Recycling is the solution to commodity price volatility

Consumption behaviors and shopping habits are slowly evolving in the modern world. Packaging determines the public opinion. Interesting designs and colors increase attractiveness, and the consumers mostly prefer versatile packages. Plastics are the most preferred materials in the packaging industry with 35%, being noteworthy for a lot of advantages including sustainable production and recycling, ease-of-use, lightness, easy shapeability vs the alternative materials. PAGEV brought up the latest developments on plastic packaging to the agenda during the 2nd International Plastic Packaging Technologies Congress. During the congress, recent technological developments on plastic packaging, new packaging designs, food waste reduction with correct packaging practice and benefits of circular economy for the industry were discussed in detail. 40% of the products manufactured in the packaging industry are made of plastics. The Turkish Plastics Foundation (PAGEV) held the 2nd version of the "International Plastic Packaging Technologies Congress" on 21 October 2015 at the Hilton Istanbul Bosporus.

Specialists, industry representatives and professors from Turkey and foreign countries participated in the congress to discuss latest developments in the plastic packaging technologies, packaging and sustainable production, latest package design trends and practices. Plastic packaging used in the food industry and food waste reduction with correct packaging practices were among the other remarkable subjects.

In the opening, the Chairman of Executive Board of PAGEV Yavuz Eroğlu, the Chairman of Executive Board of İKMİB Murat Akyüz, the Chairman of Executive Board of FASD Enver Bakioğlu and the 1st Deputy President of PAGEV Ahmet Meriç took the stage to give their speeches.
Representatives of the notable packaging companies such as Chemorbis, Ravago Turkey, Dupont, Bak Ambalaj, Erema, marbach, JSW and Intertek talked about new technologies and trends.

Circular economy will put an end to the single-use materials

A discussion panel titled "Circular Economy: Main Factor of the Strategic Resource Policy" was also held at the congress. CEO of Plaş Plastik Osman Acun, Sustainability and Corporate Affairs Director of Arçelik Fatih Özkadı and Quality Assurance Manager of Mc Donald's Hikmet Toksöz were among the speakers in this panel moderated by the Secretary General of FASD Hasan Salih Acar.

Commodity price volatility means more costs for the manufacturers, thus price increase for the consumers. "Use-recycle-reuse" approach will solve most of the commodity price volatility problem, ensuring a better resource efficiency and environmental protection. At the panel, the way how wastes are pumped back into the economy within the circular economy approach was discussed in detail.

Emphasizing that the single-use materials will be useless due to the changing conditions, specialists listed the main factors that cause this evolution as follows: Commodity prices have fluctuated more than twice as much in the last 10 years compared to the period 1992 to 2005. Three billion people will be added to the medium income consumers by 2030, changing consumption and production behaviors, increasing demand and heating up the natural resource challenge. Economy model based on single-use approach will be replaced with the circular economy. Circular economy model will provide companies with cost efficiency, supply security, new job opportunities and environmental impact advantages.
Consumers play a key role for the recycling process of the plastic packaging; used plastic packages should be recycled at their end-of-life. Turkey has to create and immediately enforce sustainability policies to catch up with the era.

New packaging designs were also discussed in the 2nd International Plastic Packaging Technology Congress. Designer Dr. Orhan Irmak made a presentation titled "Packaging and Design" to explain the evolution of the packaging designs in direction with technological advancements and requirements via examples, and shared his ideas on designs of the future. Moreover, Hatice Uslu from the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock gave information about the 'Legislation on Food Contact Materials'.

Explaining that they were happy to organize the second version of the International Plastic Packaging Technologies Congress, the Chairman of Executive Board of PAGEV Yavuz Eroğlu said: "Packaging industry is a significant emerging market in Turkey. Constituting 35% of the packaging materials, plastics are the most important actor in this market. Plastic packages became an integral part of our daily lives thanks to the recent cultural and social changes that we have been through. Mostly preferred in the food industry for specific advantages, plastic packaging materials play an important role protecting food hygiene and reducing food waste. Moreover, they can be easily and energy-efficiently recycled in comparison with other packaging materials for environmental protection. Considering these developments, the Turkish plastic packaging industry reinvents itself day-by-day. We are expecting that our industry will grow bigger in line with the emerging technologies and demands in the future. Production and export figures regarding the plastic packaging support our belief."

Yavuz Eroğlu ended his speech thanking to PAGÇEV, İKMİG, Nissei ASB, TSP Makina, Aziz Plastik, Özge Plastik and Boykan Customs Consultancy –the supporters of the International Plastic Packaging Technologies Congress which became an idea exchange platform that is valuable for the participants and the industry.

Plastic Packaging Industry – Facts and Figures

• Packaging market rapidly grows thanks to the increasing demand and consumer behaviors.
• Size of the packaging market in the world is $700 billion, and this industry grows approximately 3 percent every year.
• Size of the packaging industry in Turkey is $16 billion. Plastics packaging constitutes the largest part (35%) of the industry.
• Share of the packaging materials in the plastics industry is 40%.
• Production capacity of the plastic packaging industry reached 1 million 718 thousand tons by a 1.4% increase in the first half of 2015 year-on-year. Amount of export in this industry reached 386 thousand tons by a 10.2% increase in the same period.
• Turkey exports plastic products to approximately 150 countries. Top three are Iraq, England and Germany.