“Plastics markets in a circular economy” – this was the motto adopted for the “KI Group Summit” on 17 October at “K 2019”. Players from the full length of the value chain set out approaches and solutions to sustainability for the 250 or so visitors who attended. Presentations ranged from fundamental observations to specific practical examples.

Ton Emans, president of Plastics Recyclers Europe (PRE, Brussels / Belgium; www.plasticsrecyclers.eu) stressed the urgency of the topic in view of the social pressure and rapidly growing global population. “We must be sparing with our resources if we are to retain our prosperity and we must bring China, India and the USA on board,” said Emans, in the light of the expected increase in the world population to 9.5 bn people in 2050. Against this background, we must press ahead with recycling as a matter of urgency. Recycling capcities of a good 5m t/y need to be constructed in Europe by 2025 just to achieve the immediate EU targets – something that will cost around EUR 5 bn. “Private investors must wake up,” was Emans’ call. He predicts that by 2025, there will be around 42m t of plastics waste produced in Europe. The EU target is to have at least 10m t of recycled plastics used in the processing sector by 2025 – see Plasteurope.com of 17.12.2018.

KI editor-in-chief Daniel Stricker spoke on the need for positive incentives for recycling, instead of bans on plastic products, along with appropriate product design. In addition, existing regulations, such as the EU-wide landfill ban, should finally be implemented in a consistent manner. He also pointed out that Europe’s increasing dependence on imports of raw materials and polymers is fraught with considerable supply risks. Plastics recycling could serve as a strategic raw material reserve for this.

The two plastics producers, Borealis (Vienna / Austria; www.borealisgroup.com) and Ineos Styrolution (Frankfurt / Germany; www.ineos-styrolution.com), set out their commitments to recycling. Promising perspectives also emerged for the chemical industry. Established suppliers Albis (Hamburg / Germany; www.albis.com) and Galloo Plastics (Halluin / France; www.gallooplastics.eu) showed what is possible today with recyclate from the post-consumer segment in a consistent and sufficient quality. In many cases, it is inadequate collection and reluctant users that are preventing further advances here. Jan Bauer from the RIGK initiative (Wiesbaden / Germany; www.rigk.de) explained how selective, application-based collection can be successfully built up. Sustainability expert Horst Kurrer from packaging group Mondi (Johannesburg / South Africa; www.mondigroup.com) presented interesting approaches from the user’s perspective.