Public Launch Event of EASAC's new report on "Plastics and the Circular Economy"

Wed. 11 March 2020, 12:00 – 14:15

Marble room, Palais des Académies, Hertogstraat 1 Rue Ducale, 1000 Brussels

Packaging plastics can offer an almost infinite range of options for manufacturers, both in terms of function and design. Their durability and resistance to degradation means that if they ‘leak’ into the environment, they stay there. Leakage has been increasing rapidly and its detrimental impact, especially on the marine environment, has attracted wide public and political concern. Currently, the amount of plastic entering the environment far exceeds that which is recycled, with large quantities being exported from Europe to low and middle-income countries that do not have appropriate disposal or recycling facilities: this "low-cost option" is wholly unethical and unsustainable.

The European Academies’ Science Advisory Council (EASAC) has prepared a report designed to inform the European Commission’s Circular Economy Package, its Plastics Strategy and specific measures on the use of ‘single-use plastics’, whose objectives are to reduce plastics leakage into the environment and improve recycling rates.

“Packaging Plastics in the Circular Economy” reviews the negative consequences of the current linear economy for plastic packaging, the scope for improvement towards a more circular pattern of production and use, and options for increasing recycling rates and reducing environmental leakage. The scientific issues examined in this report cover:

extended producer responsibility
technical factors in recycling
consumer behaviour
the role of bio-based and degradable plastics, and
targets for research and innovation.

At this open launch event, participants from key stakeholder communities will debate the issues raised in the EASAC report, and how the EU can best tackle the plastics crisis.

Launch Event Programme

[12:00 light lunch available]

12:30 – 12:40

European Academies’ Science Advisory Council (EASAC): who we are and what we do

EASAC President Professor Christina Moberg

12:40 – 13:05

EASAC study on Packaging Plastics in the Circular Economy: process and results

Director of EASAC Environment Programme, Professor Michael Norton

Member of EASAC Expert Group, Annemiek Verrips

13:05 – 13:15

A European Commission perspective on the EASAC report

European Commission - DG Environment (B1): Werner Bosmans