Plastics association pro-K gets a new name

With the changed subline, the association emphasises its brand essence and its importance as a Industry mouthpiece for valuable and recyclable plastic products. „Whether storage and transport containers, surface systems for furniture and door construction or bottle crates - our members stand for products that are usually used for a long time and help to conserve resources. We want to emphasise this more strongly with the new name affix,“ explains Ralf Olsen, Managing Director pro-K.

Immediately following the members' meeting, the pro-K members' dialogue brought together experts from a wide range of backgrounds to discuss current hot topics in the industry. Katharina Istel, waste and reuse expert from Nabu (Naturschutzbund Deutschland) e.V., gave a presentation in which she explained the environmental organisation's view of the essential requirements for achieving a circular economy with plastics, such as Aspects such as durability, design for recycling, freedom from harmful substances and the defossilisation of the raw material base.

Dr Dieter Drohmann, CEO and founder of Chemservice GmbH, argued that fluoropolymers should be assessed according to a risk-based approach when it comes to EU chemicals policy. They should be excluded from the European Chemicals Agency's ban procedure for more than 10,000 chemical substances in the PFAS group.

In his presentation, Daniel Stricker, long-time editor-in-chief of the industry service Kunststoff Information (KI) and now an entrepreneur as well as senior consultant and freelancer at KI, shed light on the global market conditions for polyethylene, polypropylene and ASB. In many segments, non-European plastics producers are forcing their way into the domestic market, ensuring a stable price level in some cases, but weakening the self-sufficient supply in Europe in others.