With around 350 participants, the event in Dresden was well attended. As in the previous year, the BKV workshop again met with very great interest also.

 

Despite the Whitsun vacations in some German states, numerous participants had made their way to the 25th International Used Plastics Day of the bvse-Bundesverband Sekundärrohstoffe und Entsorgung e.V. (German Association for Secondary Raw Materials and Waste Disposal), which took place in the Saxon state capital from June 6 to 7. The headline of this year's conference was "Plastics recycling in distress" due to the current market conditions. These have been difficult since October 2022, as bvse CEO Eric Rehbock emphasized in his opening speech.
 
In the afternoon of the first day of the conference, the general manager of the IK-Industrievereinigung Kunststoffverpackungen and BKV advisory board member Dr. Martin Engelmann welcomed around 120 interested visitors to the workshop held by BKV GmbH, the think tank and competence center of the plastics industry. Two experienced experts gave short keynote speeches on each of the two thematic blocks "Plastics in the Circular Economy" and "Plastics in the Environment".
 
On the first topic, Andreas Vogt (Managing Director of Vogt Plastic GmbH) kicked off with "Recycling and recyclate use: what works and what doesn't?" followed by Dr. Pascal Heilmann (Technology Coordinator Plastic, Siemens AG), who in his short presentation "Sustainable Plastics" highlighted the requirements for the quality-assured use of recycled plastics in technical applications in the electrical/electronics sector. The subsequent panel discussion was also attended by Dr. Helen Fürst, Managing Director of Fürst GmbH, President of the GKV Processors' Association and also a BKV Advisory Board member, as well as Dr. Joachim Christiani from the renowned engineering firm HTP in Aachen. The part was moderated by Ulrich Schlotter, Head of Projects at BKV. This direct exchange between manufacturers and users of recycled materials was one of the workshop highlights.
 
On the second thematic block "Plastics in the Environment", which was moderated by BKV Managing Director Dr. Ingo Sartorius, BKV Project Manager Stephanie Cieplik first gave a keynote presentation with an overview of the main BKV studies on this topic, and she explained the context "From Land to Sea" including the fate of macro- and microplastics in the terrestrial and aquatic environment. LyondellBasell Senior Manager Environmental Issues and Chair of the OCS Taskforce, Rob Rutjes, then presented the industry initiative "Operation Clean Sweep" (OCS). This global plastics industry initiative, launched back in 1991, is designed to help plants and facilities implement practices that keep plastic materials out of waterways and prevent the loss of plastic pellets, flakes and powders. It is a voluntary program for the responsible use of plastics that now involves companies and associations from more than 60 countries. At the end of the subsequent technical discussion, which was also attended by Senior Manager Sustainable Business & Markets of the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) Laura Griestop, it became clear: industry and NGO jointly emphasize the need for multifaceted solutions from waste collection and recycling to microplastics, both nationally and globally.
 
More information: to the presentation documents on the bvse event website
 

Sources:

• BKV GmbH, www.opcleansweep.org
• Photo: © bvse