for these positions, kindly let us know beforehand.

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

Working Group Standardisation

No activities in this WG during May.

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 May 2019.

On April 29, the University of Plymouth has published a controversial study, which intends to provide insights into the ‘environmental deterioration’ of plastic carrier bags made from different polymer types under littering conditions. Days after the publication, European Bioplastics released a press release stating that some of the conclusions were misleading on the value of compostable and biodegradable bags. Following the dispute, Packaging Europe invited François de Bie, Chairman of EUBP, and Professor Richard Thompson from the University of Plymouth, to give their respective opinion on the study and its conclusions. The article is available at Packaging Europe's website.

Furthermore, EUBP has written an article about biodegradable mulch films for Farmers Review Africa, and conducted an interview about bio-based plastics with the Wall Street Journal. In the context of the project PolyBioSkin, we have also conducted an interview with Youris about bio-based and biodegradable nappies.

Additionally, Constance Ißbrücker participated in a podcast by Anja Krieger about biodegradable plastics.

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

Finally, Elena Cantos conducted a presentation about “Bioplastics communications: Do’s and Don’t’s” at Bio!Pac in Düsseldorf.

The WG Communications has initiated a Twitter campaign to inform (elected and upcoming) MEPs with Tweets about the benefits of bio-based plastics and the different end-of-life solutions for bioplastics to achieve a circular economy in Europe.

Additionally, the voice-over of the first video clip on the benefits of bioplastics has been succesfully recorded.

Finally, following the Work Programme, the WG Communications has supported WG Regulatory Affairs with the development of an infographic, which will provide the new MePs with information on the benefits of bioplastics.

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

Events

In May our new colleague Hannah Heimann took over the Event Position at European Bioplastics and will be organising the conferences as well as our performances at exhibitions. In this introduction phase, we started to open the Registration for this year’s conference, the 14^th edition of the annual European Bioplastics Conference, which will take place on the 3/4 December 2019 at the TITANIC Chaussee Hotel in Berlin, Germany.

With registration open, our first wave of bookings came in, taking advantage of the Early Bird fee.

In our last ‘Call for Paper’ - E-Mail 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.

Furthermore, we have started to shoot out for sponsors. Several potential sponsors have expressed their interest in the event, and we are looking to finalise the first 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

The BBI-JU funded PolyBioSkin was represented by EUBP and SME partner Fibroline from France at the 22-24 May 2019 Plant Based Summit in Lyon. Mr Vincent Bonin of Fibroline delivered a presentation on the project in the R&D perspectives for new biobased products and materials focus conference moderated by Götz Ahrens. You can find information about this and other events on the recently updated PolyBioSkin project website, featuring activities, publications, videos, and other material, including upcoming events at which PolyBioSkin will be presented or otherwise involved: http://polybioskin.eu/info-centre/.

European Bioplastics is a member of the BBI-JU funded BIOnTop project starting on 1^st June 2019. BIOnTop will be coordinated by EUBP member AIMPLAS. You can find out more about the project here https://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/222682/factsheet/en. During the month of May, preparations have been made for the kick-off meeting in June, and preparations for working on the first set of deliverables in Work Package 1, led by EUBP, have been initiated.

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 reception of Position on ‘Sound LCA as basis for policy making’ with DG GROW and JRC
  • Draft application for Essential Requirements workshop on 9 July (deadline 24 June)
  • EU election
    • Mailing of introductory infograph to old and new contacts, meeting requests
    • Start organisation of parliamentary breakfast end of September (identification of MEP to host even in EU Parliament)
  • Organisation of NGO workshop on feedstock for bioplastics
• Publication Position Paper LCA for bioplastics
• Positive list for biodegradable materials in different environments.
• Product Group Meetings on 25 June in Berlin
• Biomotive Advisory Board Meeting
• Web Meeting CEN/TC 249 /WG 9
• Publication of PolyBioSkin newsletter
• BIOnTop project start and kick-off meeting
• WG Communications to launch social media campaign to inform (elected and upcoming) MEPs about the benefits of bio-based plastics and the different end-of-life solutions for bioplastics (with a focus on biodegradability) to achieve a circular economy in Europe.
• 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