Dear members,

Please find below an overview of activities of European Bioplastics throughout May 2020.

Regulatory Affairs (WG REGA)

Due to the on-going COVID-19 crisis, on 14 May, the European Bioplastics’ Working Group Regulatory Affairs (WG REGA) conducted its monthly meeting online.

The WG REGA members received a quick update on recent political developments at the EU level: The revision of the essential requirements for packaging included in the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (PPWD) were published on April 20 and will be followed by a Commission report by end of the year. Furthermore, according to DG ENV, the inception impact assessment for the revision should be published in the next two weeks. Stakeholders will be able to provide feedback (4 – 6 weeks of timeframe for input and open consultation).

Another topic touched by the update was the Commission's work on compostable plastic carrier bags. All work on compostable plastic carrier bags (labelling, standardisation request) is put on hold for the time being. The European Commission (EC) seeks to first come forward with the overall framework for bio-based and biodegradable plastic (as announced in the new Circular Economy Action Plan published in 2020) before revisiting its plans on compostable carrier bags.

The group also discussed the great number of studies, commissioned by the EC and conducted by EUNOMIA, which predominantly support DG ENV’s position on bioplastics. The WG raised strong concerns over the EC’s procurement practices for this kind of studies and questioned the neutrality of the awarding process. However, the group decided to postpone the discussion to a later moment but acknowledged the importance of tackling the current way of procurement. WG REGA group members were asked to gather further insights on this issue and exchange with other associations and networks (e.g. EURO-PEN).

Unfortunately, as no member of WG REGA was able to access the JRC’s project team coordinating the study on plastic and alternative feedstock, it was agreed to give the topic a high priority for the upcoming second open consultation period.

The group also discussed further activities regarding the SUPD and agreed on circulating EUBP’s recommendations on the SUPD guidance to the members of the waste expert group, representing the MS. The next meeting will take place on May 25 and a second by end of June. A closely related process is the discussion on ECHA’s microplastic regulation, which will take place in the same time frame. It was also agreed, that any input for the corresponding working groups should be provided timely, at least 2 weeks before the meetings. Furthermore, it was concluded to aligning with CEPI to develop a common sense on the definition of “natural polymer”. The definition is crucial for several specific biodegradable polymers (such as PHA) to achieve an exclusion from the SUPD restrictions.

For detailed information on the work of the WG Regulatory Affairs, please contact Joanna Dupont-Inglis (inglis@european-bioplastics.org). The next online meeting will take place on 23 June 2020.

Product Groups

Product Group Bio-based

The Fact Sheets on Mechanical and Chemical Recycling, prepared by Task Force 2 (End-of-Life), were finalized and will be published in June/July 2020.

For more information regarding bio-based plastics including sustainability issues and the work of the PG and TFs, please contact Katharina Hinse (hinse@european-bioplastics.org).

Product Group Biodegradables

No relevant activities took place in May 2020.

For more information regarding PG Biodegradables and the TF Marine, please contact Katharina Hinse (hinse@european-bioplastics.org).

Working Group Standardisation

During May, European Bioplastics continued to prepare its participation in the upcoming ECHA Committee for Risk Assessment (RAC) WebEx meeting in June. Hasso von Pogrell will attend the web meeting together with Francesco Degli Innocenti (chair of the WG Standardisation) as accompanying expert. During the last meeting in March 2020, RAC showed a very restrictive position towards the derogation of biodegradable microplastics from the ECHA restriction proposal on intentionally added microplastics. EUBP sent a statement to RAC on 26 May.

For more information on standards for bioplastics, current standardisation processes, and certification of bioplastics, please contact Katharina Hinse (hinse@european-bioplastics.org).

Communications

Please find at the following link a selection of relevant media clippings from May 2020 (online).

On 14 May, EUBP Comms attended the online REGA meeting as well as a REGA conference call to discuss the recently published Eunomia study on biodegradable plastic products and packaging. The intention of the joint meetings was to deepen the understanding of the relevant political processes on the EU level and further align the EUBP communication activities with the regulatory affairs activities.

In addition, EUBP Comms continued coordinating the editorial process for the association’s annual report 2019. This also included the compilation of the annual press review 2019. For this purpose, the team analysed the impact of EUBPs comms activities in print and online media as well as in social media. Together with our service provider Meltwater, we improved the assessment of EUBP’s comms work. Meltwater gave EUBP an introduction on its latest analysis tools. The report is scheduled to be finalized at the beginning of June to be available for the General Assembly taking place on 17/18 June 2020.

In preparation of the Biopolymer Days, taking place on 17/18 June, EUBP communications produced a presentation video, giving an overview on the relevant political processes on the EU level. The presentation focuses on the topics European Green Deal. Previous to the event, Comms also participated in a preparatory speaker workshop on 20 May.

EUBP Comms is currently updating the following documents:

• Fact Sheet: What are bioplastics?

During May, EUBP Comms coordinated the responses to several requests by journalists and companies regarding detailed information on different aspects of bioplastics.

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

Seedling Logo

The Advisory Committee for the Seedling Mark held its latest Jour Fixe Web Meeting on 15 May discussing relevant issues related to certification for the Seedling mark. Among the topics were plant toxicity testing, certification of recycled materials, and substances on the positive list of the Certification Scheme.

For more information on the Seedling Logo or the Certification Scheme, please contact Katharina Hinse (hinse@european-bioplastics.org).

Events

Planning the 15^th European Bioplastics Conference, we have sent out the Call for Papers for potential speakers to sign up. The Call for Papers was sent out through our social media channels (Twitter/LinkedIn) and we already received first responses. A reminder will be sent out within the next month.

EUBP was able to sign the first media cooperation to promote our annual conference.
Furthermore, we are in contact with first potential sponsors.

After the first round on 22 and 23 April, EUBP has taken part in the second part of the annual BBI-Info Day, which was stretched out to 12 May in order to realize all planned virtual meetings slots. The Info Day offers the opportunity to team up with other interested parties to develop proposals within the BBI-JU funding programme.

For more information regarding the Conference 2020 as well as becoming a speaker, please contact Hannah Heimann (conference@european-bioplastics.org). 

Projects

PolyBioSkin (Project month: 36 of 38)

https://www.polybioskin.eu/ (BBI-JU)

Due to COVID-19, the PolyBioSkin consortium held a virtual conference call on 20 May in order to discuss possible options for the dissemination of the project results. Against the background of the still uncertain travelling possibilities, a physical meeting in July was discarded and several digital options were taken into consideraion. The group confirmed to look for a date to hold the final meeting virtually by the end of July.

By the end of May, the consortium had finalized its deliverable D8.3 "Report on Standard and Legislative Aspects". Here, European Bioplastics delivered an overview on standards, applicable for all PolyBioSkin prototype products. Nearing the end of the project, the consortium’s internal sanitary group, which worked on diaper and fem-care product prototypes, met virtually on May 26 with potential business partners. Two Italian companies are interested in the commercialisation of PolyBioSkin’s technology to produce diaper/fem-care products. The consortium also discussed the opportunity to raise PolyBioSkin’s technology readiness level (TRL) in an additional joint BBI project.

BIOnTop (Project month: 12 of 48)

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

The BIOnTop consortium is European Bioplastic’s second active BBI-JU project involvement. The project is led by ENCO from Italy and just finalized deliverable 7.3. This includes a draft plan for the exploitation and dissemination of the project results. It will help the consortium to better monitor the exploitable outcomes during the project. In addition, it will support EUBP’s communication work and dissemination management for BIOnTop.

Concerning the technical work packages that have been affected by COVID-19 and remain on partial stand-by, most partners reported that they adapted material development and experiments. They differ from the initially planned activities.

Partnering with other HORIZON 2020 projects and proposal status

European Bioplastics was active in different consortia, that developed proposals on two HORIZON 2020 calls.

Three proposals, tackling the “Research in Action” (RIA) call “Upcycling Bio Plastics of Food and Drinks Packaging” [CE-BIOTEC-09-2020], have proceeded to the second proposal stage. With a total budget of 8,000,000 €, all three proposals have been submitted in time before the deadline on May 14 and are now in the final evaluation round for funding.

Another three consortia, in which European Bioplastics is involved actively or as advisory board member, aim for the call “Open Innovation Test Beds (OITB) for Nano-enabled Bio-based Materials” [DT-NMBP-04-2020]. In case of success, any of them intends to develop sustainable OITB networks of pilot plants, located across several European countries. These will serve as hubs with consortia and proposal specific measures to boost biomaterials development and their market uptake.

Furthermore, EUBP continues its work in developing a project proposal for a BBI-JU programme (Biobased Industries Joint-Undertaking) to tackle the open call “Demonstrate superior bio-based packaging solutions with minimal environmental damage” [BBI2020.SO3.D4].

Other proposal developing and HORIZON 2020 activities involved advisory activity and support for a proposal dealing with „Micro and nanoplastics in our environment: understanding exposures and effects on human health“ [SC1-BHC-36-2020], as well as a national proposal within the UK, submitted to UK Research & Innovation. The latter one is aiming for a 6 million € funding for the transformation of the UK’s chemical industry by replacing its current linear olefins supply-demand network with a highly integrated, fossil-independent, climate-positive and environmentally friendly circular economy.

Two HORIZON 2020-proposal rejections have been received in May:

• BIOLOOP: A circular bioplastic economy for the future – Loop design and demonstration of its functionality in the praxis [CE-SC5-28-2020], scoring 7 out of 10,
• FUTURFLEX: Designing a circular future for flexible packaging [CE-SC5-25-2020], scoring 6 out of 10.

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

Planned activities

WG Regulatory Affairs:

• Monitoring of further developments regarding upcoming studies on
  • EPR fees
  • Biodegradable plastics in a circular economy
  • Biodegradable plastics in agriculture
  • Biodegradable plastics in the environment.
• Recommendations SUPD Guidance: Outreach to waste experts

Communications:

• Further preparation of the EUBP annual report 2019.
• Preparation of EUBP annual press review 2019.
• Attendance at the Biopolymer Days (17/18 June 2020).

WG Standardisation:

• Participation in RAC 53 web meeting

PG Bio-based:

• Publication of fact sheets on mechanical and chemical recycling
• Preparation of papers on feedstock types

PG Biodegradables:

• Draft paper on guidelines when claiming biodegradability or compostability for products or materials.

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