Alexis Van Maercke has joined APEAL as Secretary General.

He previously held positions as policy officer for Directorate General Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs at the European Commission, and as political advisor to Marianne Thyssen MEP in the European Parliament.

Van Maercke holds a Master's degree in Law from the University of Leuven in Belgium and a Master's degree in European Interdisciplinary Studies from the College of Europe in Poland.

He succeeds Alexander Mohr who recently left APEAL to pursue new opportunities.

Armin von Keitz, Manager for Sustainability and Associations at Tata Steel Packaging, managed the interim period and was responsible for ensuring the smooth transition.

Stéphane Tondo, Chief Marketing Officer for the Packaging and Energy segments at ArcelorMittal Europe, took over the role from Dr Ulrich Roeske of thyssenkrupp Rasselstein at the beginning of October, in line with the biennial rotating presidency of APEAL and as defined by the association’s statutes.

He joined ArcelorMittal in 1998 holding positions as market development engineer, key-account manager and regional head of automotive sales before assuming his current position in October 2013.

He holds degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Marketing from the Esidec-ICN business school in Metz, France.

The circular economy debate continues in the European Parliament, where the final vote on all amendments by the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety committee (ENVI) and Research & Energy (ITRE) committees is expected in January 2017.

What’s great news is that the concept of Permanent Materials is making steady headway.

Several of the amendments proposed in ITRE's final opinion include references to Permanent Materials. This clearly demonstrates increased understanding of, and recognition for, the concept of Permanent Materials.

As the vote moves to the ENVI committee, it also underlines how Permanent Materials like steel are well-positioned in the circular economy debate.

Having actively leveraged our contacts towards this objective, APEAL is pleased that our efforts in promoting the industry’s goals have been successful and we will continue to advocate the concept of Permanent Materials in our outreach to media and other stakeholders.

Watch the video from Metal Packaging Europe describing how Permanent Materials contribute to achieving a true Circular Economy in Europe.

A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study of metal cans, assessing their carbon footprint from cradle to gate (excluding filling, distribution and use phases) was recently undertaken by Empac, European Metal Packaging.

At APEAL we have delivered a full LCI dataset of tinplate since 2006 (available at www.apeal.org) but it is interesting for us to know how the improvements we bring to our material as steel-makers can impact the next life cycle phases of can-making and transport to the filler.

The Empac study covers 5 steel categories (food cans, aerosols, general line cans, closures and speciality tins) and 1 aluminium category (food cans). 

Comparisons between the two materials is neither useful nor possible. But the steel figures speak for themselves.

For example, the impact on climate change of the steel food can decreased from 144g CO₂ equivalent in 2000 to 97g CO₂ equivalent in 2013. That’s a reduction of 33%.

Lightweighting, of both the material and the can, has contributed to energy savings at all life cycle stages, particularly transport, handling and processing. And continued improvements in the steel recycling rate brings benefits across the supply chain.

Another clear reason to choose steel cans over other packaging materials.

Deposits return schemes are often perceived as a useful regulatory tool to improve environmental performance, as is currently the case in the European Parliament.

However, it is our experience at APEAL that such schemes are costly, anti-competitive and detrimental to existing waste management systems and the overall market.

In our view, they do not comply with EU internal market rules because they create prohibitive and discriminatory market conditions.

Not being integrated into an overall waste management strategy, deposit schemes create a separate collection and waste treatment system; a complication that only increases the recycling burden for consumers.

A separate collection and waste treatment system also substantially increases costs, not only the costs of increased logistics but the actual expense of the reverse vending machines.

This in turn can harm small and medium businesses which are financially less equipped to deal with those costs than their larger competitors, creating an uneven playing field.

On top of this, deposit return schemes tackle only a small fraction of packaging on the market rather than addressing the majority, creating a disadvantage for some sectors.

For the steel industry – and for many other materials – a deposit scheme would create an additional economic burden that would disadvantage Europe in global market terms.

APEAL is against compulsory deposit return schemes and we’ll be making this case strongly as the circular economy package debate continues.

“Countries must be committed to recycle, consumers need to be educated or fiscally encouraged to recycle,” stated Stéphane Tondo, APEAL President, at the recent “Sustainable Industry in the Context of Circular Economy” conference, hosted by the Slovak National Union of Employers in cooperation with the Employers' Group of the European Economic and Social Committee.

The conference, held 13^th September, welcomed representatives from industry, politics, academia and civil society. It proposed examples of the circular economy at work, such as the steel for packaging industry, that offer practical solutions to the planet’s emerging resource challenges. The organisers called for replacement of the current ‘take-make-dispose’ linear economy approach that results in massive waste and is highly unsustainable.

Miroslav Kiralvarga, President of the National Union of Employers reinforced Tondo’s message. “Legislation should facilitate transformation into circular economy” he said, whilst also stressing that “it’s not always the case.”

“European business is very much on board when it comes to shifting towards a circular economy,” said BusinessEurope Director General Markus J. Beyrer, reiterating the commitment of European business to take more actions because a circular economy “offers opportunities for all businesses along the entire value chain.”

Read Stéphane Tondo’s article in the EESC newsletter here.