Sustainable Plastics - April 2020 - 13

Q&A
cycling and repair activities
into production chains to bring
growth, jobs and added value
in Europe. It protects the environment from plastic pollution
whilst fostering growth and
innovation, turning a challenge
into a positive agenda. It is
transforming the way products
are designed, produced, used,
and recycled in the EU. The
way plastics are currently produced, used and discarded fail
too often to capture the economic benefits of a more circular approach and create waste
which is a loss for the EU economy. So with our Strategy we
rethought the whole approach,
with measures for each stage
of the plastics value chain.
It has become popular to call
for a 'plastic-free' way of life.
Yet, looking at the enormously
varied use of plastic in society, this would be very hard to
achieve. As replacements for
tortoise shell and ivory, in enabling better health and sanitation, preventing food waste
and much, much more, plas-

tics are firmly embedded in
daily life. Moreover, alternative
materials are often themselves
highly polluting. For example,
the pulp and paper industry is
one of the major polluting industries in the world. What are
your views on this?
We are not anti-plastic. The
Plastics Strategy recognises the
importance of plastics in our
society and sets a vision for a
more sustainable plastics value
chain that includes addressing
some of the negative externalities of plastics such as marine
pollution and microplastics.
And some alternative materials
come with their own environmental issues. However, we are
committed to stimulating reusable alternatives, as done for
instance through the Directive
on Single Use Plastics. And, as
I said, the Commission will take
further measures to reduce
plastic pollution, by tackling microplastics, for example.
How can a more sustainable
approach to plastics and plastic use be achieved?

The European Union has a
vision for a new circular economy that is smart, innovative
and sustainable, where design
and production fully respects
the needs of reuse, repair, and
recycling, and helps cut EU's
greenhouse gas emissions and
dependence on imported fossil
fuels. This vision includes plastics, and so we are aiming to
help reduce greenhouse emissions from the sector and cut
down on plastic litter while also
bringing new opportunities for
innovation,
competitiveness
and high quality jobs.
This is a great opportunity for
European industry to develop
global leadership in new technology and materials. Establishing a
truly circular model, where plastic
is designed for reuse and recycling, and where recycled plastics
find their place in new products
would be a fantastic start.
In that context, would a mandatory bottle deposit scheme
at the EU level make sense?
Bottle deposit schemes can
be a solution to achieve high

collection rates, but they aren't
the only option. The Single-Use
Plastics Directive does not
make deposit return systems
for bottles mandatory. And even
the Directive on Packaging
and Packaging Waste allows
Member States to establish
the packaging collection systems best suited to their local
needs, consumption and distribution patterns of various
types of packaging and packaged goods. In implementing it,
Member States have opted for
the establishment of separate
collection systems or deposit
systems, or a combination of
both. The Directive sets ambitious targets for the separate
collection of plastic beverage
bottles- 77% for 2025, and 90%
for 2030. Member States have
flexibility to choose the best
way to achieve the targets, but
deposit return systems are indeed a very effective way of
quickly reaching these targets
and provide a very clean stream
for recycled plastics. Such systems are working well in big
continued on page 12

WE DRIVE THE
CIRCULAR ECONOMY.

Whether it is inhouse, postconsumer or bottle recycling:
you can only close loops in a
precise and profitable way if
machines are perfectly tuned
for the respective application.
Count on the number 1
technology from EREMA
when doing so: over 6000
of our machines and systems
produce around 14.5 million
tonnes of high-quality pellets
like this every year -
in a highly efficient and
energy-saving way.

CHOOSE THE NUMBER ONE.

2003016ERE_Sustainable Plastics.indd 1

April 2020

19.03.20 18:52

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https://www.erema.com/
Sustainable Plastics - April 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sustainable Plastics - April 2020
