The European plastics industry is in talks with research laboratories about setting up new projects to resolve known problems including marine litter.
“We are trying hard to solve this,” a spokesperson from European Plastics Converters (EuPC) based in Brussels told Converting Today. “We are engaging at European level, taking part in different projects to find different alternatives.”
The industry acts positively to resolve health and environment issues, says EuPC, so is ‘surprised’ it is subjected to attack. Critics of the industry ‘do not know the other side of the story’, said EuPC.
Back in September negative coverage in the media forced the industry to unite and react when a film was released in Austria that poured scorn on the industry, EuPC with Plastics Europe launched a joint communications offensive to mitigate the potential harm to plastics converters and raw material suppliers.
Although Plastic Planet has a ‘very low profile’ at the moment, ‘as with all issues we like to give our members advance warning’, the spokesperson said. “We put together a briefing just in case they are confronted by the film or are asked questions.”
The Belgian association of manufacturers of plastic and rubber products Federplast.be denies ‘vigorously’ that plastics packaging could be toxic.
“The composition of plastics used for packing of food must comply with strict European and international legislation and requirements that safeguard consumer health,” Geert Scheys, secretary general of Federplast, told Converting Today.
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