Robert Matthews

In a society where anyone can claim to be a source of information and potentially be read by over 300 million search engine users every day, how to effectively communicate around risk when you are a science-based industry is a fundamental question. If properly handled, it can hush up alarmist and biased news stories and avoid product discrimination and unfounded deselection.

Issued by the EU Commission in June, a draft proposal for a Directive on Energy Efficiency sparked criticism among stakeholders. The text requires public bodies to renovate 3% of their buildings each year as of 2014.

PlasticsEurope is looking at a potential participation in the Renovate Europe Campaign to be taken before end November.

A new report from the European Environment Agency (EEA) sheds light on the effects that Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) may have on emissions of some key air pollutants.

The Swedish Plastics & Chemicals Federation has applied for funding by the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems (Vinnova) and asked the IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, SWEREC, Ineos and Kuusakoski to participate.

PlasticsEurope has duly participated in the writing of an important document entitled "Global guidance for LCA databases", which clearly shows the way towards harmonization.

Stakeholders have recently voted on the International Standard for Product Carbon Footprint. The German mirror committee voted against the Draft International Standards, while PlasticsEurope Germany had several objections as well.

On November 16 and 17, plastics industry representatives from across the world met in Dubai to create a global action plan for solutions on marine litter. The plan describes actions to be taken and progress to be reported in 2012.

The signposts at the border are going to change for good. With its considerable expertise in recycling waste streams, the Netherlands is promoting itself as a materials roundabout.

The Technology Strategy Board is to invest up to £15m in collaborative research and development projects that stimulate innovation across our key enabling technology areas: advanced materials; biosciences; electronics, photonics and electrical systems; information and communications technology; and nanoscale technologies.

The revision of the current waste law in Germany is in progress, with only the Bundesrat still to agree on its content.

The ABRYS conference, which deals with thermal treatment of waste, took place end of October in Szczecin (Poland). It gathered over 200 participants coming not only from Poland but also from other European countries such as Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, France and Sweden.

On November 14, in parallel with the inauguration of Spanish plastics fair Equiplast, PlasticsEurope Ibérica organized a conference to present the results of an image survey on the need to improve the recovery rates in Spain.

On November 21, PlasticsEurope Iberica’s staff attended a one-day Ambassador Workshop organised by member company Ercros. The meeting was organized in Tarragona, close to their chemical and plastic production sites.

Following the launch of the new Voluntary Commitment of the European PVC industry, the PVC product group of PlasticsEurope Iberica has given several presentations to different members of the value-chain.

PlasticsEurope has teamed up with Elipso to promote the industry’s 2010 results and waste management strategy. The premiere gathered over 25 journalists.

On November 10, PlasticsEurope organised a visit to the Veolia plant of Ludres where key national authorities were introduced to solid recovered fuel technology.

Although we have not won the tender of DG ENV − it went to RPA, a well-known independent UK Consultant −, we have decided to pursue our efforts to review polymer registration exemption under REACH.

The public consultation of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) on phthalates could bring restrictions for the four phthalates DEHP, BBP, DBP and DIPB.

Co-funded by PlasticsEurope, the Austrian Research Institute (OFI) is working on a four-year project aiming to establish European standards for the detection of estrogenic effects related to food contact materials.

Allod Werkstoff GmbH & Co.KG, a German company specialised in R&D thermoplastic rubber (TPE), invited PlasticsEurope to participate in its third conference on plastic materials and technologies.

Six important proposals for new ISO standards, along with two ISO technical reports on Packaging and environment are now available for consultation before being published.

During their last plenary meeting in Stockholm, members of CEN TC 350 have approved the publication of new standards for sustainability in building and construction.

The Nordic environment ministers have now united to identify and limit the use of endocrine disrupters. They have issued a joint article were they present the initiative, and will work actively to get EU legislation to better protect consumers and promote good and ambitious international guidelines.

The Swedish Food Agency has recently made an evaluation of packaging, household items or chemical substances that could pose a potential health risk to consumers and suggestions on how to manage this risk.

Together with the British Chamber of Commerce, PlasticsEurope will co-host a Business Dinner with Dr Janez Potočnik , the EU Commissioner for Environment, on December 6.

The representative of PlasticsEurope Polska has been invited by the Ministry of Environment to participate in an expert panel aiming to help determine the scope of public consultation on waste management, citizens habits and perception of waste issues.

„Deutschlandtag" is what the German Young Democrats call their annual meeting. As in previous years, PlasticsEurope was present for all three days with a stand of its own.

Some 450 teachers from Hesse’s primary schools have met in Frankfurt to learn how to make better use of teaching material and offerings such as Kunos coole Kunststoffkiste.

From October 21 to November 2, PlasticsEurope Italia participated to the 9th edition of the Science Festival, an international event for science dissemination through lectures, exhibits, workshops, special events and shows.

The European Youth Debate Competition took place on November 8 in Sofia, within the plenary hall of the Bulgarian National Assembly.

On November 9–12, PlasticsEurope Italia participated to the 15th International Trade Fair of Material & Energy Recovery and Sustainable Development.

"I love gardening, but I always managed to make some degree of damage to our young trees, bushes and flowers while mowing the lawn or using the trimmer. Very often the best soil and decorative rocks flew away while using my trimmer too hasty and somehow water went everywhere but on the roots. Finally nice but hungry wild animals attacked the plants whenever I turned my back. "Matti Varjus recalls.

ECVM, the EDC and VCM REACH consortia, as well as EuPC, have provided input to the consultation over Ethylene Dichloride (EDC) being proposed for REACH candidate list. Besides pointing out several major inaccuracies in the dossier submitted by Slovakia, ECVM stressed that over 99 % of EDC is used to manufacture vinyl chloride monomer and other chemical substances under strictly controlled conditions. Only minute amounts are being sold for non-intermediate uses, and even these are sold to industrial users.

Building on the agreed way forward for the revision of Large Volume Organics Chemicals BAT Reference, which was clarified over the summer, a 72-page long Basic Document for Questionnaire (BDQ) on EDC/VCM was sent out for comments on November 4. ECVM members have been approached in order to ensure that industry views are well captured and reflected.

Current work conditions within the PVC industry ensure adequate protection of the workers, according to a report on the revision of the "Carcinogens at Work” directive. The consortium led by the Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM), which was awarded the tender end of 2008, released its conclusions a few weeks ago.

The Danish Competent Authority logged a proposal for classification and labelling of styrene as CMR 1b for reprotoxicity and STOT RE 1. The 45-day public consultation period started on October 10th and ends on November 24th, 2011.

A PlasticsEurope Polska representative has participated in a meeting on plastics bags’ voluntary agreement project (V-bags) initiated by EUPC. Organised in Warsaw, the meeting gathered around 25 participants ‒ mainly Polish converters producing plastics bags ‒, and talks were concentrated on the pressure exerted by different bodies (national and European organisations including the European Commission) over the plastic bags issue.

The German plastics institute DKI has extended its offices with the sole purpose to intensify research on lightweight technology for made of plastics. The inauguration took place end of September.

130 plastics industry professionals have met at a dinner organized by the Spanish Centre for Plastics (CEP) and sponsored by PlasticsEurope and the Society of Plastics Engineers. This year the meeting took place on November 15 in Barcelona, coinciding with the Equiplast Fair.

The Portuguese Plastic Industry Association, APIP, organized its annual plastics seminar on October 27-29 in Aveiro. During the three-day event, plastics experts discussed important topics such as the automotive market in the actual economic context, Energy Efficiency& Energy services as an opportunity to reduce costs, replacement of Aluminium in high barrier flexible packaging and moulds for the plastic industry.

The Italian seminar on waste took place on November 15 at LIUC University "C. Cattaneo”, which is situated in Castellanza (VA), one of the main plastics industry centres.

A workshop on sustainable development took place on November 18. It was organized by AIM (Italian Association of Macromolecules) together with PlasticsEurope Italia and discussed trade-related issues.

Taking place on October 25, the Mediterranean Advisory Board meeting, which was organized within the plastic fair of Istanbul, was attended by qualified experts coming from the industrial word in order to update the group on some current topics.

Under the leadership of the Federal Ministry of Environment, the German Government has updated its draft for a German Resources Efficiency Programme. The document aims to protect natural resources and to build an ecological and social economy in Germany.

End of September the European Commission has published its "Roadmap to a resource efficient Europe", which is one of the initiatives under the European 2020 strategy.

On November 1,Polivinyl S.A., a newly created Polish business entity, has acquired a plastics business unit from ZACHEM. ZACHEM is a large manufacturing company, with over 60 years of experience, specialised in the production of TDI (for polyurethane foam) and EDI.

On October 21, Plastic Consult presented its report on of the plastics sector trends in Italy. In the first nine months of 2011, converter demand for plastics was still disappointing as it registered a 2% decrease compared to the same period of 2010.