NEWS


Complaint against EU’s single use plastic plan


Pack2Go Europe, the convenience packaging association, has made a complaint to the EU Ombudsman about the EU’s planned Directive on single use plastic. A draft of the directive released in May targets mostly plastics packaging products which the European Commission said contribute to the problem of marine litter. Pack2Go cited a “blatant conflict of interest, a biased consultation process and failure to carry out proper impact assessment of proposed measures”. In its submission to the Ombuds- man, the association raises questions about the appointment of UK consul- tancy Eunomia as the Commission’s objective advisors in the consultation and policy development process around the EU Plastics Strategy. Pack2Go said the consultancy had previously campaigned for restrictive measures against single use packaging over


lobby it at the very moment that they were sitting together at the same table and drafting new EU policy together.”


In its submis-


sion, Pack2Go says the Commission has ignored its own rules on better


several years. It claims the Commission also paid the consultancy via the interme- diary of lobbying NGO Seas at Risk to research and prepare an advocacy report on single use plastics and the marine environment. Mike Turner, managing


director of Graphic Packag- ing International Foodservice Europe, and president of Pack2Go Europe, said: “It is surprising that the Commis- sion employed as suppos- edly objective advisors a consultancy that was evangelical about its own policy views. It is shocking that the Commission then paid the same people to


regulation and described the impact assessment process as being “short- circuited”. The impact assessment pays no consideration to health and hygiene questions connect- ed with proposed packag- ing restrictions, it says. “We were flabbergasted


to hear Vice-Presidents Timmermans and Katainen declare in public on multiple occasions that there are no European companies and no European jobs at risk,” said Turner. “The Commission falsely suggested one of our members was manufacturing its products for Europe in India. Our members manu- facture in Europe and employ Europeans!” � www.pack2go-europe.com


Braskem scores with


Eagles Polyolefins producer Braskem is joining a recycling initiative run by the US pro football team Philadelphia Eagles. The partnership


involves development of a closed loop recycling program for bottle caps and other plastic prod- ucts. It will also create an online education platform for 30 Philadelphia-area county schools to teach students about Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (Stem) careers. The Eagles’ Go Green


program, which started in 2003, diverts more than 99% of waste from landfills. The new partner- ship will launch a closed loop recycling program at Lincoln Financial Field, the home of the Philadel- phia Eagles. It will also collect and recycle bottle caps at schools through a competition with the goal of educating the public about the benefits of recycling. � www.braskem.com


French minister suggests penalty system


France is planning to introduce penalty fees on goods in packaging not made with recycled plastics, according to newspaper reports in August. This is part of the govern- ment’s ambition to achieve 100% recycled plastics used for packaging by 2025, announced by French secretary of state for ecological transition, Brune Poirson. She said in an interview with the French


French minister Brune Poirson 8


press: “Declaring war on plastics is not enough. We must transform the French


PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD | September/October 2018


economy. Today, we extract resources from the planet to manufacture, for example, a plastic bottle that will spend a few seconds in our hands and will end, if it is not recy- cled, at best incinerated but usually at the bottom of a hole or in the sea. We must transform this system so that our economy becomes circular and that this plastic bottle is never a waste, but always valued or transformed into something else.” � www.ecologique-solidaire.gouv.fr


www.plasticsrecyclingworld.com


PHOTO: DART PRODUCTS


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