CEGROBB General Assembly took place in Paris on 8 October 2021.

This year again, the Covid crisis and its consequences in the different countries have been widely commented upon. Most MPs are receiving public support, but in many cases, this is not enough. However, not everything is negative: the review of commercial and logistical processes has helped to create better platforms and to obtain more information on the evolution of costs. In some cases, the ICT development implementations took place during the lockdown.

On the other hand, all member countries are facing problems in finding staff, especially truck drivers. Can we find creative solutions, or do we need to lobby the EU?

In July 2021 the 8th ReUse Conference was organised in digital form. A clear call for a committed promotion of reuse systems at European and national level emerged from this edition. Keynote speakers, panelists and experts in the field emphasised the importance of the European waste hierarchy, which clearly prioritises the reuse of packaging, but which is currently not sufficiently implemented.

During the latest congress there have been presented a few possibilities and ideas to finally reach what we all are looking for: Reusable packaging systems and solutions. The German company Fritz Kola has been invited to the GA to present their way of working with reusable bottles in the beverage softdrinks business.

The Swiss federation presented DIGITALDRINK, a national drinks data hub that supplies affiliated drinks retailers and suppliers with all the relevant product information and market data. As an industry-wide standard, the platform is neutral and scalable for different sizes of businesses.

Such exchanges of experiences and projects are very rich in learning and are a source of inspiration to become better and better.