Polish plastic industry in steady growth

Experts from the Polish plastics industry as well as foreign representatives from the sector met at a conference in Warsaw to discuss and debate pressing issues of the plastics industry in Poland.

At the conference it was confirmed that Poland has seen a steady growth of its plastic industry in comparison with previous years.

According to Plastics Recyclers Europe, higher numbers of employees, production volumes and a number of investments in the sector have all contributed to the growth of the industry.

However Antonino Furfari, advocacy manager of Plastics Recyclers Europe emphasised that still as much as 62% of plastics waste in Poland is landfilled.

“More focus will be put on the design of plastic products in Poland in order to increase recyclability and help the industry better manage resources,” he said.

During the conference, Janusz Ostapiuk Vice - minister of environment, Jerzy Majchrzak, director innvovation & industry ministry of economy, Alexandre Dangis EuPC, Ton Emans - PRE, Kazimierz Borkowski PlasticsEurope, Tadeusz Nowicki PUPC and Stephen A. Short Indorama, became panelists in a debate - ‘Polish plastic industry: ways to growth.’

The panelists agreed: “several initiatives should be undertaken in order to improve waste management in Poland in general.”

“One of the most important challenges will be to increase environmental awareness, improve collection systems, the introduction of higher fees for waste landfill and more restrictive certifications for waste reception and recycling,” the panelists concluded. 

Alexandre Dangis, managing director of EuPC also underlined “the need and urgency of the Polish plastics industry to further develop and make more research and investments in new technologies.”

He added: “these types of investments help the sector to be more innovative along with keeping up high standards and quality of Polish plastic products.”