Platform Meeting on Plastic Waste Prevention and Reuse Systems

From 10–12 of Feb­ru­ary 2025, rep­re­sen­ta­tives of plas­ti­cLIFE­cy­cle (D. Bunt­ner & B. Hox­ha) attend­ed the plat­form Meet­ing on Plas­tic Waste Pre­ven­tion and Reuse Sys­tems in Brus­sels and Meche­len (Bel­gium).

The event involved EU-fund­ed projects, Euro­pean Com­mis­sion rep­re­sen­ta­tives (DG ENV, CINEA), as well as oth­er rel­e­vant stake­hold­ers rep­re­sent­ing indus­try, civ­il soci­ety, etc. Speak­ers from the fol­low­ing organ­i­sa­tions pre­sent­ed: LIFE IP C‑MARTLIFE, DG ENV, CINEA, Plan­et Reuse, Ellen Mc Arthur Foun­da­tion, Euro­pean Envi­ron­men­tal Bureau, Health Care With­out Harm, LIFE projects Plas­tLIFE & CIRCWASTE, Zero Waste Europe and sev­er­al Bel­gian actors.

We explored the lat­est devel­op­ments and chal­lenges in plas­tic waste pre­ven­tion and reuse sys­tems, empha­sis­ing the need for upstream mea­sures such as sus­tain­able prod­uct design, reuse sys­tems, and waste pre­ven­tion. Organ­ised under the LIFE pro­gramme, the meet­ing show­cased best prac­tices and insights, aim­ing to dri­ve effec­tive sys­tem change in plas­tic use.

Atten­dees engaged in work­shops, project pre­sen­ta­tions, and net­work­ing ses­sions to map suc­cess­es, iden­ti­fy gaps in EU pol­i­cy, and col­lab­o­rate on upscal­ing cir­cu­lar econ­o­my solu­tions. High­lights includ­ed prac­ti­cal case stud­ies from LIFE projects and sec­tor experts, dis­cus­sions on EU pol­i­cy, and inno­v­a­tive reuse ini­tia­tives.