About 550 companies have confirmed their presence within the first enrolment deadline, 10 February, for Plast 2021, the international exhibition for the plastics and rubber industries which will take place in Milan from 4 to 7 May 2021.

An analysis of the figures relating solely to direct exhibitors who have registered to date - just under 400 - shows an improvement when compared to three years ago, with an increase, though only slight, in the total exhibition area booked (+1.5%).

This is an encouraging result, above all considering the current situation hallmarked by international tension and concern affecting trade, investments, and the planning of promotional activities, on the part of all companies, including those operating in the plastics and rubber sector.

Companies can still register for Plast 2021 up until the second and final deadline, 10 May 2020, benefiting from a 10% discount on the participation fees and priority assignment in the respective exhibition halls.

Plast will be the most important event in Europe for 2021 in the plastics and rubber sector, and - together with the collateral exhibitions that make up “The Innovation Alliance”, namely Ipack-Ima, Meat-Tech, Print4All and Intralogistica Italia - it will constitute the major European show dedicated to the capital machinery industry, taking up all the halls in the FieraMilano fairgrounds.

In this context, the secretariats of the five shows are defining an agreement in order to create an event of international relevance during the show, in cooperation with one of the most renowned global organizations in the area of the circular economy. The event will see the participation of top managers from multinational companies who will be able to contribute their experiences on the theme of sustainability, above all in the plastics sector.

This conference will provide an opportunity to highlight the sector’s commitment – something that has been visible for some time now – to the introduction of circular and sustainable materials, technology and manufacturing processes, in order to encourage energy saving and environmental protection.

In addition, the show and its programme of collateral events will include other occasions dedicated to the in-depth exploration of specific application areas, such as automotive, building, medical products, agriculture and so forth.

Plast will also host three satellite shows, focusing on three sectors of excellence in the field, with the respective startups: Rubber (at its fourth edition, dedicated to the world of elastomers, in collaboration with Assogomma), 3D Plast (at its third edition, highlighting additive manufacturing and related technology) and Plast-Mat (at its second edition, presenting solutions in innovative plastic materials).

In the meantime, the organizational secretariat of Plast 2021 is continuing its intense promotional campaign: after its attendance at many trade fairs in January - from Saudi Arabia to India and Russia - it will also be present, over the coming months, at Plast Alger (Algier, March 9-11), PlastsPrintPack Nigeria (Lagos, March 24-26), Plastpol (Kielce, May 19-22), Equiplast (Barcelona, June 2-6), PlatPrintPack Ethiopia (Addis Abeba, June 3-5), Argenplas (Buenos Aires, June 8-11), FIP (Lyon, June 16-19).