UPDATE Meeting: Highlights | Results| Outputs

The event was a professional meeting organised within the framework of the Plan-C project, focusing on the transition of the plastics industry, the plastics processing machinery industry, and the entire plastics value chain towards circularity in the Danube Region.

Following registration and the connection to MS Teams, the programme started with a welcome session, during which Business Upper Austria presented the current implementation status of the Plan-C project.

The event then continued with three main thematic blocks:

1. Plastics Industry
Participants received an overview of the key factors and cornerstones of the plastics industry, as well as the main challenges and opportunities facing the sector. The discussion focused on the conditions needed for the transition towards circular operations. This was followed by the presentation of the Handbook for a Circular Plastics Industry and a joint plan aimed at boosting circularity in the plastics industry.

2. Machinery Industry / Plastics Processing Machinery Industry
The second block focused on the plastics processing machinery industry. Tomas Bata University Zlin presented the key factors, challenges, and opportunities of the sector, with particular emphasis on how the machinery industry can support more sustainable and circular plastics processing. Afterwards, Clustero presented the joint plan designed to promote circularity in the machinery industry.

3. Plastics Value Chain
The final part addressed the joint vision for transnational collaboration between plastics processors and machine producers. The aim was to explore how stakeholders from different countries can work together to integrate circular solutions across the entire plastics value chain. At the end of the programme, the Slovak Plastic Cluster outlined the next steps towards a transnational action plan to support the wider implementation of circular solutions in the Danube Region.

Overall, the purpose of the event was to bring together Plan-C project partners and relevant industry stakeholders to identify the key challenges of the plastics and machinery sectors, present the developed handbooks and joint plans, and prepare regional-level cooperation and an action plan for the creation of a more circular plastics value chain.