The “Polymer REACH” project, part of the e-learning package developed for SMEs to aid the implementation of the EU’s REACH chemicals safety legislation, is now 18 months into its two-year programme, which will run until November 2011. The overall objective of “Polymer REACH” is to develop new content, an e-learning platform and supporting materials specifically for the European polymer industry, to help companies, particularly SMEs, to understand and increase their knowledge base on REACH.

The project is supported by funding of EUR 500,000 from the Leonardo “Lifelong Learning Programme”, with a team of seven European partners, led by Smithers Rapra (Shawbury, Shrewsbury / UK; www.rapra.net), working with other organisations from the UK, Italy, Portugal, Belgium, Lithuania and Estonia.

Work on developing the platform is now well advanced, says the European Plastics Converters Association (EuPC, Brussels / Belgium; www.plasticsconverters.eu), and a beta version is about to be trialled with 40 companies around Europe. Volunteer companies are currently being sought from all EU countries to participate in the trialling process. Companies can contact their local project partner if they are interested to see the first version of the package.

Following the trials and resulting modifications, the final version will be available from November 2011 on the project’s website. A REACH handbook will be available at the same time, offering European polymer SMEs an additional supporting resource to help them manage their way through the REACH requirements. All interested businesses are welcome to register free of charge on the project website, www.polymer-reach.eu, where copies of previously published reports and surveys are available to download.