4evergreen held its 5th Annual Conference in Brussels on 6 November. The event brought together fibre-based packaging value chain representatives, policymakers and other key stakeholders to discuss the sector’s latest developments and challenges.
“Over the past five years, we have reached significant milestones, from our initial deliverables to impactful collaborations that have driven our progress,” said Sarah Price, Chair of 4evergreen. “The strength of the 4evergreen alliance lies in our cross-industry collaboration.”
Maja Desgrées du Lou from the European Commission then set the stage, emphasising the importance of industry and institutional cooperation to achieve the alliance’s ambitious goals swiftly. Her inspiring speech was followed by a discussion on connecting the value chain to perfect fibre-based packaging circularity.
Moderated by Jack Parrock, the first panel featured distinguished policymakers and industry leaders, including Patrice Audibert (former Chief of Staff of MEP Frédérique Ries), Adly Manseri (The Permanent Representation of Belgium to the EU), Gilles Swyngedauw (Albéa Group, CEN and CENELEC), Caroline Ploux (Mars) and Davide Braghiroli (Tetra Pak). They underscored the need for harmonisation in the packaging industry, particularly among member states, national experts and organisations. Establishing clear standards for the entire product lifecycle, from design to collection and sorting, was highlighted as essential.
The second panel brought together leaders from various industry associations, such as Matti Rantanen (European Paper Packaging Alliance – EPPA), Annick Carpentier (The Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment – ACE), Sévrine Pereira Teixeira (Europen), Graham Houlder (A Circular Economy for Flexible Packaging – CLFEX) and Ulrich Leberle (Confederation of European Paper Industries – Cepi), moderated by Susan Brunner (Mondi Group). The discussion revealed that collaboration is vital and each industry association has a key role to play, be it a focus on certain types of packaging, advocacy or even reiteration of the role of packaging. Technical deliverables like 4evergreen’s Circularity by Design Guideline and Guidance on Improved Collection and Sorting have helped the sector take an important step forward.
The conference showcased how the industry can continue to drive towards a competitive and sustainable Europe by turning guidance and best practices into action. Demonstrating the alliance’s commitment to actionable change, member companies presented their “Circularity Success Stories.”
