Among the many participants at the Sao Paulo 2nd World Plastic Connection Summit in October last year were converters, researchers, associations– and a certification body called AcePlas. AcePlas is Brazil’s only organisation that has been accredited by both EuCertPlas and Recyclass. “We bring a European model to Brazil that is adapted to the needs of Brazilian companies,” said Ormene Carvalho, the director of AcePlas, speaking with Sustainable Plastics in Sao Paulo.
AcePlas follows the same standards as RecyClass and EuCertPlast, said Ms Carvalho. “We adapted some of the industrial proceedings and applied our own methodology based on regular audits, certification, qualifications, and training,” she explained. The process to become accredited was a challenging one, but worth it, she added. As an internationally accredited certification body, the certificates that are issued by AcePlas are recognised in Europe, opening up new opportunities for companies who wish to do business there.
Brazil, she says, has a lot to offer.
It took quite some effort to convince the European association that AcePlas could actually meet the certification standards, that companies in Brazil have the equipment and the expertise to produce recycled materials on a par with those produced in Europe.
“They truly had no idea about the capabilities here in Brazil,’ said Carvalho. “So, for us to be accredited by them, we had to show them what Brazil was – what we produced, the equipment we had, the capacities. But when we showed them our structure, they accepted us.”
It is exactly why summits like the 2nd World Plastic Connection Summit are incredibly important. While Brazil may have ambitions to increase its export activities and to participate more fully on an international level, the world must first know what the country has to offer. “Events like this therefore work two ways,” Carvalho pointed out. “They offer the plastics industry here in Brazil a chance to learn, and at the same time to highlight their own capabilities.
She called the Summit a ‘fantastic’ experience, primarily because of the range of topics; addressed. “The presentations of colours and trends combined with the scientific aspect – the advances being made in designing and modifying polymers – it’s not something we often see addressed together at such events,” she noted. Today, she added, so many young people are focused on cost and efficiency of polymer processing but know nothing of the science behind it. “This knowledge is important, too, but very often companies lack the expertise or resources to provide it.”
The Brazilian plastics industry, like plastics industries everywhere in the world, is waking up to the growing need for a more sustainable approach to issues such as resource and energy use, environmental impact and end of life.
“ESG is a main theme today throughout the world and Brazil is part of the world; actually, a very important part, because of Amazonia,” said Carvalho. It is an awareness that is feeding the push to learn more about certification and design for recycling, as “we will otherwise not be able to participate.”
An example of a company that is already ‘participating’ is the Feliz, Brazil-based recycler PlastiWeber. It successfully completed the certification trajectory and was almost immediately contacted by companies in Europe to do business (see the box below, where Plastiweber Special Projects Manager, Lucas Pellenz, describes his company’s ambitions in more detail). This company also became the first in the world to create 100% PCR-derived preshrinkable film, for which it received an award in Italy.
“Certification opens doors”, said Carvalho.
Brazil shows its true colours
In so far as the Summit’s aim to promote the image of the Brazilian plastics industry is concerned, the ColorTrend 2023, premiered here, is another outstanding initiative and one that, in Ormene Carvalho’s view, might well be the most significant action undertaken by the Summit’s organisers.
“It puts Brazil decisively on the colour map and offers a way to distinguish ourselves. Brazil is known for the diversity of its colours – the greens of the Amazon, the chocolate browns – and for us, it is a great way to catch the attention. And it’s been professionally done, very impressive. After all, Brazil is renowned throughout the fashion industry. Establishing this relationship between fashion and plastics by working with the stylist Alexandre Herchcovitch is a brilliant way to show who we are and what sets us apart. With today’s internet and social media, it’s not just the audience here who sees it, the whole world will,” she declared.
Asked about the most important takeaway from the Summit, she thought for a moment before answering.
“It is very important to realise that without ESG, we won’t count in the world. But here in Brazil, next to the environmental problems, we have a social one as well. We need to recycle, yes. But here, part of the sorting is still done by hand, instead of mechanically. There is a huge poverty problem and a lack of infrastructure to recycle effectively. And this is an important message: you cannot compel people to recycle if there is no infrastructure,” she pointed out.
“Education is needed so that people understand about the need for recycling. But at a more basic level, we must do something about the infrastructure and about the poverty. Today, there are still groups of people who go into the street, called ‘catadores’, or garbage collectors who take out the waste. For them it is not about ESG or the environment. They sell it to survive.”
