An overview on present and future of the European recycling

The Plastics Recycling Conference Europe 2014 organized by Smithers Rapra and focused on the European plastics recycling industry is taking place in Milan on October 29-30. The aim of the event is to provide an overview about the nowadays opportunity of development of the sector in Europe.

Many operators covering all the plastics recycling chain attend the two-day conference. Several speakers share their experience representing the European plastics recyclers, recycling companies, consortia for the recovery and recycling of plastics materials.

Amut Ecotech is one of the “exhibitors” at the event. The company was created by the merging of Amut, headquartered in Novara and manufacturing lines and plants for the processing and the recycling of thermoplastic materials, and Comer Engineering, based in Maserada sul Piave (near Treviso, Italy) and operating in the field of waste processing plants.

Here below the complete program of the two days of meetings.

29 ottobre

Plastics Recycling Market Outlook

An update on the plastics recycling global market outlook, European legislation and pricing dynamics affecting the sector.

8:50 - Welcome from organisers and session chairperson (Dan Sandoval, senior editor Recycling Today Media Group)

9:00 - Plastics recycling pricing dynamics and market overview (Victor Bell, president EPI)

9:30 - Global flow of recycled material (Martin Wieswag, director PS, EPS & PET Chemical Market Associates)

10:00 - Addressing plastics recycling in the post green fence world (Surendra Patawari Borad, chairman Gemini Corporation)

10:30 - Networking refreshment break (Plastics Recycling Dynamics - The Buy Side Perspective)

11:00 - Opening remarks by session chairperson (Dan Sandoval, senior editor Recycling Today Media Group)

11:10 - Creating and sustaining market utopia - De-linking recycled plastics from the world polymer market (Gary Claypole, sales director MBA Polymers)

11:40 - European legislation update for plastics recycling (Antonino Furfari, advocacy & recycling manager Plastics Recyclers Europe)

12:10 - Panel Discussion with all session speakers

12:45 - Lunch

Focus on Materials

Expert perspectives on a range of recycled plastics materials, the opportunities available for them and the challenges that surround their recycling, including the nontraditional, WEE and ELV; the up-and-comers, films and foams; and the market boomers, PET and HDPE.

14:00 - Recycling engineering plastics: ELV & WEE (Keith Freegard, director Axion Recycling)

14:20 - Filling the gap in the circular economy - A perspective from a metal recycler (Graeme Carus, European Metal Recycling)

14:40 - Up & comers - Recycling hard plastics (Jean-Marc van Maren, founder Van Maren Systems)

15:00 - Up & comers - Recycling foam (Jaana Røine, director Grontpunkt)

15:20 - Corepla: the challenge of plastic packaging recycling (Luca Stramare, R&D manager Corepla)

15:40 - Networking refreshment break 

16:10 - Panel discussion with all session speakers

Incorporation of recyclate in end-use applications

16:50 - Success story from the automotive sector (Rachel Punch, materials innovation, materials engineering, engineering technical services Jaguar Land Rover)

17:25 - Closing Remarks

17:35 - Grand Drinks Reception

30 ottobre

8:30 - Welcome coffee

9:00 - Conference start

End of Life Options

8:50 - Opening remarks from session chairperson (Keith Freegard, director Axion Recycling)

9:00 - From plastics recycling to WTE - How are cultural differences affecting out end-of-Life Options? (Tamsin Ettefagh, vicepresident  Envision Plastics)

9:30 - End of life options - Balancing plastics recycling and waste to energy (WTE) (Calvin Frost Channeled Resources Group; Ella Stengler, managing director Confederation of European Waste-to-Energy Plants)

10:30 - Networking refreshment break

Moving Forward - How do we Expand Opportunities for the Plastics Supply Chain?

11:00 - Opening remarks from session chairperson (Lisa McKenna, managing editor Recycling Today Global Edition)

11:10 - The carbon footpath - The need for balance in recycling and innovation (Joanna Stephenson, vicepresident marketing & innovation Linpac Packaging Limited)

11:40 - Circular economy for flexible packaging: exploring Reflex project development and the business drivers that made it a “success”. Along with collaborators Nestle and Unilever, the Reflex project focuses on innovative flexible package designs, including innovative inks, new barrier polymers and automated sorting techniques that allow simultaneous multi-material reprocessing (Shaun Parkinson, senior research scientist DOW Performance Plastics)

12:00 - Supply chain collaborations. Success Stories and future direction. Collaborating to enforce a shift in packaging material: supplying packaging with less new material and higher rHDPE (Nick Cliffe, marketing manager Closed Loop Recycling; Ashwin Moorthy, head of engineering & innovation Nampak Plastics)

12:30 - Lunch

14:00 - Strategic Panel Discussion. Perspectives from government, closed-loop operators, end-users, plastics collectors, convertors and recyclers on challenges for increased use of recycled plastics, and a roadmap for the future (Tamsin Ettefagh, vicepresident Envision Plastics; Jonathan Short, chairman and founder Ecoplastics; Joanna Stephenson, vicepresident marketing & innovation Linpac Packaging Limited; Paolo Arcelli, director - business insight division Plastic Consult)