The PRSE opened its doors in Amsterdam today, marking its fifth anniversary, as Brennan Lafferty, Group Publisher and Vice President of the Crain Global Polymer Group, announced, adding: “Yes, we count our virtual edition last year."
Although this year’s show is a hybrid event, the number of in person visitors is above expectation, with excellent attendance at the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the opening. EU Commissioner for the Environment , Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevičius then kicked off the conference with a video message for show, in which he emphasised the importance of good waste management practices for plastics and the need for recycling. As he noted, the EU has set the ambition for all packaging to be reusable and recyclable by 2030 - in a viable way. “Because we need plastics for many applications. Plastics are here to stay.”
He was followed by Ton Emans, the President of Plastics Recyclers Europe, who talked about 25 years of making plastics circular. According to Emans, however, there is still a long way to go. “To fulfil the objectives of 2025, we must double the capacity we have today,” he said. “We need more transparency in numbers, more collaboration in the value chain and better collection and sorting systems if we are to achieve these ambitions.” Chemical recycling he stressed, can be complementary, but competition on feedstock should be avoided. He ended with a reference to Boris Johnsons recent comments on recycling, saying “Boris, recycling works. We know it works.” And: “Welcome to a better future.”
A walk around the RAI hall further confirms the impression that this is a show people were looking foward to.
The stands are slightly farther apart than usual, to comply with the COVID regulations and some masks are being worn. Mainly, however, most visitors simply seem very happy to be here. By midday, exhibitors were reporting that the morning had been extremely busy with ‘good leads’. And as one enthusiastic exhibitor said: “I haven’t had a chance to sit down - which is good - and so many opportunities have come by. Everybody is here. And it is very good to be back here in Amsterdam.”
