Ton Emans has more than 30 years’ experience in the plastic recycling process. He is Director Group Recycling.

Ton Emans started his career with DSM in Geleen, The Netherlands and worked as researcher in the field of environment and safety. In 1991, he relocated to a subsidiary of DSM called REKO, a company which started to recycle plastics in 1979. As an Quality, Environment, Safety and Health Manager he became familiar with plastic recycling. After the merger with Wavin Re-use into Arena Recycling he was named Purchasing Manager.

After the bankruptcy of Arena Recycling in 2000 Ton searched for a new owner for the site in Geleen and found CeDo willing to buy her own recycling plant. He was named Managing Director.

In 2004, Ton Emans extended his responsibilities and moved to Mönchengladbach, Germany where he was named Supply Chain Managing Director of CeDo Group. Ton Emans holds a Master of Science in occupational health and safety from the University of Amsterdam in The Netherlands and has completed several business programs.

In 2011, Ton Emans has been named President of PRE, a non-profit organization whose members are European plastic recyclers. PRE represents National Associations and Individual companies covering 80% of the European market. PRE actively promotes the increase of plastics recycling and supports the transition towards circular economy.

After graduating with a master’s degree in English language literature, Karen started out her career as a sworn Dutch – English translator for legal and technical documents. Later she moved into technical writing, mainly for the plastics industry, which in 2001 led to a job as chief editor, and later, assistant publisher of the Dutch-language trade journal for plastics and rubber, Kunststof en Rubber. Karen subsequently returned to writing in English, and worked for the publication Modern Plastics/Plastics Today, where she was responsible for the sustainability beat, and held the position of European editor. In May 2017, she joined Crain Communications as editor of Plastics News Europe, and is now editor of Sustainable Plastics.

Flor holds a Masters in Sciences Biology with a major in Ecology and Microbiology. And completed the Certificate on Business Sustainability Management by the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership CISL.

She has been working in different departments of Avery Dennison since 2005. Since September 2017 she has been working in Sustainability & Circular Economy projects internally and externally , actually holding the title of Sr Sustainability & Circular Economy Manager EMEA.

Flor has made a measurable impact over the past 4 years in the Sustainability Team at Avery Dennison: her analytical skills, her ability to work alone and being an excellent team player, in combination with her open and critical mindset, make her a valued colleague and a mentor.

She is always customer-focused and results-driven. Thanks to her scientific background and a responsible approach to the environment she has truly inspired colleagues, clients, and end-users to become more responsible. Everyone, from government to individuals of all ages and abilities, can play an important role as stewards of the environment. Only together we can.. As sustainability is key to the future of the label industry, it is core to the values of Avery Dennison and is a huge personal motivator for Flor.

For that reason Flor was testing a Label liner recycling program for two years in two countries France and Spain, and after the pilot times the program has become a new service for all our customers unter the name of Avery Dennison Circular, and also create a close collaboration within the label industry through the CELAB consortium that was also created last year to ensure that we are providing solution to our waste, Avery Dennison is one of the founders of this consortium.

Label liner and matrix recycling program require a complex process of collection and sorting, which can be a deterrent for companies who want to recycle, and therefore as part of Avery Dennison goal to eliminate 70 percent of liner and matrix waste from our value chain by 2025, Flor and her team are building a network of recyclers to help converters and brands reduce and reuse label waste.

Through this program, label liner is collected for recycling, saving on waste disposal costs and preventing environmental impact from landfill or incineration. Flor is committed to ensuring that we can create value from waste, and due to her passion, determination, and demonstrated innovation in delivering lasting results I am sure that I am merely one of the many lives that she will influence throughout her daily life.

Flor is responsible for the implementation of Ecodesign at Avery Dennison Global, a new way of thinking and approach on developing new products, more proactive, and more focused on new materials and new technology available. Ecodesign program successfully implemented in Europe in 2020 is now rolling out globally, this project will look at the needs on each region where we are present and collaborate with all departments involved such as Marketing, R&D, and Procurement and incorporate all the changed need it to create new products that are following our strategy in sustainability allowing our customers to be able to choose products for their needs that are reaching all the sustainability credential possible and available at the moment.

We are focussing our effort on looking for the most sustainable raw material to new ways of producing our products with less impact on the environment. The Ecodesing program is also taking into consideration the Ecosystem, all the needs from our ecosystem from suppliers to customers to recyclers, teaching and learning from the ecosystem is key to implement Ecodesign in your company. Thanks to this collaboration and external focus we are closer to enable Circular Economy, collaborating with all your stakeholders will help to understand what is need it and also will help to evolve on the requirements that sometimes are opposite and are not facilitating the possibilities to be more circular, The ecosystem needs to be aligned Flor is collaborating closely with Petcore, CEFLEX, and Recyclass to make a clear differentiation on what decoration means in the recycling process, working close with the association we made clear to them that decoration is key for the recyclability of the material, but also is key for the brand owners no communicate about their product, and many times the technical requirements from the ecosystem are contradictory so make difficult to de the design of the final product that will be positive for the total ecosystem, that is why we ask the association to create specific work groups and more detailed guidelines on decoration.

What is important is also putting more emphasis on educating the ecosystem on the different decorations in packaging and how we can create new products that are fulfilling the necessities of the whole supply chain from Suppliers to recyclers so we can be transparent and truly circular

Kim Ragaert is full professor at Maastricht University, holding the key domain chair of Circular Plastics within the department Circular Chemical Engineering (CCE).

Her Circular Plastics lab and research group are on the Chemelot industrial site in Sittard-Geleen, NL. Research topics include concepts of quality for recycling, the macromolecular interactions in complex mixes, the effects of contaminations and degradation, design for & from recycling and the balance between different recycling pathways. Interdisciplinary topics include systems thinking for plastics, cost calculation in recycling and how to connect technical quality to LCA.

Kim is a strong believer in value-chain cooperation and interdisciplinary research. She consults for organizations like Plastics Europe, Plastics Recyclers Europe, CEFLEX and ECOS, and works closely with several industrial partners. Kim was the 2020 European Plastics Recycling Ambassador and co-chair of the steering committee on the 2022 ReShaping Plastics report.

Rune is a Norwegian citizen, residing in Oslo. He is the owner and director of Norfolier GreenTec AS, the largest film recycler in the Nordic region. Norfolier is also a leading refuse sack converter using 100% recycled plastics. Rune has previously owned and managed a test-liner mill, a waste incineration plant, and an insurance brokerage firm – all major businesses in the Nordic region. Prior to becoming an independent investor, Rune was a Partner at PA Consulting Group and worked in brand management at Procter & Gamble in USA and Germany. He holds an MBA from Columbia University and a Bachelor from University of Washington. Prior to his education he was an officer in the Royal Norwegian Navy. Rune is a member of the management committee of Plastics Recyclers Europe and a board member of Plastretur, the holding company of Grønt Punkt Norge.

Mik Van Gaever has dedicated his career to the closing of the value chain for household packaging. He works since 24 years at Fost Plus, the organization that finances and coordinates the recycling of household packaging in Belgium, where he currently holds the position of COO. Mik is passionate about innovation to upscale the collection, sorting and recycling technology and bringing the partners together in an effective ecosystem.