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| |  General Assemblies
Due to Covid there will be no inDUfed event in May/June 2021.
Sanitary conditions permitting, it will be organized in the Autumn of this year.
The General Assemblies will be organized online:
- Cobelpa : Wed. 26th of May – 5.30 pm
- VGI/FIV : Tuesd. 1st of June – 3.30 pm
- Fetra : Wed. 2th of June – 2.00 pm
- inDUfed : Wed. 2nd of June – 10.00 am
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| | Paper Chain Forum becomes Papier.be
To promote the importance of paper and board in society on socio-cultural and ecological level, the various actors of the Belgian paper value chain will communicate from now on under the new name Papier.be.
Papier.be brings together the different actors of the Belgian paper value chain: forest owners, production and converting of pulp, paper and board, printers, publishers of newspapers and magazines, door-to-door publications and the paper recuperation industry. Papier.be wants to inform, communicate to and sensitize the general public on the role and the value of paper and paper products. They want to do this on social, economic and ecological issues. 
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| | The Furnace for the Future – A Fundamental Milestone Towards Climate-Neutral Glass Packaging For the first time, the container glass industry will collectively fund and develop a technological innovation and prove its commercial viability. Building this large-scale 350 tonnes/day hybrid electric furnace, able to melt reduced (=amber) glass together with high levels of recycled glass, has no precedent. The F4F technology will cut direct furnace CO2 emissions by 60%, and those of the whole installation by 50% as we replace 80% of the natural gas with renewable electricity. The potential CO2 reduction of this innovation is even higher if it can be subsequently combined with other innovative sources of energy such as hydrogen or biogas.
The European and Global container glass manufacturer Ardagh Group has volunteered to lead a coalition of 19 independent companies representing over 90% of the total glass container production in Europe (more than 80 billion containers yearly). The other glass companies will co-finance the project, and in return, will receive all the necessary information (plant visits, training of operators, operating parameters) to run similar plants. This will ensure an efficient dissemination of the know-how and results to support scalability and roll-out at sector level. | |  |
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| | Free training for workers and employees of the paper and cardboard converting industry ?
Since January 2021, all employees within the paper and cardboard converting industry (Joint Committee 222) can receive free training on a variety of topics through the PaperPackSkills sector fund. So now both workers (Joint Committee 136) and employees can benefit from subsidies!
More information about the training offer and conditions can be found here  https://www.paperpackskills.be/nl/opleiding/ |
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| | Interprofessional collective bargaining
The negotiations within the framework of the new law concerning the competitiveness of the Belgian companies (better known as the law of 1996 determining the salary norm) are not following a normal schedule.
By now we should normally have started the collective bargaining at sector level – however there still is no interprofessional framework. Two elements are blocking the discussions that never really started:
– The trade unions demand a modification of the law of 1996: they want an indicative salary norm instead of a binding one, which is the case at present. This would enable the unions to get better salary increase from sectors that performed well
– The integration of the welfare envelope in the global salary discussions
A number of actions have already been planned.
In such a case of deep disagreement between the social partners, the government is obliged by law to take necessary measures (salary norm, end of career,..).
A month of attempts at conciliation is running and will end on the 15th of April. |
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| | Social newsletter The social newsletter will be continued until the inDUfed extranet is up and running. The new website and its extranet will be launched soon. A system of alerts will replace the old social newsletter when this new channel is operational. |
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| | Webinar Plastic Resource On March 2nd , inDUfed organised a webinar about the Plastic Resource or Plastic Tax as it is commonly known. We are proud to say we managed to attract more than 30 people exclusively from our member companies.
During the webinar we tried to give an overview of what the plastic Resource is, the situation in Belgium and how the different governments are reacting about it, and finally what the plans are in other EU member states.
The presentation used during the webinar and its recording can be shared upon request to the inDUfed office. |
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| | France discourages the use of the Green Dot logo on packaging – or not ? The French State Council (Conseil d’état) has suspended the new rules regarding the use of logos on packaging destined for the French market.
Normally a penalty would have to be paid on all packaging on which the Green Dot logo is used as of the 1st of April. This decision is now suspended until further notice.
The compulsory use of the Triman logo as of January 22 is also put “on hold”, as the European Commission has expressed a negative advise on this French decision.
We cannot predict when or even if this French initiative will come into force.
inDUfed will continue to monitor the situation as it develops and will keep you updated. | |  | | |  |
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| | Ammonia and NOx depositions: legal uncertainty due to court ruling
The ruling of the Flemish court for permit disputes can have far-reaching consequences for the existing Flemish nitrogen deposition program (PAS). The court ruled that the 5% deposition threshold, currently used to exclude some activities from a costly and time consuming in-depth analysis, is not low enough to assume there is no acidification by azote deposition of the natural environment. This would mean that almost every industrial, civil of agricultural activity in Flanders would have to execute a nitrogen evaluation, and even those permits recently granted under the current 5% deposition threshold could become legally uncertain. Minister Demir already mentioned that a change in permitting policy and nitrogen regulation seems likely. |
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| | Water scarcity tool: safety and health risks to be defined
We have already reported in previous newsletters that a new framework of guiding principles to prevent extreme water scarcity is under development. This new assessment framework will be presented on April 2nd and the province Governors will test the first version of the tool during the summer. Industrial sectors will engage in the coming weeks with the developing consortium to define a more detailed list of activities that could face safety and/or health risks if water intake had to be cut. |
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| | Energy costs
Deloitte conducted a study for Febeliec on the benchmark of electricity prices. The conclusion of that study is that the Belgian industry faces its post-corona recovery with a significant electricity price disadvantage . inDUfed members confirm this conclusion as some of the companies are already heavily impacted by the costs and taxes to be paid when connected to the distribution net.
The discussions on the cost of the CRM-system, and the compatibility with the cap for offshore green certificates, will make 2021 a very interesting year indeed. In a nutshell there is a swift need for a competitive energy price to guarantee the rapid recovery of the Belgian industry. |
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| | Renovation and energy-efficiency are major axes in the recovery plan
By 30 April 2021 at the latest, Belgium will have submitted its National Recovery and Resilience Plan to the European Commission. Faced with the consequences of COVID pandemic, 5,9 billion euros might be injected into the Belgian economy by the EU. However, this investment and support plan should seize the unique opportunity presenting itself to initiate a genuine strategy of renovation with high economic, social and environmental benefits. A wave of home and public building renovations will reduce heating consumption and thus greenhouse gas emissions.
The strategy to accelerate this wave of renovation includes among others the following points of attention:
-Developing the renovation and training sector.
-Introducing an obligation to renovate.
-A renovation by street or neighbourhood.
-Tax reforms |
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| | REPAC²: Functional & recyclable coated paper packaging for food products
The University of Hasselt will introduce a research proposal at VLAIO, called REPAC². This project will look into the optimisation of commercially available water vapor barriers on paper and board packaging without compromising the recycling of the material.
A one-pager on the subject can easly be obtained by simple request at inDUfed or via this link 
If you decide to join the study, please inform us as inDUfed has also signed the Letter of Intent to join the project’s steering committee. | |  |
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| | Seminar Circopack: Sorting and Recycling Techniques
inDUfed was kindly invited to the Pack4Food seminar “Circopack: Sorting and Recycling Techniques” to present the paper and board industry’s views on the subject.
In our presentation, we stressed the need for an early and open communication between the client and the packaging producer, and even further up and down the production chain. Any modification made to the design of the packaging influences its recyclability. Everything should be thoroughly examined so that the most optimal packaging for the product can be designed.
The presentation given by inDUfed at the seminar can be obtained upon simple request to the inDUfed office. |
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| | Publication of the amendments to the Food Contact Guidelines The first revision of the Food Contact Guidelinesfor the Compliance of Paper and Board Materials and Articles is now available. Download the PDF here : 
On April 2019 the paper and board manufacturing industry, along with the converting sectors including the tissue industry, published the new voluntary ‘Food Contact Guidelines for the Compliance of Paper and Board Materials and Articles’ as an evolution of the former ‘Industry Guideline’. Those Guidelines are intended to provide a methodology for the demonstration of the suitability of Paper and Board Materials and Articles for a variety of food contact applications.
After almost two years from the publication of the Guidelines, the P&B supply chain has defined a series of amendments that: - Implement the changes that have taken place in the German BfR Recommendation XXXVI on Paper and Board for food contact for Aluminium and Bisphenol A.
- Intend to provide a clearer interpretation of the rules on Declaration of Compliance
- Correct two incorrect internal references
The amendments are described in the followingcorrigendum that becomes, as a consequence, an integral part of the Guidelines. Download the PDF here : |  |
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| | New premiums for insulation and glazing in Flanders
From January 1st, 2021, some new features come into force for premiums linked to home insulation in Flanders. Among those : • a bonus linked to the house’s energy label;
• a premium for asbestos removal combined with insulation of the roof or facade;
• the basic premium for insulating glazing is doubled;
• the basic premium for exterior wall insulation is also doubled;
• the conditions for obtaining roof insulation are becoming more stringent. Final invoice | Insulating glazing | Exterior wall insulation | 2020 | 8 euro per m² | 15 euro per m² | 2021 | 16 euro per m² | 30 euro per m² | 2021 – Customer with ‘nightly rate only’ | 24 euro per m² | |
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| | PaperPackSkills joins the ESF project ‘Inclusive Entrepreneurship’
The sectoral fund of the paper and cardboard converting industry (PaperPackSkills) is a partner in the ESF project ‘Inclusive Entrepreneurship’ led by I-Diverso (HR Specialist). In this project I-Diverso supports companies free of charge in their ‘next steps’ in the field of HR and inclusive entrepreneurship.
Interested? Go to https://i-diverso.be/hr-scan/ and do the scan. Once you have completed the scan, an I-Diverso employee will contact you to discuss the results and to develop an action plan with you.
For more information, please visit https://www.paperpackskills.be/nl/esf-inclusief-ondernemen/ 
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| | PaperPackSkills announces new website
PaperPackSkills is happy to announce that its new website www.paperpackskills.be is now online. You will be able to easily register for training courses and you can find an overview of all the currently running projects. Are you curious to find out what services PaperPackSkills can offer your company, for instance in terms of dual learning, workable work, diversity and inclusion or training for your employees? Be sure to visit the new website! 
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