Dear members,

Please find below an overview of activities carried out by European Bioplastics throughout November/December 2020.

Regulatory Affairs (WG REGA)

The European Bioplastics’ Working Group Regulatory Affairs (WG REGA) last met on 9 December. EUBP had led the effort to develop a letter of concern for the European Bioeconomy Alliance to send to Executive VP Timmermans and Commissioner McGuinness, with other Commissioners in copy. It highlights serious concerns around the exclusion of bio-based products produced using food/feed crops through the technical screening criteria. The letter emphasized that such an exemption would have a significant impact on many of EUBA’s members, including EUBP.

Following concerns that environmental NGOs were circulating the Zimmermann study, a letter highlighting the flaws in its methodology had been prepared and circulated by EUBP to its main contacts in the EU Institutions, to media and to NGOs themselves. Further outreach to ECHA would be pursued, and scientific research institutes would also be approached with a request for rebuttal of the Zimmerman study/article.

EUBP is conducting an NGO mapping and is undertaking outreach. One goal of this is to understand whether Zero Waste Europe would be willing to take part in an event to publicise the findings of the ZWE/BIC report on the potential for the use of biowaste. The longer-term aim is to establish a better communication between the association and the NGO community.

Work on the draft position paper on a Policy Framework for Bioplastics would continue in early 2021 with the aim of submitting it to the Commission before the end of Q1.

As agreed, a shorter submission on ERs for the PPWD had been prepared for the public consultation (deadline 6 January). This was shared with BON Europe and with relevant members of the European Bioeconomy Alliance.  There was a focus on including climate impact and the need for low carbon reusable and recyclable materials as well as on the need for compostables.

Votes on the Circular Economy Own Initiative Report in the ENVI Committee and, consequently, in Plenary had been delayed at least in part due to the very large volume of amendments received. EUBP had sent its voting recommendations already to the Rapporteur Jan Huitema’s office.

EUBP will aim to draft a position on the plastics levy (aka the plastics tax). This might help national associations promoting incentives for bioplastics. The responsible subgroup led by TIPA agreed to begin this process with the aim of presenting something to the group in late January or February.

For detailed information on the work of the WG Regulatory Affairs, please contact Joanna Dupont-Inglis (inglis@european-bioplastics.org).

BON Europe

BON Europe (Bioplastics Organisations Network) is an alliance of European Bioplastics and European national bioplastics organisations. The group met online on 12 November, mainly discussing the implementation of the SUP Directive into national law. It was decided to prepare an overview to compile up-to-date information from the Member States.

In its December meeting on 15 December, a draft version of this table was presented. In a future version, this table could also include information on additional policy topics. The group will continue with monthly web meetings also in 2021.

For more information regarding BON Europe, please contact Katharina Hinse (hinse@european-bioplastics.org).

Product Groups

Product Group Bio-based

Together with the members (TF1), EUBP updated the land use template. After the application of the new market data, the new estimation for the production of bio-based plastics requires approx. 700,000 ha in 2020 and 1.1MM ha in 2025. This is 0.015% and 0.020% of the global agricultural area, respectively. TF2 is about to finalize the fact sheet for chemical recycling, whereas TF3 continues working on a paper on sugar as feedstock for bio-based plastics.

EUBP staff and members participated in the workshop “Bio-based plastics: sustainable sourcing and content” in connection with a study carried out by wood, WUR and Trinomics on behalf of DG ENVI. The aim of the study was to identify options that could ensure the promotion of bio-based plastics in the EU market that would result in “genuine environmental benefits”. In detail, the overall project will consider the labelling of bio-based content and the possibility to define sustainability criteria for bio-based plastics. It is supposed to be finalised by mid 2021. Necessary activities, such as a paper on bio-based content or the update of the position paper on sustainability assessment, will be discussed in the next PG meeting. The next web meeting of the PG Biobased is scheduled for 14 January 2021 (10:00am –12:00am). An additional meeting of the PG will take place on 12 January at 10:00am to discuss new developments regarding the JRC study on alternative feedstock in the production of plastics.

For more information regarding bio-based plastics including sustainability issues and the work of the PG and TFs, please contact Constance Ißbrücker (issbruecker@european-bioplastics.org).

Product Group Biodegradables

The paper on “Claims on Biodegradability and Compostability” which should provide guidelines for the use of different terms around biodegradability and compostability is finalized and will be published at the EUBP homepage at the beginning of 2021.

SAPEA has published the awaited report on “Biodegradability of plastics in the open environment”. Details and possible actions will be discussed in the next PG meeting. The next web meeting of the PG Biodegradables will take place on 13 January from 10:00am to 12:00am.

For more information regarding PG Biodegradables and the TF Marine, please contact Constance Ißbrücker (issbruecker@european-bioplastics.org).

Working Group Standardisation

The next web meeting of the WG has been postponed to 5 January 2021, 10:00am. The agenda foresees a discussion on anaerobic digestion and disintegration times in the EN13432.

CEN/TC 249 WG 9 (Bio-based and biodegradable plastics) had a web meeting on 19 November to discuss the draft on “Status of standardisation and new prospects”. This project will be continued in 2021.

For more information on standards for bioplastics, current standardisation processes, and certification of bioplastics, please contact Constance Ißbrücker (issbruecker@european-bioplastics.org).

Communications

Please find under the following link a selection of relevant media clippings from November/December 2020 (online).

In November, EUBP Comms activity focussed on the promotion of the annual conference. Throughout the month, EUBP’s social media channels were used to attract not only regular participants by promoting the programme and its speakers but also to win sponsors and exhibitors for the conference’s virtual exhibition. The social media activity was successfully endorsed by EUBP members through their communication channels. In order to ensure media coverage from the event, EUBP Comms invited 15 journalists to attend and cover the conference. On 19 November, Comms also distributed a press release to promote the conference programme. The release was shared on social media as well.

During the conference, EUBP Comms covered the sessions that took place on the main stage on its social media channels. On 2 December, it supported the promotion of the new market data for 2020 with a press release which was also shared on social media. As part of the conference follow-up, on 7 December, Comms published another press release giving a summary of the event. Additionally, the December edition of the EUBP newsletter featured a conference wrap-up, and Comms wrote another article on the event which was published in a specialized media outlet. During the three conference days (30 November - 3 December), Comms was able to further improve EUBP’s media activity, especially on its social media channels. This became evident by the significant increase of followers on Twitter (around 80 new followers) and LinkedIn (around 100 new followers) as well as by the subscriptions (between 70-80 new subscribers) that were made for the EUBP newsletter.

On 17 December, EUBP Comms published a press release in response to the EU report entitled “Biodegradability of plastics in the open environment” published by the European Commission’s Scientific Advice Mechanism (SAM). It identifies applications of biodegradable polymers which contribute towards achieving a circular economy and tackle the challenge of managing the EU’s waste.

Additionally, Comms further elaborated on a discussion around EUBP’s web presence, including its homepage as well as its social media activities on Twitter and LinkedIn. The topic was initially introduced during the WG Comms’ last meeting (4 September). In consultation with the EUBP general management, it was agreed to set up a corresponding task force. The task force “EUBP Web Presence” will hold its kick-off meeting virtually on 3 February 2021.

Throughout November and December, EUBP Comms also attended the general meetings of WG REGA (18 November, 9 December 2020). The intention of the joint meetings was to further deepen the understanding of the relevant political processes on the EU level and to align the EUBP communication activities with those of the regulatory affairs.

Following the publication of the new market data 2020, EUBP Comms developed a 2-pager that was made available online on 3 December. A long version of the data report will be completed towards the end of January. Comms also updated the EUBP webpage according to the new market data, which included related text passages and visuals.

Additionally, during November/December, EUBP Comms coordinated the responses to several requests by journalists and companies regarding detailed information on different aspects of bioplastics.

For more information or questions concerning the communications activities of EUBP, please contact Oliver Buchholz (buchholz@european-bioplastics.org).

Seedling Logo

The Advisory Committee of the Seedling (ACS) met on 4 December to discuss current certification issues, such as compostable capsules and ecotoxicity testing of constituents with a share of less than 0.1%. It also issued the topic of graphene and certain lubricants on the positive list. The ACS decided that changes will be either communicated through the certification bodies if applied immediately or can be found in the next update of the certification scheme. The next meeting will take place on 5 March 2021.

For more information on the Seedling Logo or the Certification Scheme, please contact Constance Ißbrücker (issbruecker@european-bioplastics.org).

Events

The 15th European Bioplastics (EUBP) Conference took place from 30 November to 3 December.  Despite having had to change to a virtual format, the conference, once again, continued its success story as the leading business and networking platform for the global bioplastics industry.

Over 350 participants from 36 countries attended the EUBP Conference representing all stakeholder groups along the value chain of bioplastics. With 12 sessions at the second conference stage and 23 exhibitors representing at the virtual exhibition hall, companies and institutions were able to showcase the high diversity of new products, materials, and applications. The conference was successfully supported by AGRANA, BASF, CABAMIX, SUKANO and its main sponsor TÜV AUSTRIA.

The 16th European Bioplastics Conference will take place from 30 November to 1 December 2021.

If you have any questions, please contact Hannah Heimann (conference@european-bioplastics.org).

Projects

BIOnTop (Project month: 18 of 48)

https://biontop.eu/ (BBI-JU)

BIOnTop’s consortium met on 24 and 25 November, to provide the partners with an update on the latest material and process developments. All in all, several promising biobased copolymers have been identified so far. These will be tested in reactive extrusion and the resulting packaging materials. The initially planned innovation management session was postponed to 15 December to shape the focus of the meeting. During the meeting, AIMPLAS, ENCO, and EUBP outlined the possible market strategy and innovation impacts.

BIOMAC (Kick-Off: 14 January)

Grant agreement 952941 (Horizon 2020)

The grant preparation has been successfully completed and BIOMAC will officially start in January 2021. The consortium agreement is now being prepared to be finalized before the kick-off meeting.

PRESERVE (Kick-Off: 27 January)

Grant agreement 952983 (Horizon 2020)

EUBP’s second positively evaluated project proposal PRESERVE is also entering its final preparation phase, including the completion of the consortium agreement. The project will start in January.

Status of project partnering, other HORIZON 2020 projects, and proposal/grant agreements:

On 4 November EUBP took part in European Bioplastics Research Network’s second meeting organized by BIO-PLASTICS EUROPE. The aim was on jointly facing challenges and combining forces with other H2020 projects that deal with bioplastics. This was complemented by networking with similar packaging projects on 27 November in a second joint webinar of the H2020 projects Mypack, Glopack, and YPACK.

On national level, EUBP’s stakeholder commitments also include IfBB’s BioPolyDat project aiming to setting up an online platform for resource calculation for bioplastics, such as land and water use. During a meeting on 3 November, EUBP was updated on the recent developments.

On a short notice, EUBP will also support a project proposal applying to Green Deal Call LC-GD-3-2-2020 (Demonstration of systemic solutions for the territorial deployment of the circular economy, deadline 26.01.2021). In case of a successful application, EUBP will become member of a potential advisory board.

EUBP also supports the proposal for the German “BiKoSim” project on providing data for injection moulding computer simulation of bioplastics. The project is coordinated by the Agency for Renewable Resources (FNR) on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL). It provides data for engineering software that helps bio-based plastics to catch up with conventional plastics in the field of engineering.

In November, EUBP projects also supported the preparations of 15th EUBP conference. It will include a poster session for EU projects and a panel discussion on how EU projects shape the future of bio-based plastics. Both conference elements perfectly add to EUBP’s existing network and project participations.
For more information or requests concerning EUBP’s project involvements, please contact Christian Schulz (schulz@european-bioplastics.org).

Planned activities

WG Regulatory Affairs

• Proposal of compromise amendments to European Parliament on CEAP INI
• Ongoing coordination with BON Group on all core topics
• Follow up with DGs GROW and ENVI on JRC study and on overall negative bias respectively
• Drafting of response to public consultation on PPWD ERs (deadline 6 January) and to consultation on sustainable products (deadline 3 December)
• Drafting of EUBP position on plastics tax regulation
• Scheduling of discussions on further engagement with the Commission on taxonomy in order to influence the 6 delegated acts
• Development of political/regulatory sessions at EUBP conference (MEPs and Commission officials invited together with scientific research institute representatives and leading stakeholders)

Communications

• Preparation of kick-off meeting of TF EUBP Web Presence (3 February 2021)
• Preparation of 4-pager on EUBP market data 2020
• Preparation of EUBP’s annual report 2020  
• Update of EUBP publications with new market data 2020

BON Europe

• Next web meeting of BON Europe on 28 January 2021
• Complete overview on Member States’ implementation of SUP Directive

PG Bio-based

• Fact Sheet on bio-based content/mass balance
• TF 1: monitor and update JRC LCA study and new study on sustainability and bio-based content (DG ENVI), update position paper on sustainability assessment
• TF 2: finalization fact sheet on chemical recycling, revision fact sheet on energy recovery
• TF 3: finalization paper on sugar as feedstock for bio-based plastics
• Next meeting PG Biobased on14 January 2021
• Ad hoc meeting PG Biobased on 12 January (status quo JRC LCA project)

PG Biodegradables

• Publication guidelines on claims concerning biodegradability and compostability
• Position paper on microplastics (tbd)
• Next meeting on 13 January 2021

WG Standardisation

• Next meeting on 5 January 2021

Seedling Logo

• Next meeting of the ACS on 5 March 2021

If you have any suggestions regarding the content and/or format of our monthly report, please do not hesitate to share them with us.  

This email is sent to all the contacts of our member companies that we have registered in our database. If you would like to share it with further colleagues, kindly send us an email to members@european-bioplastics.org. 

Kind regards,
Hasso v. Pogrell