At the European Plastics Converters' (EuPC, Brussels / Belgium; www.plasticsconverters.eu) annual conference in Milan, Renato Zelcher, CEO of films manufacturer Crocco (Cornedo Vicentino / Italy; www.crocco.com), became the new president of the European plastics processors association on 25 May 2018. He takes over from Michael Kundel. The Renolit (Worms / Germany; www.renolit.com) CEO successfully led the association for the past four years.

The dominant theme at the EuPC meeting was the challenge posed to the industry by the EU's plastics strategy within a circular economy. Zelcher made it clear in his opening speech that topics resulting from this will dominate the development of the whole European industry in the coming years.

The theme was also in the keynote talk by Elżbieta Bieńkowska. The EU commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs called on the industry to boost recycling, meaning it is important to build up a market for secondary materials. Regarding individual measures, such as fees and bans on single-use products, Bieńkowska made it clear that the EU was still open for discussions on the details. "We need you, the plastics industry, for development. And I know you can achieve this."

The family-owned company Crocco operates three films plants at its headquarters, which primarily process PE into packaging films. In addition, recycling company T&T reprocesses the production waste. Films output was around 50,000 t in 2016, and with 240 employees, the group generated turnover of EUR 115m.