More than 120 participants came together in Brussels on 21 & 22 October for the 8th 4evergreen Face-to-Face meeting, bringing expertise from across the paper-based packaging value chain into two half-days of discussion, collaboration and exchange.
With the regulatory and standardisation landscape evolving rapidly, the meeting offered an opportunity to look at what these changes mean in practice, strengthen 4evergreen’s existing work and explore where the Alliance should focus next.
Connecting technical work with a changing European landscape
The meeting opened by looking at the growing connections between PPWR implementation, CEN standardisation and 4evergreen’s work on recyclability. This bigger-picture discussion provided the backdrop for several hands-on sessions exploring how the 4evergreen Toolbox should continue to evolve.
Participants also examined challenging packaging cases as part of discussions on the resilience of the 4evergreen Toolbox, while looking ahead to the next version of the Circularity by Design Guideline and its alignment with European standardisation. The Score2Table workshop brought these different elements together through practical use cases, exploring the links between recyclability evaluation, Design for Circularity and sortability.
Together, these discussions highlighted the importance of maintaining a practical, value-chain perspective as new European recyclability requirements and standards take shape.
From technical knowledge to real-world application
A second theme running through the event was how to make technical knowledge increasingly practical, accessible and grounded in what happens in real systems.
Participants explored the future of 4evergreen’s digital tools and how the Alliance’s growing knowledge base could be translated into resources that are easier to navigate and apply.
The external session “From recyclability to reality: what AI is teaching us about paper-based packaging in sorting” by The Cup Collective and Greyparrot added another dimension, looking at AI-powered waste intelligence and insights from sorting facilities. This helped connect discussions around packaging design and recyclability with what happens further along the value chain in real collection and sorting systems.
Looking at the wider conditions for circularity
The programme also looked beyond technical recyclability to some of the wider conditions affecting circular packaging in Europe. Discussions on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) explored differences between national systems, including packaging categories, fee structures and end-of-life routes, and helped identify priorities for the next phase of 4evergreen’s work.
Across the different sessions, a common thread emerged: moving from circularity ambitions to solutions that work in practice requires expertise from across the entire value chain. Bringing those perspectives together, testing approaches against real-world experience and translating them into shared guidance continues to be an important part of 4evergreen’s work.
A huge thank you to everyone who joined us in Brussels, shared their expertise and contributed to the discussions. The energy and input from our members made the meeting a great demonstration of the collaboration at the heart of 4evergreen.
Save the date: the next 4evergreen Face-to-Face meeting will take place on 2–3 June 2027 in Brussels!
