The planet faces a new challenge: waste, and especially plastic waste, thrown away by Humans in the oceans. We are talking not only about household waste but also plastic granules, directly from industry. A deadly threat for the marine ecosystem, which has increased so much that we now speak about a 7th continent. 

The global plastic industries associations of the world have decided to react. In March 2011 they signed the Hawaii Declaration to fight against marine litter.

In France, Elipso, Plastic Europe and the Plastic Federation, all signed up to of this Declaration, to implement and launch the “Clean Sweep Operation”. The Barbier Group decided to actively participate to this initiative which aims to achieve the goal “Zero plastic granule waste” in its production.

All of our companies’ employees are receiving appropriate training on handling plastic pellets with the goal of zero losses. We specifically want to raise awareness, train and involve our personnel and suppliers in our environmental process. With the “zero pellet loss” target, the Barbier Group is working for a more sustainable value chain.

More information on http://www.opcleansweep.org/

Every year, in Europe, 41,000 tonnes of industrial plastics, in the form of granules or flakes, end up in the environment, then at sea, according to the Ministry of Ecological Transition.

To deal with this pollution, but also this waste, Operation CleanSweep (OCS) was set up. The law of February 10, 2020 relating to the fight against waste and the circular economy (AGEC) wanted to generalize this fight against pellet leaks by proposing certification.

Concerned about its environmental impact, the Barbier Group subscribed to the voluntary “Operation CleanSweep” approach in 2016 and was audited in accordance with decree no. 2021-461 of April 16, 2021 relating to the prevention of losses of industrial plastic granules in the environment at the end of December 2021.

The Barbier Group is proud to be one of the first French PE Transformers & Integrated Recyclers to receive this certificate of conformity for all of its sites!