A new beginning: The “Fakuma” plastics trade fair (www.fakuma-messe.de) opened its doors in Friedrichshafen / Germany today, 12 October 2021. Set to run to 16 October, the event is expected to host 1,470 exhibitors from 39 countries. The 27th instalment of Fakuma demonstrates that in-person fairs are “indispensable B2B platforms”, said Bettina Schall, MD of organiser P.E. Schall (Frickenhausen / Germany; www.schall-messen.de), at the opening.

No information was provided regarding the expected number of visitors, and the event is adhering to coronavirus protocols. The previous Fakuma in 2018 was attended by over 47,600 trade visitors from 126 countries and featured nearly 2,000 exhibitors from 40 countries (see Plasteurope.com of 25.10.2018). Plasteurope.com and its sister publications, Kunststoff Information (KI) and K-PROFI, are on site this year (booth ÜO-02). KI’s new Editor-in-Chief Christian Preiser invites Fakuma visitors to a “Yellow Hour” for a “radler” – the German version of a shandy – every day (till 16 October, of course) at 4 pm.

At the opening ceremony, Martin Bastian, director of Germany’s plastics research centre, SKZ (Würzburg; www.skz.de), called on the industry to invest more in improving the public image of plastics. The fact that the number of enrolments in plastics has halved in the past three years shows how bad the image of the material is, especially among the young generation. He said that in the medium term, this would further exacerbate the already dramatic shortage of skilled workers and managers. “We need to educate the public more in order to arouse enthusiasm and excitement for plastics.”

Thomas Probst of the German association for secondary raw materials and waste disposal, bvse (Bonn; www.bvse.de) also called for more committed cooperation between all industry players. “So far, we have been dealing with the material stream inadequately,” the waste expert said. “If we want to meet the legal requirements for the use of recyclates, we need to close ranks.” And this seems to be already in the works: Probst said a position paper on plastics recycling will be published in mid-October, noting that it was jointly prepared by the associations for plastics producers, processors and recyclers.