Implementing the PPWR

Kareen Desbouis is General Delegate of Carton Ondulé de France and COFEPAC and representing the interests of the French corrugated board sector. Her work focuses on EU packaging regulation, sustainability and circular economy requirements, particularly in relation to food contact materials and PPWR implementation.

Martin Engelmann is a Lawyer and has been the Director General of the German Plastic Packaging Association since 2019. Before that, he has been the Director General of the German Paints and Printing Inks Industry Association and had leadership roles at PlasticsEurope and the German Chemical Industry Association (VCI).

Bärbel Hintermeier founding partner at LEKKER Partners – a lawfirm specialized in food law and sustainability. She advises in particular on labelling issues, assists in the development of advertising strategies and in crisis situations such as official complaints and product recalls. Another focus of her work is advising on the development and improvement of compliance systems with regard to food safety and sustainability aspects. Previously, she worked in Berlin and Cape Town before joining meyer.rechtsanwälte as a lawyer in Munich for several years. Later on she worked as legal counsel at German Association of the Grain, Milling and Starch Industry (VGMS), where she was responsible for food law, quality and safety as well as sustainability matters. She holds a Master’s degree in international intellectual property law from the TU Dresden and a certificate in sustainability management from FH Hamburg. In addition to publishing in specialist journals, she regularly gives lectures and teaches at the DHBW Heilbronn.

Martin Kreutzer is a food chemist with extensive experience in strategic quality management at Nestlé R&D, specialising in contaminants, residues, and food safety. Since 2016, he has held progressive roles including Corporate Regulatory and Scientific Affairs Manager, Digital Food Safety & Early Warning Lead, and Expert for Food Contact Materials in Europe.

Alexandra Ross studied food technology and in her function as Product Regulatory Manager EIMEA with H.B. Fuller, she is primarily responsible for all food contact compliance issues across all adhesive technologies. As a member of both the German Adhesives Association IVK and FEICA, the European Association for Adhesives and Sealants, she has worked on many guidelines and position papers around packaging adhesives and food contact. Since 2015 she has been chairman of the Technical Working Group “Paper and Packaging” (FEICA). In this function and beyond, she has given numerous lectures and presentations at special events.

Thomas Simat has been a Professor and the Chair of Food Science and FCM at the Technische Universität Dresden with research on FCM since 2003. He is the Chairman of the ‘German BfR Committee on Consumer Products’’.

Wolfgang Trunk is Team Leader for Plastics and Packaging in the Directorate Competitive Circular Economy & Clean Industrial Policy at the European Commission’s DG Environment (DG ENV), working on EU circular economy, waste and packaging policies. He has over 25 years of professional experience, including 17 years (2005–2022) in DG SANTE and leadership of major EU waste legislation since 2022, and holds a PhD in agronomy from the University of Hohenheim, Germany.

Manica Ulcnik-Krump is a Chemist and the Managing Director of Interzero Plastics Innnovation. As Head of R&D she is responsible for the technical development of recycled plastics produced by mechanical recycling for the recycling company Interzero Holding. She is a plastic material modification specialist and her current development focus is on the modification of post consumer plastic waste for high-quality mechanical recycling, the evaluation of the recyclability of packaging, the development of methods for analysing the highly concentrated feedstock for chemical recycling and many other areas that are in some way related to the recycling of post-consumer plastic waste.