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Images: Carsten Heuer (l.) and Alexander Franke (r.)
At this year's General Assembly Meeting, the European Trade Association of PVC Window System Suppliers EPPA welcomed Carsten Heuer (Rehau; left image) as new President and Alexander Franke (Profine, right image) as new Vice-President.
This year’s General Assembly was organized in a hybrid form in Karlsruhe, Germany, allowing members to join physically or digitally. The event was co-organized with the Gütegemeinschaft Kunststoff-Fensterprofilsystme e.V. (GKFP) and the Qualitätsverband Kunststofferzeugnisse e.V. (QKE).
The General Assembly welcomed Carsten Heuer (Rehau), who has been Vice-President previously, as the new President. Furthermore, Alexander Franke (Profine) took office as new Vice-President. Together, they will lead the association for the next year.
Carsten Heuer takes over from Patrick Seitz (aluplast), who has led EPPA for the past 12 months. The members thanked the outgoing President, P. Seitz, for his leadership and engagement in EPPA throughout the last year two years.
During the General Assembly Ch. Röber presented the activity report of EPPA for 2021/2022, which was heavily impacted by the initiatives stemming from the EU Green Deal.
EPPA continues to be actively involved in the Circular Plastics Alliance. EPPA members developed Design for Recycling (DfR) Guidelines for PVC Windows and Doors, anticipating an upcoming standardization request from the European Commission. The DfR Guidelines will be transformed into a European standard by WG 21 of TC 249 (Plastics). EPPA was also responsible for co-drafting the Monitoring system for monitoring the use of 10 million tons of recycled plastics in new products by 2025, demonstrating the leadership of the PVC profile industry in terms of traceability and transparency.
Furthermore, EPPA looked back to the successful development and dissemination of a Renovation Wave Brochure and a corresponding communication campaign on PVC windows as a blueprint application in the circular economy in multiple European countries.
Looking at the year ahead, a key objective of the association is to further increase the recycling of PVC window profiles by 2025 and to enhance the industry’s leadership role in the area of product circularity. In this context, “we will continue EPPA’s path towards
supporting the sustainable growth of the industry. Delivering first-hand industry expertise to European law-makers and stakeholders but also increasing the strength of EPPA’s international and national network are our priorities for the upcoming months and years”, says EPPA’s new President Carsten Heuer.