InOff Plastic had the opportunity to take part in the 9th edition of the Reuse Conference during the EU #GreenWeek in Brussels!
Driving the packaging revolution: best practices & mandatory reuse in the PPWR - that was at the heart of the event.
Discussions with political decision-makers, business and civil society experts were held on how the measures proposed in the PPWR can enable a successful transition to efficient reuse systems within the EU.
Here is a quick overview of InOff Plastic's main learnings from the Conference:
⏰ Barbara Metz, Mattia Pellegrini, Steffi Lemke and Delara Burkhardt emphasized the importance of reusable packaging for a sustainable EU packaging market and the ongoing EU Parliament’s efforts to drive effective reuse measures within the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR).
📌 Elena Schägg, Nurul Filtra, Fernando Rodríguez-Mata and Cornelius Antor highlighted the unique role the PPWR can play in this shift towards reusable packaging in the EU, by setting ambitious reuse targets to promote a European reuse industry and enable these systems to scale.
💡 Tobias Bielenstein, Dr. Jens Oldenburg and Davide Mazzanti shared concrete examples of how these reuse systems are being done on the ground, proving reuse systems are already running - and even at scale.
🏆 Congrats to Uzaje and MMP | Mach Mehrweg Pool e.V. (MMP) for their European Refillable and Reusable awards! Emmanuel auberger Julia Klein
💬 Concluding with an exciting panel discussion on how the measures need to be designed within the PPWR, what I take away from this panel:
1. Deposit return schemes is the first step to install the return gesture into customer habits Clarissa Morawski
2. Do not mix reuse and refill targets in the PPWR, both models are important but very different Joan Marc Simon from Zero Waste EuropeBarbara Metz from Deutsche Umwelthilfe
3. Bringing scientific evidence to Parliament members will be key to support ambitious reuse targets Malte Gallée from the European Parliament
4. Many lobbying forces are in play today: petrochemical and EPR organisations strongly defending the single-use packaging industry. But reuse and recycling do not exclude one another. Businesses shouldn't be feeling threatened by upcoming reuse targets, they should be embracing the new possibilities these systems will bring. Clarissa MorawskiJoan Marc Simon
5. Putting smart targets on brands and businesses is the best way to support this shift. Tobias Bielenstein
Planet Reuse - Platform & Network for Reusable Packaging had a booth to showcase the work of some of the 370+ reusable solutions on the platform, and is recognised as a very valuable platform for the space, bringing all professionals in the field of reuse and reusable packaging to connect, learn and collaborate on the topic.
🗣 Thank you to Nathan Dufour, Tim Debus, Fernando Rodríguez-Mata, Anika Oppermann, Marcel Keuenhof, Catherine Conway, Gerard BELLET, Larissa Copello de Souza, Axel Darut, Celia Somlai and many others for all of the interesting discussions we had in parallel of this intense day!