• The Packaging Cluster joins the European Week for Waste Reduction with 4 training sessions in the field of recycling.
• The workshops have tried to bring together and promote knowledge for the correct management of waste and its circularity.

One of the Packaging Cluster's goals is to promote a new paradigm of coexistence, in which sustainability is applied to all aspects of work of the entity's member companies, as well as the environment that frames them. That is why, the cluster has joined again the European initiative where for one week, from November 21 to 29, different actions have been carried out to raise awareness of waste prevention and its correct management.

The European Week for Waste Reduction proposes a common project in which citizens gradually incorporate new or well-known routines into our daily lives so that, both at a domestic and industrial level, we can: reduce the amount of waste generated, integrate a responsible and conscious consumption model, or incorporate the policies of the European Union into the common strategy, among other commitments.

In this sense, the cluster wanted to contribute its grain of sand with four pills of knowledge in the 3R (Reduce, Recycle and Reuse), three together with the Gremi de Recuperació de Catalunya, and a last one with the Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona (AMB).

On the 23rd of November, Joan Valls (CESPA) explained to us the circuit of the rigid packaging once it has been deposited in the yellow container, which includes the entire process until it reaches the selection plants, the separation of the products and how these packagings are recovered, to give it a longer useful life. From the CESPA selection plant, they face various problems for the management of the packaging depending on the elements they incorporate, see full-length labels, dark colors, packaging with a reduced size or those with mixed materials .

On the 24th of November, two fundamental parts of the packaging management chain were connected, which are not always communicated, such as the manufacturer and the reclaimer. On the one hand, Pere Coll (Enplater) as an expert in flexible packaging printing technologies, and on the other, Valentí Tarres (GCR Group), as a key agent for the recyclability of this packaging. Both reflected on and questioned some of the preconceived concepts we have regarding recyclability, the circular model, the European strategy and the recovery of flexible packaging.

Victoria Ferrer (Gremi de Recuperació) offered a masterclass on waste management, with a first theoretical part, where she explained the types of waste, how they arrive and are transformed into resources in recovery plants, to finish by explaining the new challenges of the current context. Victoria helped us understand the product life cycle analysis and the process steps.

To conclude the week, Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona explained how the public administration manages the waste of the group of 36 municipalities that comprise it, with more than 3 million people under this area.