On Monday 2nd March the Circular Economy Task Force co-hosted a conference with the Dutch Embassy in London on how to promote the trade in circular economy goods and services between the UK and the Netherlands. The Dutch ambassador Laetitia van den Assum welcomed an expert group of business, policy and academia representatives to a discussion organised around three issues: how policy can support a circular economy, how to deliver a ‘North Sea Resource Roundabout’, and what are the circular economy opportunities for plastics?

1. CIRCULAR
ECONOMY FOR
PLASTICSINDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE
MARCH 2015
LOUIS LINDENBERG
THE DUTCH CENTRE

2. Packaging
Look back to 2010

3. Improving Health
&Well-being
Enhancing
Livelihoods
Reducing Environmental
Impacts
HEALTH &
HYGIENE
NUTRITION GREENHOUSE
GASES
WATER WASTE
SUSTAINABLE
SOURCING
BETTER
LIVELIHOODS
Reduce diarrhoeal
disease
Improve heart
health
Improve oral
health
Improve
self-esteem
Provide safe
drinking water
Reduce salt
Reduce saturated
fat
Remove trans
fat
Reduce sugar
Reduce calories
Reduce GHG from
skin cleansing &
hair washing
Reduce GHG from
washing clothes
Reduce GHG from
manufacturing
Reduce GHG from
transport
Reduce GHG from
refrigeration
Reduce water use
in agriculture
Reduce water use
in laundry process
Reduce water use
in skin cleansing &
hair washing
Reduce water use
in manufacturing
Recycle
packaging
Tackle sachet
waste
Eliminate PVC
Reduce waste
from
manufacturing
Reuse packaging
Reduce packaging
Sustainable
palm oil
Sustainable paper
& board
Sustainable
tea
Sustainable
fruit & vegetables
Sustainable
soy
Sustainable
cocoa
Help smallholder
farmers
Support micro-
entrepreneurs
Sustainable
sugar, sunflower oil,
rapeseed oil & dairy
Provide healthy
eating information
Our thinking then

4. MORE WASTE
More People More Consumption More Packaging

5. Strategy focuses on:
- Resource efficiency
- Embedding circular
design principles
Strategic partnerships
with EMF and various
Academia /
Universities to
underpin the
approach.
Reduce
Re-think
+
Reuse / Recycle
Recover
Packaging Re-thought

6. Packaging
From… To…
Circular Economy design
Today’s and tomorrow’s
technology
Business solution for Sachet
waste a corporate priority
Focused recycling effort on
specific materials in relevant
geographies
Renewed waste ambition
Many packs not recyclable
Today’s technology
Sachets a risk
Small scale approach to recycling

7. GAME
CHANGING
TECHNOLOGY
Develop reduction
and regenerative
technologies which
are radical
TRANSFORMIN
G MARKETS
Open up
technologies to move
the entire industry
Packaging
DESIGN FOR
CIRCULAR
ECONOMY
Move from product
design to systems
design
RECYCLING &
RECOVERY
Collaborate for
maximum value –
businesses, the
environment and
society
Resource reduction & next use strategic
thrusts

8. Packaging
FLEXIBLE FILMS
AND LAMINATED
FILMS
• Poor to no
infrastructure
• Some mono-layer
materials are recycled
• At best end up in waste
2 energy
• Very little investment in
industry solutions
RIGID / SEMI RIGID
CONTAINERS
• Fair infrastructure
• Most cascaded into
lower value
propositions
• No common industry
drive to generate find
harmony
• NO INCENTIVE for
brands to develop / re-
use recycled content
RIGID BOTTLES
• Good infrastructure
• PET & HDPE highly
collected
• More can be done on
B2B to improve
circularity
• NO INCENTIVE for
brands to re-use
recycled content
Our perspective on the current situation

9. Packaging
RIGID BOTTLES
• Good infrastructure
• PET & HDPE highly
collected
• More can be done on
B2B to improve
circularity
• NO INCENTIVE for
brands to re-use
recycled content
What can be done
• Increased consumer messaging (public &
private)
• Investment in advanced sorting technology
• Colour batching
• Circular rather than cascading
• Consider financial mechanisms to incentivise
the use of recycled content

10. Packaging
RIGID / SEMI RIGID
CONTAINERS
• Fair infrastructure
• Most cascaded into
lower value
propositions
• No common industry
drive to generate find
harmony
• NO INCENTIVE for
brands to develop / re-
use recycled content
What can be done
• Harmonious nationwide collection
• Investment in advanced sorting technology
• Investment in developing higher quality
recyclates
• Consider financial mechanisms to incentivise
the use of recycled content
• Increased consumer messaging (public &
private)

11. Packaging
FLEXIBLE FILMS
AND LAMINATED
FILMS
• Poor to no
infrastructure
• Some mono-layer
materials are recycled
• At best end up in waste
2 energy
• Very little investment in
industry solutions
What can be done
• Invest in high output value technologies i.e.
chemical recycling
• Investment in sorting technology – mono, multi
and composite materials
• Intense consumer messaging campaigns
• Incentives to use maximum amounts of
recyclates
• Public / private “discovery” schemes

12. Systems conditions
- conflicting legislation,
- conflicting infrastructure,
- conflicting messaging
New business models
- financing mechanisms,
- collaborations,
- supply-chain
Reverse logistics
- EPR & Kerbside collection,
- Retailers collection,
- Consumer habits
Designing for circularity
- material choices,
- combinations,
- disassembly