1- Can you tell us about your position and the missions of POLYVIA in a few words?

Polyvia has existed since January 1, 2021. It is the result of the regrouping of about ten union-management structures, with the essential objective of uniting the strengths of these organizations.

Polyvia’s rationale is to accompany polymer processors in their development, and to build with them a competitive, attractive, and responsible industry committed to the circular economy. In this context, Polyvia represents 3,200 companies and 125,000 employees.

We assist companies by identifying their needs and supporting them with the appropriate expertise.

We represent them in dealing with public authorities and influential bodies, promoting plastic products and helping to improve the attractiveness of the sector.

We help them to anticipate major societal trends, to transform and innovate.

As Director General of Polyvia, I manage a team of about one hundred people, ensuring a local presence throughout France and expertise in all the areas of interest of our members.

Our organisation by market leads us to closely follow many sectors of activity: packaging, construction, automotive, health, etc.

In the field of packaging, we work in close collaboration with Elipso.

2- The recent years of 2020 and 2021 with COVID have shown that the world of plastic packaging has had to show resilience: at the end (soon) of these troubled times, what are the strengths for the industry to capitalise on?

Plastic packaging companies have been remarkable during the COVID crisis. They have been able to adapt to the strong variations in demand, particularly in the health and food sectors.

Some have profoundly transformed their production to respond to emergencies (hydro-alcoholic gel, protective equipment, etc.): they have helped to improve the image of plastics, which has been so strongly attacked elsewhere, and the entire profession is very grateful to them.

Agility is a main strength of our profession, which is visible in the very rapid adaptation of packaging companies to societal and regulatory constraints.

Innovation is also a key point. Under the impetus of the profession, IPC, the Technical Centre for Plastics and Composites, was created in 2015. This is a major asset for making rapid progress in ever more efficient processes and products.

3- The 2020 AGEC law and the 2021 Climate and Resilience law outline a vision for an end to single-use plastic packaging in 2040.

How does Polyvia integrate this circular economy issue with its members (improved recycling, use of recycled materials, reuse, etc.)?

In collaboration with IPC and ADEME, Polyvia works to:

• Inform companies of new regulations and their consequences
• Promote the incorporation of recycled materials in products when possible, by measuring with the MORE tool. Many meetings and conferences are organised by Polyvia in this area.
• Train employees in the circular economy in the plastics industry, through Polyvia Formation.
• Advise companies on the implementation of their circular economy roadmap.
• Identify financial aid, in particular in the Orplast programme, and help companies to put together applications to access this aid.

Polyvia asks for regulatory changes to be stabilised and the development of a real European coherence in order to avoid over-transposition and differences in legislation within the European Union.

The CNE can probably play a role in providing an overall view of the real effects of the AGEC law on packaging. The multiplication of measures and their timing make it difficult to assess the impacts objectively.

4- For 25 years, the CNE has been working with its members/partners for Right Packaging, particularly in the environmental perspective. The pandemic also reminds us that packaging is essential for health in particular. What proposals could you make to the CNE to demonstrate that the circularity of packaging and its essential functions go hand in hand?

Plastics provide a lot of functionality to packaging. It is the only material to combine so many of them (solid, light, transparent, chemically inert, sterilisable, capable of taking almost any shape and colour, economical, recyclable, etc.). The progress made by chemists and plastics manufacturers has made it possible to maintain these properties while reducing the environmental impact, and there is still leeway (weight reduction, integration of recycled/biosourced materials, reduction of the number of different resins per product, etc.).

The development of recycling, both mechanical and chemical, is essential to demonstrate that plastic packaging consumes fewer and fewer fossil resources. The CNE must strongly convey the message that a product that incorporates recycled material is not a single-use product, as the material is used several times.

At the same time, it is essential to demonstrate that plastic packaging is a powerful weapon for the decarbonisation of our uses.

5- What issues would you like the CNE to investigate in working groups?

The end-of-life treatment of packaging is the weakest point. There is far too much leakage of plastic packaging waste into the environment. Many measures are taken by manufacturers in this area, but it is downstream along the value chain that the problem arises: collection is becoming the major issue in the coming years, and it is an area on which the CNE must reflect and make proposals.

Recent investments in the chemical recycling of plastics will also have an impact on the major balances of materials used in packaging, with, among other things, the specific problem of mass balance. The CNE could create a WG on this subject.

Furthermore, the CNE must continue and strengthen its work on claims concerning packaging and its environmental impact. With the development of consumer information, it is important to guarantee the transparency of information. As an independent organisation, the CNE has an essential role to play in this area.