Cetie Single-use-plastic (SUP) working group

The Cetie PET working group initially dedicated to PET bottle finish specifications and increasingly dynamic, is further extending its outreach with the creation of a sub-group “SUP” (Single-use plastic) to prepare an industry response to the EU directive known under these initials, whose publication is imminent. Under the chairmanship of Mr Michael Krüger (CEO of Corvaglia), this group brought together in a meeting on the 14th May the representatives of 36 major international companies active in the PET bottle value chain.

The objective was to pursue the development of a Cetie technical data sheet which will be proposed as a contribution to the development by CEN of a harmonised European standard. This standard is foreseen by article 6 of the Directive, which prescribes that from 2024 plastic caps remain attached to plastic beverage containers during their use stage, as a means for companies to prove the conformity of their products.
The meeting attracted more than 50 experts from the inter-profession in a collaborative process which is the underlying feature of work in Cetie.
The draft DT39.00 “Procedure and specifications for establishing conformity with article 6 of the SUP directive”, proposed from a summary of previous exchanges, was a basis for the discussions.
At this early stage, these concerned mainly a consensual interpretation of the legislative text and a coherent document structure.
On the 19th of June, a meeting is planned in Afnor of the European standardisation working group CEN TC 261/SC5/WG25, chaired by Nicholas Harris (Cetie) and currently dedicated to developing standards for rigid plastic packaging. One of the agenda items is to widen the scope of action of the group to include composite plastic, also concerned by article 6 of the Directive.
This working group will then be in a position to take on the development of the harmonised standard under a mandate which will be addressed by the EU Commission to CEN within 3 months of the publication of the Directive.