General Assembly Meeting 2021: EPPA welcomes new Board, President and Vice-President
Wednesday, 19 May 2021
This year’s General Assembly was a hybrid and co-organized event: together with the RAL Gütegemeinschaft Kunststoff-Fensterprofilsystme e.V. (GKFP) and the Qualitätsverband Kunststofferzeugnisse e.V. (QKE), EPPA held its General Assembly in Mannheim, Germany. The event was organized in a hybrid format, allowing members to join physically or digitally only.
During the official part, EPPA members elected the following new representatives on the Board: Yann de Benazé (UFME/SNEP), Johann Brandstetter (Internorm), Gerald Feigenbutz (GKFP) and Alexander Franke (profine). Furthermore, the General Assembly confirmed the new President Patrick Seitz (aluplast) and his Vice-President Carsten Heuer (Rehau). Together, they will lead the association for the next 12 months.
An independent and strong voice in Brussels
In the public part, EPPA’s outgoing President Andreas Hartleif (VEKA) gave a presentation looking back on 9 years since EPPA’s creation as an independent trade association. Under his leadership, the association grew in strength and impact. “Today, EPPA is more than the mirror of activities in Brussels, the association has become an active and respected stakeholder in the industry network and with established relationships to the European institutions”, Andreas Hartleif observed.
Paolo Sandri, Policy Officer at DG Grow in the European Commission gave a presentation on the Circular Plastics Alliance (CPA) to which EPPA is a signatory and active participant in the working groups. Sandri underlined the importance of the industry commitment and the benefits of shaping policy with first-hand insights from industry operations.
Finally, EPPA’s new President Patrick Seitz addressed the challenges ahead for the industry. “This includes the need to continue the strong engagement for recycling” – in the CPA but also via EPPA’s recycling projects in Germany, France and Poland. Moreover, he called for further strengthening the association via new members and supporters.
