Zero Waste Live! webinar “Allocating recycled content – what are the impacts?” – 11 May 2023
Date/Time: 11 May 2023 · 2:00-3:30 PM (CEST)
Recycling has an important role to play in closing the material loop, as it keeps already used resources and increases the circularity of plastic packaging. To ensure the uptake of recycled materials, the European institutions introduced recycled content targets in different legislative proposals such as the Single-Use Plastic Directive (SUPD), and the recently published Packaging, Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR).
Following the introduction of the targets, the European co-legislators will adopt the methodology defining and calculating recycled content Once developed, the method will set a precedent and have further implications for other types of materials and products – such as construction materials, batteries, vehicles and, most likely, textiles. Nowadays, most recycling technologies have a well-established accounting methodology based on a segregation model, ensuring a high level of transparency and traceability along the value chain. However, multi-output technologies, namely pyrolysis and gasification, require the use of the mass-balance chain of custody. The latter is highly controversial given how it allocates recycled content among the output produced.
This webinar presented the main results of our latest study (commissioned to CE Delft) on the environmental impact and circularity of the different allocation rules for recycled content from multi-output recycling technologies (i.e. pyrolysis and gasification).
The panelists included:
- Geert Warringa, Senior Researcher at CE Delft
- Julia Roettgerding, Policy Officer at DG ENV, European Commission
- Stakeholders’ views:
- Mathilde Crepy, Programme Manager at ECOS
- Carolina Gregorio, Sustainability Policy and Advocacy Strategy Director at Dow
- Facilitator – Lauriane Veillard, Chemical Recycling and Plastic-to-Fuels Policy Officer at Zero Waste Europe
Speakers
Mathilde Crêpy, Head of Environmental Transparency, ECOS
As the Head of Environmental Transparency at ECOS – the Environmental Coalition on Standards –, Mathilde leads a team of staff working on green claims, voluntary sustainability standards, corporate sustainable finance, and corporate reporting. She is responsible for the organisation’s work on chain of custody standards, including their application in recycled content claims. After obtaining master’s degrees in Environmental Law and Political Science, Mathilde joined the European Commission, working until 2017 on the EU carbon market, after which she joined ECOS.
Check Mathilde’s presentation HERE .
Julia Röttgerding, Policy Officer, DG ENV, European Commission
Julia is a policy officer of the European Commission, working on single-use plastics in the Circular Economy Unit at DG Environment. Before joining the Commission in 2018, she worked as scientific manager for several universities. Julia graduated in mathematics and holds a PhD in engineering and physical-mathematical modelling. She studied and worked in Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK.
Check Julia’s presentation HERE.
Carolina Gregorio, Sustainability Policy and Advocacy Strategy Director, Dow
Carolina Gregorio joined Dow in 2007 and since then held several roles in the Packaging & Specialty Plastics business such as several commercial and marketing roles, including global project leader for some Dow’s packaging innovation platforms targeting value creation enabling packaging optimisation, and designing for recyclability across markets and applications. She has elaborated the marketing strategy for Dow’s bio-based offering and has been leading its implementation globally. March 2022 she assumed her current role as EMEA Regional Business Sustainability Director in charge to follow sustainability circular and net zero plastics policies in discussion in Europe to enable Dow’s and the industry’s transition towards a new circular and net zero sustainable plastics model.
Carolina holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from Santiago de Compostela University in Spain and an Executive MBA from EAE Business School. She is currently engaged in LEAP 2023 program lead by WBCSD focused on women and sustainability, in partnership with Yale University and ESADE Business School, designed to open horizons and raise awareness among businesses to rethink the systems in which we operate.
Check Carolina’s presentation HERE.
Geert Warringa, Senior Researcher, CE DELFT
Geert Warringa is a senior researcher and leads the Circular Economy theme at CE Delft. The main goal of his work is to help clients make more considered choices in the ever-present field of tension between the economy and the environment. His background in economics and environmental sciences helps him identifying the financial and social costs and benefits of environmental policies and make recommendations accordingly to his clients.
Check Geert’s presentation HERE.
Moderator – Lauriane Veillard, Policy Officer on Chemical Recycling and Plastic-to-Fuels, Zero Waste Europe
As Zero Waste Europe’s Policy Officer on Chemicals Recycling and Plastic-to-Fuels, Lauriane engages with European institutions to develop ambitious, human-, and environmentally-friendly legislation focusing on the chemical treatment of waste. Before joining ZWE, Lauriane completed a traineeship at the European Parliament, where she followed the IMCO Committee and focused on consumer protection.