Sustainable Plastics - March/April 2023 - 33

recycling event
PRSE: Giving
recyclers a
platform
In just a few weeks, once again the most important event in the European
recycling world will be held in Amsterdam. For two days - 10 and 11 May
- the Amsterdam RAI will provide the backdrop for the European plastics
recycling industry to showcase what makes this such an innovative and highly
relevant industry today.
W
hen it launched
in 2017, the Plastics
Recycling
Show Europe
- to give it its proper name -
was an initiative of a tiny team
of people who saw the direction
in which Europe was headed.
Developments at the European
level indicated that momentum
was gathering for a new way
of thinking about the economy.
Finite resources, marine pollution,
climate change - the realisation
dawned that these were
real. And suddenly, circularity
became the new credo.
The question that remained
for the industry was: How?
At that time, the trade organisations
for recyclers started realising
just how important their
contribution could be to the
new drive for circularity. What
was lacking was a meeting
place - an event where the industry
could come together but
also where relevant players and
interested parties from outside
the recycling industry could
become informed and join the
plastics circularity discussion.
Having previously launched
the Plastics Recycling Expo
in Telford (UK), Matt Barber,
global events director at Crain
Communications, saw this
could be a springboard for a
Europe-wide event, in collaboration
with Plastics Recyclers
Europe. From that spark of an
idea, PRSE was born. The event
launched with relatively modest
expectations. Today, it is now
the most important plastics recycling
event in Europe.
Brief background
Plastics recycling is not a new
activity, but it is a sector that
for decades operated more or
less out of view. That started
to change when the European
Commission adopted its first
circular economy action plan in
2015. In it, plastics were identified
as a key priority and it included
targets for landfill, reuse,
and recycling to be met by 2030
and 2035, along with new obligations
for the separate collection
of textiles and biowaste.
Moreover, the commission
committed to formulating a European
circular economy plastics
strategy: a strategic vision,
setting out what a circular plastics
economy could look like in
the decades ahead.
Take, make, waste
In a linear economy, there is very
little incentive to recycle. And indeed
the reuse and recycling of
end-of-life plastics in the EU was
- and essentially still is - very
low, particularly in comparison
with other materials such as paper,
glass, or metals.
In this take-make-waste
model, therefore, waste is the
end point - it's why there are
such huge volumes of it. And
more continues to be generated
at a dizzying pace, bringing
continued on page 34
March/April 2023
33
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