Another fascinating year for European plastics is coming to an end. Plasteurope.com readers will be familiar with them all – the KI Group has gathered together those topics in a review of the past 12 months.

The world witnessed the onset of trade wars, which escalated and are set to continue. The famous Rhine river was a crucial waterway for the Roman empire and remains so for the transport of many materials in Europe today. With the dry, hot summer that Europe experienced in 2018, the depth of the Rhine shrank so much that shipping restrictions had severe impacts for many. The increasing scarcity of raw materials in the polyamide 6.6 chain is not yet over, and suppliers everywhere are feeling the effects.

Single-use plastics were heavily discussed as litter on beaches and in water, and were a cause for frenzied activity at the European Commission, throughout Western Europe and especially in France – leading to bans, additional taxes and even voluntary industry commitments. With Brexit looming as well as a new car exhaust emissions test procedure, manufacturers of automotive parts faced numerous issues and the auto industry saw a downturn as a result.

Read all about it in PIE's Year in Review 2018.