Plastic Pipes Conference Association # 2021 Amsterdam
Ludo Debever, Peter Sejersen
The European Plastics Strategy is a priority for the European Union. Recycling more post- consumer plastics (PCRs) is paramount. That is why the Circular Plastics Alliance has been established. The alliance gathers public and private stakeholders in the plastics value chains to promote voluntary actions and commitments for more recycled plastics and ensure that 10 million tons of recycled plastics are used in new products in Europe in 2025.
The European plastic pipes and fittings industry has signed the Circular Plastics Alliance declaration and is now initiating and implementing activities to deliver according to the commitment. This presentation describes the background and initiatives to support growth in the use of recycled material for pipe applications and outlines some of the achievements to date and the challenges which lie ahead of us. The challenge will be to utilize recycled material from many different waste streams whilst maintaining product performance and durability. The industry considers it to be essential that the desire to recycle should not be at the cost of compromising on the fitness for purpose or lifetime expectancy of products.
Most current European Product Standards restrict the use of recycled material. The change of the material clauses in standards are therefore one of the main priorities. Other important activities a re the development of new and faster test methods headed by CEN/TC155 WG28 with support from industry partners and the work of harmonizing the terminology ongoing as a first initial step in CEN/TC155 WG25. Furthermore, work continues opening-up of national product standards that are too restrictive in allowing the use of recycled material. Last but not least, the market importance of third-party certification of the recycled content will be stressed. Some certification initiatives (e.g. VinylPlus® Product Label) will be presented.
The presentation will describe the challenges and the actions taken as well at the results achieved.
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