EVENT REVIEW | PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD EXHIBITION
Right: There was a packed audience at the conference sessions during the Plastics Recycling World
Exhibition
one day of this event than a whole week at NPE,” said Bernhard Gabauer, Segment Development Manager Plastics at Bühler. The free-to attend conference programme also
Below: The Veolia Polymers stand at Plastics Recycling World Exhibition 2018
made a key contribution to the success of the events. The three conference theatres at the Essen shows hosted a series of presentations covering a wide range of technologies and market opportuni- ties, plus informative training seminars and business debates featuring industry leaders, and attracted capacity crowds of up to 250 people each (see below). “The focused nature of the expos worked very well for visitors from the plastics recycling and com- pounding sectors,” said Andy Beevers, Events Director at AMI. “They could meet with key suppli- ers and participate in highly relevant conference sessions all under one roof. Similarly, for exhibitors, the clear focus of the events meant they were meeting large numbers of visitors with a very specific interest in their products and services”. The keynote address at the Plastics Recycling
World conference was made by AMI Consulting analyst Elizabeth Carroll, who researched the European plastics recycling market for a study published by AMI in June. She presented an
analysis of the market, industry, policy and other challenges facing plastics recyclers. Demand for polymers continues to grow, and by 2022 it is expected that global polymer demand will rise to just under 350m tonnes, she said. As demand for polymers is increasing, there is potential to include more recyclate in products. The news coverage of plastics as a source of environ- mental damage, particularly from marine litter, also provides an important impetus. “As an industry, it is something we have to actively do something about,” said Carroll. There are a number of strong drivers influencing the plastics recycling industry which she referred to: policy changes, such as the EU’s Plastics Strategy announced in January; the need to increase Europe’s plastics recycling capacity; more activity among brand owners in relation to the use of recyclate. One of the biggest challenges for European
plastics recyclers is the high levels of contamina- tion in waste streams, she said. “I spoke to quite a few people when doing my research. One of the things that kept coming up was contamination levels in the waste. One of the more interesting things I heard was from a PET bottle recycler: he said that in bales of sorted, clean PET bottles that they received, there was about 50% contamination. They found TV remote controls and car alternators in these bales. And this is meant to be clean, sorted waste ready to be recycled.” This problem is also affecting demand, as potential customers are deterred if the quality of regranulate is compromised by the contamination of raw material. Carroll said recycling technology is getting better at dealing with the problem, and she indicated a trend to integration as another re- sponse, with brand owners, polymer producers and compounders increasingly investing in plastics recycling. “If you can’t buy a consistent, good-quali- ty supply of recyclate, make it yourself. We are seeing this with Coca-Cola and other food brand
22 PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD | July/August 2018
www.plasticsrecyclingworld.com
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