Plast 2023: focus on sustainability

The major themes that are characterizing the entire plastics and rubber industry and its market will be a focus at Plast 2023, scheduled for 5-8 September at the Fiera Milano fairgrounds in Rho (Milan). The spotlight is on innovation and opportunities offered by developments in production paradigms in a circular economy perspective that, together with sustainability and energy savings, represent the key themes at Plast 2023. 

These themes are central not only in the products, services, and systems on display, but also as regards the fair itself, this year aiming to achieve the best performance in terms of sustainability. A part of this process has been made possible by Fiera Milano, which has taken a sustainable event management system approach involving control of logistics, wastes, and food services to reduce the environmental impact, including CO2 emissions, associated with the organization and conduct of events at its fairgrounds.

Promaplast, the organizer of Plast, aims to represent a virtuous example of this concern and to observe the core rules of sustainability that are now considered an objective that can no longer be postponed. One of the aspects characterizing this approach is fittings that meet standards of ecodesign and food services such as those put forward by the Fondazione Banco Alimentare, which is closely attuned to the associated issues.

And that is not all. For the first time, Promaplast offers the possibility of implementing a carbon footprint assessment process in time to allow companies to announce their initial results already at Plast 2023. The calculation of a company’s carbon footprint is the most immediate and universally accepted method for representing and communicating the environmental impact of an organization. The process uses the parameters developed by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), applying internationally recognized protocols (GHG Protocol and ISO 14064). Expressing a company’s activities in terms of atmospheric carbon dioxide equivalents is a measure of concern for the environment and demonstrates the commitment to meeting the core rules of sustainability that are now considered an added value.

Together with technological innovation, the theme of sustainability will pervade the six halls of the fair, part of an exhibition that covers everything from materials to processing, from finished products to services and the most advanced solutions developed by manufacturers of plastics and rubber processing machinery, equipment, and moulds.

After having introduced in May 2022 the exhibition-convention Greeplast - focused on the sustainability of materials, technologies, and transformation processes for plastics and rubber - Plast 2023 too will showcase excellence of innovation in the key of green: from increasingly sustainable and environmentally friendly materials to machinery with reduced energy consumption for processing bio-based and recycled polymers and from processes that make it possible to use less raw materials without compromising on performance to sorting and recycling systems.

The calendar of side events will be an opportunity for further depth and exchanges on the state of the art and the challenges to evolving towards an increasingly sustainable economic model.

In the meantime, the Plast presentation tour continues with a presence in a number of relevant fairs, including Equiplast in Barcelona, Plastexpo in El Jadida (Morocco), and Saudi PPP in Riyadh. 

On the occasion of the specialized exhibition in Morocco, the theme of sustainability and, more specifically, recycling of post-consumer plastics, was developed in a technology seminar on Thursday, 8 June, organized by Amaplast (Italian Plastics and Rubber Processing Machinery and Moulds Manufactures Association, which supports Plast) in collaboration with ICE-Agenzia and the Fédération Marocaine de Plasturgie. An Italian expert illustrated the most recent and innovative technologies in this area on the level of systems and processes, presenting to the local operators market trends and prospects and the investments required to implement solutions meeting the needs of the “green transition” undertaken by the Government of Morocco.

The future of the plastics and rubber industry is thus on display in Milan from 5 to 8 September in an event for which over 1,200 exhibitors have already reserved their stands and official buyer delegations are expected from at least thirty countries. Early registration is open for professional operators who wish to engage with specialized products, systems, and services and full-spectrum responses to their needs in terms of products, technology, solutions, and business opportunities.