“This is an interesting year”: the Sappi Q&A
Sappi Europe Sustainability Director Sarah Price, this year’s Chair of the 4evergreen alliance, sits down with Sappi CEO and Cepi Chair Marco Eikelenboom to answer questions about helping navigate the industry through turbulent times.
What are the key issues facing 4evergreen and Cepi in the coming year – and how do you each want your organisation to approach them?
Sarah
Chair of the 4evergreen alliance
This is an interesting year for the 4evergreen alliance, with members working intensively to complete our toolbox of deliverables and accelerate progress towards full circularity of fibre-based packaging. With first versions of our 4evergreen guidelines and deliverables already in place, we are scaling up our outreach to build awareness and uptake for all stakeholders.
Last year, the alliance agreed another two-year project extension and approved the strategic recommendations for what we still want to achieve on our way to hitting our 2030 mandate of a 90% recycling rate for fibre-based packaging. I’m here to help guide the alliance into this next phase.
Marco
Chairperson of Cepi
Striving to meet net-zero targets, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to environmentally, economically and socially sustainable development are complex and colossal challenges. They demand a highly efficient, cost-effective and sustainable production system. At the same time, we need to raise wider awareness of the potential of a biobased renewable solutions industry.
The transformation of regulations such as the EU’s Green Deal into concrete actions is what Cepi is striving for.
That’s why initiatives such as the Antwerp Declaration for a European Industrial Deal are so important – Cepi is a key signatory of this declaration as a means of complementing the EU Green Deal in ways that foster competitive and resilient industry in Europe. It was a real privilege for me to be one of those presenting the declaration to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Belgium last month. We need more active, energetic initiatives such as this, the Circular Choices coalition and the 4evergreen Alliance.
How do you see your own role as chair in pursuing your organisation's priorities?
Sarah
Value chain collaborations such as 4evergreen only succeed when each member organisation contributes expertise and dedication. Sappi, like several others, has been heavily involved in 4evergreen since the beginning, back in 2019, and we have experts in most of the workstreams. I see my role as Chair being to provide clear and consistent leadership to help continue the great momentum we have – with members truly engaged and actively contributing. I’m also able to bring a strategic and big-picture perspective thanks to a background in sustainability that extends beyond 4evergreen’s circularity and packaging focus.
Marco
Against the background of the current challenging legislative framework, it will be crucial to keep track of progress and support the wider Cepi community to have a consistent understanding of issues such as European Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR). It’s important that everyone who wants to speak about issues specific to them has a chance to do so. For me, alongside serving as spokesperson for Cepi and making essential decisions, it’s all about bringing better awareness of the contributions the industry already makes as well as the potential of innovation, something that’s often undervalued.
What makes this a crucial time for farsighted leadership in our industry?
Sarah
With finalisation of PPWR anticipated soon, this is a critical time for the fibre-based packaging sector in Europe. When these periods of regulatory uncertainty combine with the urgency of the system-level transition towards a more circular and sustainable economy, it’s absolutely essential for the value chain to be communicating and working together well.
Marco
The ability to envision and articulate a future for our fibre-based industry that’s both impactful and feasible are essential qualities for being the Chair of Cepi. The future isn’t optional, and there’s a clear need to be farsighted at a pivotal time for our industry.
How will you combine your new role with your responsibilities at Sappi – and how can the two roles complement one another?
Sarah
My role as 4evergreen Chair fits well with my role as Sappi Europe’s Sustainability Director. Collaboration and partnership with external stakeholders is a key element of Sappi’s commitment to sustainability. There are so many aspects of sustainability that we simply can’t tackle as individual companies. Working together in alliance is how we can best achieve the system-level changes required – and for fibre-based packaging circularity, that’s where 4evergreen comes in.
Marco
I’ve already been involved with Cepi for a number of years, and it’s an exciting time to take on this challenge and work with industry peers. At the same time, I will need to be careful to divide time and resources properly, as the stakes for both Cepi and Sappi are high. The important thing is that both roles are already giving me a lot of energy – and will drive me to seek new opportunities and solutions for the industry.
