PlasticsEurope Operation Clean Sweep® Report 2017
Plastic pellets like any other product do not belong as litter in the environment. Although a major reduction of pellet losses by 75% over the last decades can be observed, more needs to be done.
Pellet loss is a major concern for the plastics industry and losses must be prevented in a joint effort across the entire plastic value chain.
Operation Clean Sweep ® (OCS) was initiated to improve awareness, accelerate prevention and facilitate experience sharing. Each OCS signatory is implementing solutions that fit best their sites and processes as well as encouraging value chain partners. Pellet loss prevention as part of quality and environmental management programmes is a continuous journey ensuring that all potential leakage points are covered.
This report explains the background and potential points of pellet loss, the PlasticsEurope involvement. It also gives a first overview by PlasticsEurope and its OCS signatory members describing how the OCS programme has been since 2015 and continues to be implemented. These diverse measures are shown in chapter 6. More than 50 % of the PlasticsEurope member companies have signed the voluntary programme to aim at zero pellet loss.
Next steps are to increase the level of member companies to 100 percent to which the programme is applicable by the end of 2017. PlasticsEurope will develop a reporting scheme for the collection of relevant and comparable information from all signed members.
As pellet loss may occur at different handling and processing stages in the value chain, PlasticsEurope has become a major promoter of OCS and is reaching out to associations and companies that are part of this plastics value chain in Europe and globally via the Global Plastics Alliance. We also continue to actively engage with other interest groups, as these dialogues are vital for enhancing mutual understanding and advancing long-term, collaborative solutions.