Highlights from the Petcore Annual Conference 2024

The Ecosense Foundation was present at the Petcore Annual Conference held in Brussels on the 7 – 8 the February that this year exceeded 330 attendees. Here you can read a summary of our highlights from the event by TOPIC (Speaker):

PET Market (Patrick Bouzekri, SBA-CCI and Helen McGeough, ICIS): According to SBA-CII forecasts, PET resin Packaging Grade Demand is expected to decrease around 2,5% in the next four years, from 3,18 Mt in 2023 to 3,10 Mt in 2027. On the other hand, rPET Food Grade Resin for bottles and sheets is expected to grow exponentially around 62,8% in the next four years, from 0,575 Mt in 2023 to 936 Mt in 2024. According to ICIS, 1,07 million tons of thermoformed PET were placed on the EU27+UK market in 2022.

PPWG timing (E&ACT BV, Leonor García): the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) is currently in the interinstitutional negotiations phase (political trilogies between Commission, Parliament and Council).  Publication prevision date on the official journal could be third quarter 2024. Although the introduction of “recyclability performance grades” is clear, the negotiations are focusing on the number of grades (e.g., A to E or A to C) and the period to enter in force. 

Plastics and Recycling Industry in Turkey (Yavuz Eroglu, PAGEV): the biggest destination of plastics goods manufactured in Turkey is Europe and it is also the leading importer of EU Plastics Waste. With more than 1.700 associated firms, PAGEV is actively working with the Turkish Ministries to catalyse the designation of a “local authority” in charge of attending the requirements that companies using EFSA approved Technologies shall comply under EU 2022/1616 Regulation on recycled plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with foods.

Chemical Recycling (Mathias De Vel & Inari Seppa, EASTMAN): presented the results of the SISTEMIQ study with and ambitious complementary scenario for 2040 between Chemical Recycling and Mechanical Recycling where the first one is presented as the solution for hard-to-recycle polyester waste materials from the second one, like coloured rejects from mechanical recyclers of PET packaging, as well as the best option for the recycling of textiles. 

Standardisation (Vincent Colard, CITEO): the standards that are currently being developed in CEN regarding DfR gidelines and recyclability evaluation protocols will be probably linked in the future to the delegated acts on these topics of the PPWR. This is very relevant considering that the current draft of the PPWR uses “recyclability” to allow or to ban packaging from the market in 2030 and to modulate de Extended Producer Responsibility Fees. 

Tray to tray recycling (Sergio Collado, SULAYR and Aron Damen, CIRREC): The European Thermoforms Recycling map is led by these two companies. In addition to SULAYR in Spain, who has been recycling PET clear thermoforms for more than 15 years, there are at least six more companies with dedicated technology for thermoforms in Europe achieving more than 300 Kt Recycling Capacity already installed. CIRREC from FAERCH in The Netherlands is one of the biggest recyclers for coloured and clear trays who expects to multiply by ten its capacity by 2026.