Michael Brunn

Approximately 132 kilograms of food waste per person was generated across the European Union in 2022 amounting to just over 59 million tonnes of food waste and the environmental and economic impacts are high, according to the EEA report 'Preventing waste in Europe — Progress and challenges, with a focus on food waste'. The assessment gives the latest bi-annual check-up on waste prevention actions via data and trends.

The event that gathered more than 130+ participants, began with a presentation by Mariska Boer, President of EuRIC's Textiles Branch, who outlined EuRIC's manifesto and its key recommendations for achieving textile circularity by 2030. These include defining robust ecodesign requirements, strengthening fair trade, implementing efficient EPR schemes, and balancing chemicals legislation.

The result is an ultra-modern sorting facility has been built to process plastics from mixed post-consumer packaging. Around two thirds of the input is polypropylene (PP) film; with the rest comprising polyethylene (PE) and a mix of polyolefins (PO), predominantly from pre-sorted material from post-consumer packaging facilities across Europe - from Austria to Norway.

Lindner Washtech, based in Feistritz/Drau, Austria, and Großbottwar, Germany, is renowned worldwide for its complete systems that incorporate the shredding, sorting, washing and drying of a wide range of plastic types. In the past few years the company has predominantly focused on optimising the process along the value-added chain and new concepts for cleaning methods. With the goal of optimising the entire process chain in plastics recycling, a collaboration was initiated with the Erema Group. The close cooperation between Lindner Washtech and Erema since the start of 2023 has already produced significant process optimisations.

The R-PET market has turned bullish in Q1, with increases in the free delivered (FD) northwest Europe (NWE) colourless (C) bale and flake prices in March ahead of the onset of peak preform production season during Q2, which could push R-PET demand higher still.

This development represents the first application of GAINnext - Tomra's deep learning-based sorting technology - in the metals industry. This AI innovation enables aluminum scrap processors and recyclers to upgrade their wrought aluminum scrap and produce high purity fractions by instantly recovering low alloy cast from the wrought fraction and reducing alloying elements such as silicon. GAINnext complements Tomra's X-Tract, which separates based on atomic density.

The recyclability classification system of the RecyClass methodology, originally composed of six classes, will now be streamlined to three, with classes D, E, and F being removed and classified as 'non-recyclable'.

With the Certification, the city is gaining a powerful framework to turn ambition into action. The process will help Tallinn sharpen its strategy, engage its residents, and accelerate the shift to local reuse, repair, and recycling systems. 

Renting clothes can reduce the fashion industry's enormous environmental impact, but so far, the business models have not worked very well. The best chance of success is for a rental company to provide clothing within a niche market, such as specific sportswear, and to work closely with the suppliers and clothing manufacturers. This is shown by a study led by researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, which highlights the measures that can make clothing rental a success.

During its General Assembly and Branch General Assemblies on 25-26 March, EURIC re-elected President Olivier François (Galloo, France) for a 3-year term. The new Presidency is supported by four Vice-Presidents: Alicia Garcia-Franco, Director General of FER (Spain); Cinzia Vezzosi, President of Assofermet (Italy); Peter Hodecek, Executive Board Member of the REON Group (Austria); and Sebastian Will, Deputy Chairman of bvse (Germany), who was also appointed as Treasurer.