At the European Flexible Intermediate Bulk Container Association’s (EFIBCA, Bad Homburg / Germany; www.efibca.com) annual meeting, president Roelof Veld (Boxon) was confirmed for the next two years as president in October 2019. EFIBCA’s two vice presidents, Seref Orhun (Chempack) and Christian Leeb (Starlinger), were also re-elected. Additionally, two new members were added – Marcel Schouten (LC Packaging International) and Lou Blockx (Louis Blockx).

The association’s meeting also dealt with circular economy issues, with a focus being on how big bag recycling can be improved, such as the key prerequisite of flexible intermediate bulk container (FIBC) design. As part of a pilot project with RIGK (Wiesbaden / Germany; www.rigk.de), for example, Boxon’s used big bags in Germany can be dropped off free of charge at one of the nationwide RIGK acceptance points since mid-2019. The industrial or commercial packaging is then – depending on the amount of contamination – recycled.

On the second day, the traditional open meeting for non-members took place with presentations on FIBC-related topics. The new “1st FIBC Academy” training workshop was presented, which is offered monthly by Efibca together with FIBC expert Amir Samadijavan since November 2019. Participants learn about FIBC manufacturing processes and how to select the right FIBC for the respective application.