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It has now been 3 months since we announced putting a stronger focus on member alignment and member engagement between Pro Carton, CEPI Cartonboard and ECMA members. Since then, a core team has been working hard to set up the Work Streams, aimed at increasing the reach of Pro Carton messaging, bringing together Member Experts and helping the industry to face legislative challenges as a united body.
The Working Streams have already had their kick-off meetings and are in full working mode:
- Public Affairs & Advocacy, being led by Mike Turner, Managing Director of ECMA and
- Marketing & Public Relations headed up by Winfried Muehling, Director of Marketing & Communication at Pro Carton.
The Public Affairs & Advocacy Stream consists of the right balance of 10 Members from mills and converters focusing on Public Affairs activities, addressing developments in industry legislation, and advocating for the industry’s interests. By actively seeking out Industry Alliances & Coalitions we encourage our industry to face legislation challenges with one voice, particularly in Brussels. Industry Alliances & Coalitions for Advocacy include:
- Fibre Packaging Europe is an informal coalition of seven trade associations from Europe’s forestry, pulp, paper, board and carton production and recycling industries.
- Circular Choices is a wider Cross-sectoral Coalition of biobased products and solutions that contribute to European resilience and enable the transition towards a circular bioeconomy.
Horst Bittermann, Director General Pro Carton
The Marketing & Public Relations Stream focuses on Pro Carton PR activities with an active Working Party made up of a sound balance of 9 Members from both the cartonboard mills and from the carton converting industry. This working party is focused on increasing the reach of our messaging, especially across social media, on the benefits and functionalities of cartons and cartonboard as a renewable, recyclable and competitive packaging material. This group works closely with all of our Members to increase member engagement, to get messages aligned and to jointly penetrate relevant markets. The mission is further facilitated through close alliances with industry initiatives:
- #GreenSource is a European-wide initiative to explain how the forest-fibre industries make the 2050 climate neutrality target a reality.
- 4evergreen is a cross-industry alliance who want to contribute to a climate neutral society by perfecting the circularity and sustainability of fibre-based packaging. The goal is to reach a 90% recycling rate for fibre-based packaging by 2030.
You can follow progress on the Working Streams and updates on the new Association model via the Pro Carton website News page.
