PlasticsEurope and Eco-Profiles
PlasticsEurope was the first industry-based organisation in the world to assemble detailed environmental data on the processes operated by its member companies with the firm intention of making this information available for public use.
The first group of PlasticsEurope eco-profile reports was published during the period 1993 to 1995 using data from the years 1989 to 1993. Since then, further reports have been added to the list so that there are now sixteen separate reports freely available covering the high volume, bulk polymers, some of the more widely used engineering plastics and some of the standard plastics conversion processes.
PlasticsEurope also had some very clear objectives in view when compiling the reports, for example:
- target generic data which could be used to optimise the management of plastics waste:
- facilitates choosing among options such as mechanical recycling, reuse as a petrochemical raw material and use as a substitute fuel.
- provides sufficient data to investigate alternative solutions for regulatory compliance, e.g., with the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive.
- compile average industry data which could be used for internal company benchmarking allowing individual process improvement:
- leading to elimination of poor sections of processes.
- improvements by addition of waste treatment sections.
- include sufficient data which could be used by customers for product development against environmental criteria to:
- allow evaluation of the plastics contribution relative to the overall product
- enable collaboration with recovery procedures to reduce collective impacts
- draw attention to poor environmental links in user chains, which can lead to subsequent improvement
It was also important to provide neutral, objective, quantitative information with no attempt at interpretation, so that only explanations on how the data were generated need be given.
The Eco-profile reports now provided via this PlasticsEurope Internet site have been significantly upgraded from those first reports (see Updating the PlasticsEurope Eco-profiles).