Dear members,

Please find below an overview of the activities of European Bioplastics throughout November 2017. 

Regulatory Affairs (WG REGA)

In November, EUBP continued its liaison programme with Permanent Representations (Perm Reps) of the EU Member States, meeting Dutch and Finnish representatives, with regard to the trilogues around the waste legislative proposals. Furthermore, EUBP updated a letter to be sent by seven associations of the bioeconomy to call for support on amendment 42 of the Packaging Directive (supporting bio-based materials for the manufacturing of packaging) in November.

On the Plastics Strategy, EUBP coordinated a letter of the European Bioeconomy Alliance (12 associations of the bioeconomy) that shared pointed criticism on the leaked draft of the Plastics Strategy with several Commissioners. In addition to this, EUBP shared practical editing proposals with the work staff of the directorate generals (DG) GROW and ENVI responsible for drafting the strategy and coordinated media coverage of the main critical messages.

The publication of the Plastics Strategy is delayed until 16 January 2018 as it is connected to the finalisation of the waste legislative trilogues.

The Bioeconomy Panel presented DG Research with a Review of the Bioeconomy Strategy during the policy day of Bioeconomy Week on 16 November 2017. The same day, EUBP participated in a panel discussion organised during the policy day by DG GROW moderated by Luisa Prista (Unit Chemicals).

Furthermore, EUBP prepared the next Bioplastics Organisation Network Europe (BON Europe) meeting on 27 November and welcomed Club Bioplastiques, Holland Bioplastics, Belgian Bio Packaging, and Verbund kompostierbare Produkte in Berlin for a meeting the day before the 12th European Bioplastics Conference.

During the 12^th EUBP Conference, EUBP was happy to welcome some key political representatives from Germany and EU level including: Gunther Mieth and Tilman Schachtsiek from the German Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Rana Pant from the Joint Research Center / European Commission, as well as Meadhbh Bolger from the environmental NGO Friends of the Earth.

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

Product Groups

PG Biodegradables

The PG Biodegradables is still working on a background paper focussing on the biodegradation process of bioplastics. Latest research results of BASF and ETH Zürich on the formation of biomass during the biodegradation of their materials will be an important part of that.

Another paper of the German Verbund kompostierbare Produkte on compostable biowaste bags will be translated to English, and international references shall be added.

The Ellen McArthur foundation has published a position on oxo-degradable plastics at the beginning of November, which has been much welcomed by the PG and will be one of the most important publications for further communication on this topic for the association.

PG Bio-based

Task Force (TF) 1 (Sustainability evaluation) met on 3 November in Berlin to discuss land use estimation, LCA of bioplastics, and sustainable sourcing of feedstock. Land use estimation based on the latest market data update 2017 is now complete and was published during the EUBP conference on 29 November. A methodology will be drafted in the next weeks. The TF decided on a new approach on LCA and will compile a collection of available bioplastics LCA/LCI data, without valuation. Furthermore, a position paper on the topic will be developed to give recommendations on the sensitive usage of available LCA data in connection with communication on the benefits of bio-based plastics. The existing position paper on the agricultural use of feedstock will be updated in the next weeks.

TF 2 (End of life) is currently designing a position on mechanical recycling and also incineration of bioplastics. The starting point is the existing Fact Sheet on mechanical recycling. A detailed work plan for the TF has been drafted.

TF 3 (Chemicals and intermediates) will prepare a mapping on existing building blocks for bioplastics and biopolymers and also identifying further used of such molecules. The mapping will be used for a background paper. A first conference call is set to take place in January 2018.

All members of TF joined at a dinner meeting on 27 November to discuss general expectations to the related topics.

PG contact: Constance Ißbrücker (issbruecker@european-bioplastics.org)

Communications

Please find a selection of media clippings from November 2017 here.

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

On 29 November, EUBP published the global bioplastics market data update 2017 during a presentation at the 12^th European Bioplastics Conference and sent out a press release. According to the market data update, global production capacities of bioplastics are predicted to grow by 20 percent in the next five years due to stronger investments in expansion and scaling up of production capacities and stronger political support for the bioeconomy and circular economy on the whole. You can read our press release here.

If you have any questions concerning the communications activities of EUBP, please contact Katrin Schwede (schwede@european-bioplastics.org).

Events

A successful 12th European Bioplastics Conference 2017

The 12th edition of the European Bioplastics Conference took place on 28/29 November 2017 in Berlin. It was yet another successful meeting of the industry with over 330 participants from 200 companies and 30 countries connecting and catching up on the latest developments and trends in the bioplastics industry in Europe. 36 companies showcased a great diversity of the newest products, materials, and applications at the exhibition alongside the conference. European Bioplastics extends a special thank you to the sponsors of this year’s conference: BASF, BIOTEC, DIN CERTCO, NatureWorks, Sulzer, and Total Corbion PLA, for their support. You can read the full review in press release from 30 November.

Save the date! The 13^th European Bioplastics Conference will take place on 4/5 December 2018 at the Titanic Hotel Chausseestr. in Berlin, Germany. More information will follow soon in the new year.

If you would like more about the European Bioplastics Conference, please get in touch with Joanna Wilde (wilde@european-bioplastics.org).  

Bioeconomy Symposium Argentina

EUBP was invited to attend the Symposium & Workshop: Central Region Bioeconomy on 9/10 November 2017 in Santa Fe, Argentina, organised by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation of Santa Fe province. Constance Ißbrücker and Katrin Schwede of EUBP presented the developments of the European bioplastics industry and, together with the Ministry and participants of the workshop, developed first initial steps to attract investment in and the establishment of bioplastics production in the region. The central region around Santa Fe has great potentials due to the vast amounts of by-products (glycerol) from bio-diesel production. The local governments are now looking for ways to effectively turn the strong research and development activities in the region in this field into a flourishing bioplastics industry.

Research Projects

For the H2020 project Polybioskin a flyer has been prepared and is ready to be printed. The project website has also been launched. Furthermore, information has been collected for a first report as deliverable to be prepared by EUBP dealing with material specifications of the applications dealt with in the project. The consortium has been preparing their involvement in the upcoming BBI Stakeholder Forum 2017, which will take place in Brussels on 6/7 December.

If you would like to find out more about these projects, please get in touch with Götz Ahrens (ahrens@european-bioplastics.org).

Planned activities October 2017

• CEP: contact programme with Council, monitoring of trilogues, twitter action to urge Council to support our points; organisation of apéro event for Council members on 5 October.
• WG Regulatory Affairs: preparation of strategic planning meeting on 15 January 2018, Brussels;
• WG Regulatory Affairs: gathering of intelligence on timelines for Fertilisers Regulation;
• WG Regulatory Affairs: monitoring of last development regarding waste trilogues in 2017
• Update Feedstock paper (TF1)
• Preparation of compilation of LCA data (TF1)
• Update Fact Sheet Mechanical Recycling (TF2)
• Mapping of bio-based building blocks (TF3)
• Preparation of the next draft on the Background Paper on compostable plastics (PG Biodegradables)

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