Rethink the circularity of your products: A workshop at the Renewable Materials Conference: From Biodegradability to Recyclability: Innovators prove you can have both.

https://www.european-bioplastics.org/rethinkcircularity/

A challenging legal framework is asking packaging producers to rethink their products. The EmpCo Directive makes standalone ‘biodegradable’ claims illegal without verified evidence of excellent environmental performance. The PPWR mandates all packaging be recyclable by 2030 and at scale by 2035, with a critical review of bio-based plastics set for 2028. Together, these create both an obligation and a strategic opening for the bioplastics sector.

Biodegradability alone is no longer enough. It was a first-generation promise: “this won’t persist in the environment”. But the regulatory and market landscape of 2026 demands a second-generation promise: “this stays in the loop”.

This workshop, held at the Renewable Materials Conference on 24 September 2026, offered packaging producers the latest innovation results, key companies working on bioplastics applications, and EU-funded projects showing bioplastics can meet recyclability and biodegradability requirements. Participants left with a clear picture of what the research and innovation can offer, and how to adapt to a challenging legal framework.

Agenda

• What consumers want. The EROSKI survey, with Chiara Bearzotti (EUBP) for MoeBIOS, on behalf of EROSKI

• Create 100% plastic recycling together with Jan Pels (TORWASH)

• Can bioplastics really stay in the loop? With Sergio Clemente Castro (ITENE)

• Look into the future: Be-UP work on biodegradability in open environments with Steven Verstichel (Normec OWS)

• Scaling recycling of bioplastics: enabling the EU circular economy by Gerrit Gobius du Sart (TotalEnergies Corbion)

With testimonials from the EU-funded projects MoeBIOS, ReBioCycle, Be-UP and GRECO.