Displaying items by tag: cepi

chocThe German consumer organisation Stiftung Warentest published test results according to which most chocolates in 24 tested advent calendars in Germany contained mineral oil hydrocarbon residues. Stiftung Warentest also mentioned recycled cardboard packaging as the source of those residues. An analysis of the Technical University Darmstadt published today, shows that this conclusion is not appropriate.

The Paper Technology and Mechanical Process Engineering Unit of the Technical University in Darmstadt obtained each of the 24 calendars tested by Stiftung Warentest to conduct an analysis on the fibre content of the calendars. This is a standard test that Darmstadt University conducts on a regular basis. The results show clearly that 23 out of the 24 calendars tested are made of virgin fibre, only one contained recycled fibre.

The broad statement from Stiftung Warentest that mineral oil hydrocarbons in the chocolate of their tested advent calendars originates most likely from the recycled cardboard packaging is questionable and cannot be correct. The source is not the cardboard used in the calendars.

There are several possibilities of how mineral oils can get into chocolate. The root cause for this still needs to be determined. As potential sources Darmstadt University listed additives and processing chemicals used during food production and other packaging materials (e.g. plastic trays) as well as potential contamination during transportation and storage.

As a precautionary measure the paper-based fibre chain has implemented several voluntary actions on this issue, taking a pro-active and innovative action to solve the case. The industry has also developed self-regulation: Industry Guideline for Food Contact Materials and a guidance on GMP (Good Manufacturing Practise) to ensure a consistent European production of safe food packaging.

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awards  logo cepiCEPI's 2050 Roadmap has been nominated in the category Report of the Year at the European Public Affairs Awards. Now in their fifth year, the awards highlight success and encourage best practice throughout the European public affairs community; bringing recognition to individuals, organisations, issues and campaigns. Nominations launch in June and organisations throughout the profession are eligible to nominate both internally and externally until Friday 21 September 2012. Voting opens when the shortlist is announced in October and is open to all individuals working for an organisation listed on the Transparency Register and/or listed in the EPAD Directory.

The results of this year's awards will be announced during the awards dinner on Wednesday 14 November held at the stunning Albert Hall.

CEPI's report is competing with the Environmental Sustainability Report from FoodDrinkEurope and Women on Boards in Europe: from a snail’s pace to a giant leap from The European Women’s Lobby.

The awards provide the following explanation for nominating the Roadmap:
It's not often that a publication by a Brussels trade association causes a stir. The CEPI 2050 Roadmap has. It is frequently used as an example by policy makers, both at the European Commission and in the Parliament. The process of engaging stakeholders and industry representatives was also innovative and much appreciated by the target audiences. The report has united the paper industry internally and given them incentives to think about the future in positive terms.

The final document was supported by a dedicated website and a special Facebook page. The CEPI 2050 roadmap inspired many of CEPI's national members to start their own national roadmap for 2050. It has influenced board meetings in all member countries and many companies in the paper industry sector. Many other industry associations in Brussels are now working on similar reports.

votenow

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Monday, 15 October 2012 08:35

European Paper Recycling in 2011 at 70.4%

The European paper recycling rate reached an impressive 70.4% as announced today by the ERPC (European Recovered Paper Council) in their annual monitoring report. The report shows that the total amount of paper collected and recycled in the paper sector remains stable at 58 million tonnes, the same as in the previous years, but with an increase of 18 million tonnes since 1998, the base year for the first voluntary commitment the paper value chain set itself for increasing recycling in Europe. Since 2000 the recycling rate has increased by 18%-points due in part to the excellent work of the ERPC.

A new reporting format includes more indicators in addition to the volumes and recycling rate. For example, the number of European countries exceeding a 70% recycling rate going up to 13, whereas 12 EU countries still have under 60% recycling rates for paper, indicating further potential for increasing paper recycling in Europe. The number of cycles a paper fibre goes through in the loop reached, on average, 3.4 (compared to the global average of 2.4).

In addition to the quantitative progress, a lot of qualitative work has been done to establish an ecodesign towards improved recyclability and in the area of waste prevention. The results include pioneering work to give recycling solid and scientific support, such as the adoption of scorecards to assess the recyclability of paper-based products.

Extra Info:

‘European Declaration on Paper Recovery’ as an industry own-initiative in November 2000 with the aim to monitor the progress made towards meeting the targets set out in the European Declaration. In
2011 the industry committed itself to meet and maintain a voluntary recycling rate target of 70% in EU 27 plus Switzerland and Norway by 2010, which is higher than in any other region in the world, and qualitative targets in areas such as waste prevention, ecodesign, and research and development. ERPC monitors the progress of the European Declaration openly and transparently and coordinates the joint work to achieve the set targets. Additionally, ERPC

  •  coordinates the commitments of all the Signatories and Supporters.
  •  takes steps to improve the quality of the information available.
  •  discusses all relevant matters regarding the successful operation of the European Declaration.
  •  coordinates public information on the achievements of the European Declaration.
  •  produces annual reports.
  • Members of ERPC are CEPI, CITPA, ERPA, ETS, INGEDE, INTERGRAF, FEPE. Supporters include the EASDP, EuPIA, FEICA, FINAT, RADTECH Europe. The European Commission, DG Environment and DG Enterprise, are permanent observers of the ERPC.
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CEPI, the Confederation of European Paper Industries, and CITPA, the Confederation of Paper and Board Converters in Europe, have revised their Industry Guideline for the compliance of paper and board materials and articles for food contact.

The purpose of the Industry Guideline is, in the absence of a specific measure for paper and board, to enable manufacturers of paper and board materials and articles intended for food contact to demonstrate compliance with the Framework Regulation, (EC) No 1935/2004.  The Guideline is however offered only as voluntary guidance for operators in the industry and there is no intention to replace existing national legislation, which will always take precedence.

Paper manufacturing companies, representing around 50% of the European production of packaging grades, and 20 major converting companies covering a large share of the European paper-based packaging production implemented the Industry Guideline during 2010, the first year of its publication. Many other papermakers and converters are in the process of adopting it in their operations. A further survey of the continuing uptake of the Guideline is foreseen in the coming months following the publication of this revised version.

When the Industry Guideline was conceived, relatively frequent revisions were foreseen to take account of developments. The specific aspects covered in this first revision are:

  • the publication of the new CEPI Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP)
  • the coming into force of Commission Regulation on plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with food, (EC) No 10/2011)
  • the update of German Recommendation on paper and board for food contact (BfR Rec. XXXVI) ,and
  • the concerns over the presence of mineral oil hydrocarbons in food

The revision has been made by the same process as the first issue through the work of a Cross Industry Group. The Group will continue its monitoring activity of the sector and the collection of inputs to be taken into account for further revisions. “The paper and board industry has envisaged its Guideline as a moving document which needs to be updated. This is the challenge we have adopted within the industry, supplying safe products and demonstrating compliance with relevant legislation”, said John Swift, Chair of the Cross Industry Group responsible for drafting the Industry Guideline.

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Tuesday, 11 September 2012 15:36

No paper without skilled, healthy and safe people

skilledCEPI and industriAllEurope launched a good practice report on health and safety in the European paper industry at a conference in Germany. CEPI – the Confederation of European Paper Industries – and industriAllEurope – the European Trade Union Federation – worked jointly on this new report compiling a set of 22 exemplary practices that were collected from members under the auspices of the paper sector social dialogue, funded with the support of the European Commission, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion.

“In both our organisations - CEPI and industriAllEurope - we believe in the merits of awareness raising and sharing experiences. We hope that this report will be one of the reference tools for health and safety managers in the European paper industry. It should contribute to the indispensable effort to reduce health and safety risks at work in the sector on the route to “zero accidents”, said Teresa Presas, CEPI Director General.

The good practice report addresses different types of pulp and/or paper mills and the health and safety issues they may carry, as well as various kinds of activities (daily operation, transport and handling, maintenance) and can in most cases be adapted and transposed. The good practices included in the report are not exhaustive, but the report paves the way to identify more practices to be shared. It also illustrates the benefits of constructive co-operation towards a common goal.

“Producing pulp and paper in Europe requires the use of a wide range of resources, of which ‘people’ are the most important”, mentioned Jorma Rusanen from industriAllEurope in his presentation. ”We both - industriAllEurope and CEPI - invite our members to use and discuss the proposed practices. We also invite other industries to read the report and adapt the good practices to their own circumstances.”

This report is part of the EU-OSHA campaigns towards healthier and safer workplaces. It will be distributed to all pulp and paper mills in Europe.

You can download the report from this link 

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Commission’s view on recycling will cause problems for all stakeholders and all materials
 
The waste guidance issued by the European Commission's environment department poses a serious risk to advancing a recycling society in Europe, EU paper industry association CEPI warns. The guidance is linked to a second batch of End-of-Waste (EoW) measures, applied to paper, copper and glass, likely to be adopted by an EU regulatory committee on 9 July.
 
In the guidance document the Commission says that "the moment when a material or substance reaches End-of-Waste is simultaneous with the completion of the recovery and recycling processes." 
 
CEPI strongly argues that, for paper, the guidance document should not describe compliance with EoW criteria as being equivalent to recycling.
 
CEPI questions the fact that the Commission is putting efforts into something that is likely to cause unintended problems to all stakeholders of paper recycling, and probably in all industry sectors. CEPI points at problems with previous EoW measures (for steel) adopted by the Commission that have simply been rejected by the market and therefore not been implemented in practice. Thus, serious consequences did not emerge yet, but are bound to, when further EoW measures will be adopted.
 
For waste management companies and waste traders the scenario will be frightening. With the new interpretation they would become “recyclers”, without receiving any significant  benefit. In return, however, they would be legally responsible for the output material as “producers”. This includes liability issues in the quality of waste material and its contamination. The full implications of that change in interpretation are not clear. Requiring such responsibility from waste management companies might just add to the growing list of badly implemented environmental EU measures and would not contribute to smart, green and inclusive growth in Europe.
 
Considering EoW equal to recycling will also effectively break the information flow for public authorities, which may have serious consequences for environmental inspections and enforceability as well as generations of reliable data and statistics. Later, when much larger  volumes are supposed to be managed as “recycled” EoW materials by a significant number of operators, problems are bound to occur. Even today, under the strict waste regime, the authorities have not been able to satisfactorily establish enforcement of legal waste shipments either.  
 
For the industries that reprocess the material – in CEPI’s case paper mills – the Commission’s approach will increase the risk of receiving low quality recyclates from collectors. This runs contrary to the original objective of EoW, which according to the EU's Joint Research Centre, was established to facilitate recycling and not to be a substitute for it.
 
Allowing all this to happen will inevitably shake the confidence of citizens and risk the integrity of recycling systems.

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Global sustainable development is the focus of the United Nations Rio+20 conference. By providing food, fuel, fiber, medicines, and other necessities, forests and the forest products industry present a solution for a viable, sustainable future for our planet and its citizens.


At the Rio+20 side-event titled “Forests: The Heart of a Green Economy,” a range of high-level speakers and experts participated in panels highlighting the potential of forests in the bio-economy to boost global economic sustainability, the role of forest certification programs in the green economy, and the contribution of the forest industry to rural development and livelihoods.


Organized and co-hosted by the International Council of Forest and Paper Associations (ICFPA), the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Brazilian Pulp and Paper Association (Bracelpa), the event emphasized the role forestry plays in promoting a green economy.


“The forest products industry leadership in sustainable development is essential to achieving the goals set here at Rio+20 for next ten years,” said ICFPA President Donna Harman. “This event generated the dialogue that will help create a path forward to global forestry being a positive social, economic and environmental change agent.”


“It also gave us the opportunity to discuss biotechnology and environmental services, like forestry carbon credits, as options for the future we want to build,” added Elizabeth de Carvalhaes, CEO of Bracelpa.


Harman identified innovation, collaboration, partnership and dialogue as the key words of the event and noted the role they share in and between businesses, governments, and non-governmental organizations.


“We are all responsible for the future,” stressed Eduardo Rojas-Briales, Assistant Director General of the FAO Forestry Department. “We all must ensure that we realize the full potential for forestry as a solution to the world’s needs for necessary products that improve the quality of life for our generation and for those to come.”

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New FAO report profiles how sustainable forestry can help meet development goals

forest 1The world's forests have a major role to play in the transition to a new, greener economy, a theme being discussed at the Rio+20 Conference.  But to spark that shift, governments must enact programs and policies aimed at both unlocking the potential of forests and ensuring that they are sustainably managed, FAO said today.

In a new report, The State of the World's Forests 2012 (SOFO 2012), the UN Food and Agriculture Organization makes the case that better and more sustainable use of forestry resources can make a significant contribution to meeting many of the core challenges being discussed in Rio, including reducing poverty and hunger, minimizing the impacts of climate change, and creating alternative and more sustainable sources of bio-products and bio-energy for human use.

The report will be presented today during an event at the Rio+20 Conference organized by FAO and its partners, Brazilian Pulp and Paper Association (Bracelpa) and the International Council of Forest and Paper Associations (ICFPA).

"Forests and trees on farms are a direct source of food, energy, and cash income for more than a billion of the world's poorest people," said FAO Assistant Director-General for Forestry Eduardo Rojas-Briales. "At the same time, forests trap carbon and mitigate climate change, maintain water and soil health, and prevent desertification. The sustainable management of forests offers multiple benefits -- with the right programs and policies, the sector can lead the way towards more sustainable, greener economies."

"Brazil has successful examples of forest plantation management, and its good practices can be disseminated to other developing countries in order to promote the green economy and strengthen the synergies between sustainable development and climate change mitigation. The Rio+20 discussions must be the starting point to strengthen the balance of the triple bottom line. Brazil's pulp and paper industry is prepared to promote innovation in biotechnology and sequestration of forest carbon that can support a sustainable expansion of triple bottom line activities. This means social inclusion and protection of the environment", added Elizabeth de Carvalhaes, Bracelpa's executive president.

"The global forest products industry is at the forefront of forest conservation efforts," said Donna Harman, President of ICFPA. "Through sustainable forest management practices, our industry not only produces a sustained annual yield of timber, but also ensures its abundance for future generations. The global forest products industry also contributes to livelihoods and human well-being by employing millions of people around the world and by producing products that provide shelter and increase literacy. The emerging bio-economy can only increase the important role of this industry."

More at   http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/149592/icode/

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The International Council of Forest and Paper Associations (ICFPA) announced Donna Harman as its new President. Harman, president and CEO of the American Forest & Paper Association, will serve in this capacity for the next two years.

ICFPA is a global network of forest and paper industry associations that promote cooperation and dialogue in areas of common interest to its members and serves as the industry’s advocate in international organizations. ICFPA takes positions on a variety of policy issues, such as climate change and illegal logging. The ICFPA membership consists of 41 forest and paper associations from North America, South America, Africa, Europe, Asia and Oceania, representing more than 90 percent of the world’s paper production and more than 50 percent of its wood production.

“The forest and paper industry manufactures products that serve the everyday needs of people around the world, and I look forward to representing the global forest and paper industry in the coming years,” said Harman.

Together with the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, ICFPA is organizing a forestry side event at the Rio+20 global conference on sustainable development, which will be held next month in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As ICFPA president, Harman will co-chair the event entitled “Forests: The Heart of a Green Economy” on June 18.

Harman succeeds Teresa Presas, director general of the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI), as ICFPA president.

“On behalf of all ICFPA members, I would like to thank Teresa for her outstanding leadership over the past six years,” said Harman. “Her commitment and guidance have made ICFPA a strong voice for the global forest products industry.”

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Paper is the most recycled packaging material in the EU with a recycling rate of 78% based on 2010 figures. The rate was announced today by the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI), who used Eurostat data for their calculations.  

This result exceeds the 60% target set in the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive, which had been reached in 1997 (European Commission data). In fact, the paper-based packaging recycling rate was already at 73.3% in 2005 up from 63.8% in 2000 (Eurostat).

These outcomes give an additional indication that renewable and recyclable paper packaging contributes positively to the European objective of resource efficiency.

“Through high recycling rates, the European paper industry is a leading example on how sustainability and competitiveness can go hand in hand”, said Teresa Presas, CEPI Director General. “But in the forthcoming revision of the European packaging directive, it will be important to consider the level playing field between different packaging materials. Currently, each material has a different recycling target rate ranging from 15% to 60%”, she reminded. “In addition, it is time to consider the essential role smart packaging plays in a resource efficient Europe. Packaging can prevent waste of goods and spillage of food in particular”, she added.

The flagship ‘Resource Efficient Europe’, promoting a responsible use of resources as part of the EU 2020 Strategy for growth and jobs, is particularly important in the current difficult economic climate, which requires all possible efficiency gains. The European paper industry utilises resources that are constantly renewed and recycled and expects that policies supporting resource efficiency are actually enforced in a harmonised way across Europe.

The calculation method and comparison to other materials:

CEPI calculations take into account the share of paper packaging that arrives in Europe with imported goods. This consumption of packaging is not always included in the calculations of other recycling statistics and can result in recycling rates beyond 100%. CEPI believes its calculation is realistic, conservative and gives a reliable indicator of paper-based packaging performance in this aspect. The figures collected by the European Commission and published by Eurostat are available with a delay of several years. The latest Eurostat figures available are from 2007.

According to the respective European trade associations, paper-based packaging had the best recycling performance of all materials in 2010: aluminium was recycled at the rate of 64%, glass at 68% and steel packaging 71%. Paper had reached such levels more than five years ago and is currently recycled at the rate of 78%.

Packaging can have several functions:

• to protect the product, especially during transit;

• to preserve the product and avoid in particular food waste;

• to contain the product, e.g. in the case of liquids;

• to provide information to the consumer regarding the product and its safety; and 

• to market the product.

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