European plastics strategies

The “A Circular Future with Plastics” convention will be held on 24th and 25th May 2018, in Milan, where the Unionplast Rubber Plastics Federation (Italian association of plastic converters) and EuPC - European Plastics Converters (the association of European companies) will bring over 250 plastics converters from all over Europe.

The run of the market will be discussed, with a focus on packaging, automotive, building & construction, as well as prevention, reuse and recycling of end-of-life products, this in light of the recent guidelines of the European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy and the “Voluntary Commitments” of the processing industry. The engagement is announced as important, given the weight of an industrial sector strategic for Europe and Italy, also called to discuss the issues of the circular economy.

Industry numbers in Europe ...
The European plastics processing industry employs more than 1,600,000 people in 50,000 small and medium-sized businesses in the first converting and second processing stages. Total European production is equal to 50 million tons of plastic products, the global turnover of the sector is roughly 350 billion euros/year.

.... and in Italy
The Italian converting sector today features the presence of around 11,000 companies, of which 5,000 are active in the first converting stage and employ a workforce of just under 110,000. In 2017 production registered good growth rates, with a + 2.3% increase in volumes compared to 2016.
The short-term prospects remain favorable despite the still precarious conditions of the national economy and the different braking factors, concentrated once again in the outlets associated with the construction industry and infrastructures, that also remained substantially stationary throughout 2017. If the domestic market grows but in a very slow way, overall exports show positive results: overall in 2017 the exports of plastic articles reached a value of €11.7 billion (preliminary figure), with an increase close to + 7% compared to 2016 (source: Plastic Consult).