A new collaboration between two industry initiatives, European PET Bottle Platform (EPBP) and RecyClass, aims to promote and sustainably improve the production, collection and recycling of PET bottles in Europe. More specifically, the partnership will provide support to the value chain actors in making the right design decisions in PET bottle production, underpinning the recyclability, and thence circularity of this sector.
“If we are to make plastics circular the industry players need to speak with one voice,” said Paolo Glerean, RecyClass chairman. “We need also a clear and long-term objective which requires the collaboration, know-how and endorsement of all the partners.”
Within the partnership, EPBP will be responsible for the governance development and update of the testing protocols; RecyClass will oversee the execution and validation of the analysis of the standard package based on EPBP guidelines and protocols. This will include among others, running standard testing, ensuring impartiality and the highest quality of tests.
Both bodies have expertise in plastics recyclability-related topics.
EPBP has built a strong legacy supporting the industry by developing PET bottle design guidelines for recycling, evaluating beverage PET bottle packaging solutions and technologies and fostering the understanding of the effects of new PET bottle innovations on recycling processes and circular economy. RecyClass, on the other hand, works with all the actors from the value chain on the development of standard Recyclability Evaluation Protocols and other scientific testing methods for innovative polymer materials for a variety of applications.
“Working together to safeguard food contact rPET with the highest quality in a bottle-to-bottle closed loop will be a key enabler for the industry towards its commitments”, said Philippe Diercxsens, the EPBP Board Member representing Natural Mineral Waters Europe (NMWE).
“We believe that this partnership will be very beneficial to support a sustainable PET business and to foster solutions that help create a truly circular economy,” concluded Antoon Spiessens, member of the EPBP board representing UNESDA Soft Drinks Europe.