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December 2020 Newsletter
22nd December 2020
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Year Overview by the General Manager
24th December 2019
Dear TEPPFA stakeholder,
2020; what a year! COVID-19 opened a new era of meeting, greeting and organising ourselves. Many face-to-face meetings were replaced with efficient, less travel time-consuming virtual meetings.
TEPPFA worked hard to adapt to the new normal. Following the launch of a new visual identity, we updated our articles to the latest regulatory needs, accommodating virtual ways of taking decisions. Mid-October TEPPFA’s Executive Committee embarked on a strategic journey to set out major projects and communication for the next five years. Sustainability and circular economy are at the heart of the new strategy.
Our buried pipe project and pipe testing on the creation of microplastics in the use phase shows plastic pipes are fantastic products. Excavated > 30-year plastic stormwater PVC and PP pipes showed no notable internal pipe wall abrasion. Along with DTI in Denmark TEPPFA developed a test to flush drinking water through 50 metres of various types of plastic pipes and measure any particles found. DTI concluded “no levels of microplastics above the detection limit (2µg/l) were found in the test samples.” Materials investigated included PE80-2, PEX-2, PERT-2 and PVC-U-2. TEPPFA will continue research to ensure drinking water supplied via plastic pipes meets the highest health standards set out in the revised Drinking Water Directive adopted by the European Parliament on 15 December.
Our member companies have committed to sign up all their manufacturing sites to Operation Clean Sweep by the end of 2021. The TEPPFA awareness raising webinar was well attended and company HSE experts appreciated the exchange of tools and best practices to reduce pellet loss to zero during manufacturing and logistics operations.
Following the announcement of the European Green Deal (11 Dec 2019), the European Commission elevated the roadmap towards a climate-neutral circular economy. The new regulations and initiatives, such as the Renovation Wave, will shape and offer opportunities for our businesses going forward. The new Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP) is a major step in making Europe’s economy fit for a green future, strengthening competitiveness while protecting the environment, making circularity mainstream and speeding up the EU economy’s green transition.
Circularity of plastics is at the heart of the Circular Plastic Alliance (CPA) declaration, which TEPPFA signed together with nearly 250 stakeholders from the entire plastics value chain in Europe. To maximise the uptake of externally recycled content, TEPPFA is voluntarily opening up its product standards as part of CEN/TC 155 without compromising on quality, hygiene, safety, longevity and fitness for intended purpose.
Plastics are wonderful materials provided they are used responsibly. Plastic pipes clearly provide excellent solutions with an extended life of >100 years for below ground applications, meeting the needs of future generations.
We at TEPPFA wish you a joyous Xmas and a healthy ‘normal’ 2021 serving the essential needs of society!