1- Can you tell us about your role and AFISE’s actions in a few words?

AFISE is the only professional federation representing the companies of the Hygiene and cleaning industry.

Its members are companies that produce and commercialize cleaning, washing, servicing or sanitizing products destined for laundry, dishes and all types of surfaces, used for households, communities, health services or the industry.

The organization also gathers the manufacturers of hand sanitizing products (anti-bacterial and virucide soaps, hydroalcoholic gels) for general public or professional use.

AFISE brings together 80% of the companies of the sector, for a turnover of 4,5 billion euros and nearly 10.000 employees. It has 115 members, more than 80% of which are SMEs and VSEs. Each of these members benefits from a strong industrial presence in France.

My job is to lead our 5-people team to provide the members with daily support on regulatory and environmental issues. We initiate dialogue with the stakeholders and value the sector’s engagement and positive contribution to society.

The pandemic outbreak has reminded each and every one of us that sanitizing hygiene products are essential to the public health as well as the social, cultural and economic life of our country.

We want to involve the sector in a visible and acknowledged approach of sustainable progress thanks to scientific, social and environmental innovation. This is AFISE’s ambition.

2- This year, AFISE has joined the French Packaging Council as a member of its first grouping (consumer good companies and their suppliers): can you explain to us what encourages AFISE to support the French Packaging Council and its work?

Packaging plays a major role in our lifestyles: the health crisis has served as a reminder of its fundamental role in ensuring products’ hygiene and safety. It is also used to convey essential information to the users: regulatory information, precautions for use and indications to favor responsible behavior.

Considering our society, it is crucial to remind the fundamental roles of packaging using a strict and balanced expertise. This is why the French Packaging Council’s works on “the right packaging” and on eco-design seem essential to us.

The French Packaging Council should be the leading expert and the natural advocate of all issues concerning packaging. It is only legitimate that AFISE contributes to it actively.

By joining the French Packaging Council, we are able to reflect on solutions with all the actors of the packaging line, share good practices and define common stands.

Lastly, the French Packaging Council’s values – dialogue, education and pragmatism – are very much in line with AFISE’s values.

3- What are the main concerns of AFISE’s members regarding the industry’s packaging? How can the French Packaging Council help explore these concerns?

The vast majority of hygiene and care products’ packaging is made of plastic. Our members’ innovation strategies are directed to find a permanent balance between the main functions of packaging, the service provided to the user and the obligation to reduce its impact on the environment.

The French act of law against waste and for a circular economy (AGEC) is setting a long-term path towards the disappearance of single-use plastic. We haven’t found these solutions yet, today: we will have to invent them.

The French Packaging Council is among the many stakeholders that will support the sectors to implement tomorrow’s solutions. Its expert status should enable it to evaluate the solutions in a thorough and realistic way that goes beyond a leap of faith. I’m thinking about issues such as reusable packaging, deposit or bulk, in particular.

These new trends are most likely tomorrow’s solutions. Using a strict analysis, the French Packaging Council should put forward its advantages and limitations.

4- The French Packaging Council listens to its members. Each year, it puts into place 3 working groups that focus on “the right packaging”. What topics could the French Packaging Council explore to be in line with AFISE’s actions?

AFISE is willing to provide input to the French Packaging Council’s working groups.

To echo the latest legal regulations, it would be interesting to create a working group on reusable packaging and bulk solutions.

In the long term, to keep in line with the annual contest “Emballé 5.0”, we could launch a prospective reflection on tomorrow’s packaging. Which roles would it play? Which materials would it be made of and for which uses? For what future?