In spite of the economic and political challenges facing the plastics industry, the sector cannot let up on investments in sustainability and recycling measures, a German government minister told K 2022 in an opening keynote address.
Christiane Rohleder, a top deputy in the German environment ministry, kicked off the show by noting the severe disruptions in energy costs and supply chains facing Europe's plastics industry, including from the war in Ukraine.
But in her Oct. 19 speech at the trade show's opening ceremony, she noted low recycling rates and plastic pollution in the ocean, and linked them to broader environmental challenges like climate change and biodiversity loss.
"Nevertheless, it is crucial to stick to those kinds of investments to end the climate crisis, biodiversity loss and pollution of our planet," Rohleder said. "Especially in the case of plastics, we need to move from a still relatively linear economy to a truly circular economy of plastics, in line with K 2022."
Rohleder, a Green Party member who is state secretary at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection, noted the industry's essential role in applications like medical technology and green power like windmills.
"We have all seen the distressing images of our oceans littered with plastic waste," she told a crowd of dignitaries, show attendees and journalists at the large Plastics Europe booth (Hall 6, Booth C40), where the group is staging panel discussions and speeches throughout the fair.
"This shows how important it is to achieve a truly circular economy, particularly for plastics," she said. "It's therefore all the more encouraging to see so many impressive innovations here in the exhibition halls. You actually need this innovation for the necessary transformation to an energy-neutral circular economy."
Rohleder noted low plastics recycling rates — other speakers at the opening pegged it at 12-14 percent across Europe — and she called on industry to significantly increase its use of recycled plastic in products to reduce society's carbon footprint and dependence on fossil fuels.
"There's a lot of untapped potential here," she said.
She noted upcoming revisions to the European Commission packaging waste directives and praised the role of container deposits on PET bottles in Germany, since 2003, for creating a stronger recycling economy in the country.
Rohleder told the industry crowd that Germany's government would be pushing for a strong global plastic pollution treaty at the United Nations.
The first round of negotiations for that pact are scheduled to start at the end of November in Uruguay.
She said Germany is part of a group of about 30 countries, called the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastics Pollution, pushing for a strong treaty. One of the key goals of that coalition, according to its website, is to restrain production and consumption of plastics to "sustainable levels."
"We need innovations in many areas; recyclability has to be taken into account in the design stage," she said. "We need to use more recyclate, thereby reducing the use of primary materials. The use of harmful chemicals should be stopped. This also improves recyclability and is necessary for the health of us all."
Rohleder's comments came a day after a news conference where three key German plastics associations warned that high energy costs and raw material shortages were having a debilitating impact on the industry.
Representing the resin, processing and machinery segments, Plastics Europe Deutschland e.V., the VDMA machinery association and the German Association of the Plastics Converters told reporters they wanted to step up their political activity.
In her speech, Rohleder clearly referred to those political and economic challenges, noting that the "Russian attack on Ukraine has radically altered" lives and that economies are still dealing with the supply chain disruptions from the coronavirus pandemic.
"This has impacted plastics industries severely," she said, praising the trade fair's focus on three topics of the circular economy, digitalization and climate protection.
Several industry executives speaking at the ceremony immediately after Rohleder echoed her environmental themes but also called on governments to support the industry's transition.
Ilham Kadri, CEO of materials maker Solvay, said European firms will face competitive disadvantages from their substantially higher energy costs than some global competitors, but she also said the 12 percent plastics recycling rate is too low. "It is an opportunity for us to do much better than 12 percent," Kadri said.
She said Europe is leading in environmental legislation, like the Green Deal, and is the only region globally with a full carbon tax.
Kadri also called on product and materials designers to think about recycling and reuse when designing new products.
"I've been educated like many of us here to think linear," she told the crowd. "We innovate, we create, we produce, we waste. … But this is not enough.
"It's a crime today to invent a product which would not have a second life," Kadri said.
Another industry executive and Plastics Europe board member acknowledged the challenges Rohleder laid out and noted the European plastics industry's response in an April report, "Reshaping Plastics: Pathways to a Circular, Climate Neutral Plastics System in Europe."
Lucrèce Foufopoulos-De Ridder, a vice president at Plastics Europe and executive vice president for polyolefins, circular economy and innovations at resin maker Borealis AG, said it was important for governments to support industry's transition, given the economic challenges.
"I would call out the fact that legislators and policymakers have a critical role to play … to come forward with a legislative framework that will encourage investments and that will encourage innovation and technology [and] further investment in them to allow us to accelerate the path forward," Foufopoulos-De Ridder said.
"At the moment, the unfortunate raw material and energy crisis that we're living, since a couple of months, ever since Russia invaded Ukraine, this is a reality for the plastics industry," she said. "It is not helping us from a competitiveness perspective here in Europe right now."
It's therefore all the more encouraging to see so many impressive innovations here in the exhibition halls. You actually need this innovation for the necessary transformation to an energy-neutral circular economy."