“Well-Made Plastic Packaging is Extremely Sustainable”

You have been Head of Plastics Europe Germany since January, before that you were at BASF. What has this change been like for you?

It’s been a nice return to the field of political work beyond company boundaries: I helped shape BASF’s political work for several years, including three years in the company’s political representation in Brussels. At that time, the EU Commission was developing the European Plastics Strategy and the question of how to close plastics cycles in the future was high on the political agenda. Most recently, I headed the Corporate Advocacy Team at BASF in Ludwigshafen and was responsible for circular economy and environmental policy. Therefore, I have experience in the areas of circular economy and public affairs at a national and European level.

As a chemist with a doctorate in plastics, I am also familiar with the content-related areas of responsibility. At BASF I initially managed a laboratory, after which I studied technical journalism and then also took on public relations tasks.

BASF is one of around 50 members of Plastics Europe Germany. What interests does the association, headquartered in Frankfurt, represent?

Our members are primarily plastics manufacturers. This means that all customer industries are relevant to us – including the packaging industry. What they all have in common is that they are faced with the question of competitiveness. Waste management and the goal of climate neutrality are equally challenging for all of them. How can the plastics industry manage without fossil raw materials by 2050? This is on everyone’s mind.

Decline in Plastic

What is the current market situation for plastics producers?

We are experiencing a decline. The European share of global plastic production has fallen massively. While it was 22 percent in 2016, it was only 12 percent in 2022.
But we still have export surpluses and a positive trade balance. The German industry is still able to hold its own on the global market.

Plastics are important for many large industries. 30 percent of the plastics produced by our members go into the packaging sector. That is just under four million tons a year in Germany. In 2023, it was 12 percent less than in 2021. We are seeing a trend towards the substitution of plastic.

How can plastic packaging become more sustainable?

Well-made plastic packaging is extremely sustainable. Barrier films, for example, keep harmful substances – including those from the air – away from food. Plastic packaging protects the product, offers high stability and is lightweight. Of course, this does not apply to pointless packaging and additional outer packaging with no added value for the product or logistics.

Which steps are currently needed to transform the circular economy?

The first step starts with the design of packaging. Raw materials must be replaced by recycled biomass. Replacing them with climate-friendly hydrogen is also a forward-looking idea. The problem right now is availability. However, our members are thinking about how products can be sorted and recycled at the end of their life.

It is particularly important to me to engage in dialogue at eye level with politicians, the media, and society, as well as with the entire value chain and our industry partners. In these challenging times, we must all work together to restore Germany’s and the EU’s competitiveness and supplement the Green Deal with a Clean Industrial Deal in 2022.

In this context, are you calling for the expansion of chemical recycling?

Yes, because chemical recycling can make a major contribution to the transformation of the circular economy. However, what can be sensibly recycled mechanically should continue to be recycled mechanically. We are calling for chemical recycling to be enshrined in law as a supplement to mechanical recycling – by introducing a double quota for mechanical and chemical recycling. This would be a necessary market incentive to expand recycling. We need all technologies, all recycling processes, including biotic ones.

We call for the proportion of recyclate from chemically recycled plastics to be determined using mass balances. Mass balances are an accounting approach that makes it possible to allocate the secondary raw materials fed into a production process to specific product groups. The approach is comparable to green electricity deliveries.

You have succeeded Ingemar Bühler at the helm of Plastic Europe Germany since January. Dr. Alexander Kronimus, who has led the association on an interim basis since May 2024, has been appointed Deputy Managing Director. This is the first time a woman has headed the association. What is needed to get more women into management positions in the industry?

First of all, we need to stop telling children that boys can do technology, and girls prefer to play with dolls or that boys are better at mathematics than girls. If we change these role models at an early age, we won’t need to put girls in special STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) later on. Fortunately, I had a great chemistry teacher, a woman, who taught the subject with enthusiasm. Half of our class went on to study science subjects.

Men also need to be seen more as fathers. Why are men rarely asked how they can reconcile their career with family life?

Is that what you say as the mother of a kindergarten child?

That’s right. And once again: men need to be held more accountable and be asked the same questions as working mothers. But we must also allow them to actively shape their fatherhood – even if this means taking a temporary step back from their jobs or a longer period of parental leave. 

By Anna Ntemiris, editor

Read also the article "Fewer Plastics from Europe: Industry Sounds the Alarm".