APE Europe is a professional association bringing together companies and organizations involved in agri-plastics.
APE provides a forum on non-packaging plastics products for agriculture for a sustainable, profitable production, and for a reliable agri-plastics waste management.
APE objective is to improve agri-waste recycling rate by the implementation of national collecting Schemes (NCS) all over Europe, exceeding national and European regulations requirements.
Every year, over 1 000 000 tons of agri-plastic wastes films are generated across Europe.  When collected, 100% of agri-plastics wastes are recyclable. By the NCS, development, APE Europe aims to provide farmers and growers with sustainable solutions for their agri-waste management.
APE Europe has been created in 2012.

PLASTICS AND AGRICULTURE, AN ALLIANCE FOR NATURE

After the packaging, construction, automotive and electrical sectors, agriculture is a significant consumer of European plastics.

LDPE films, in particular, represent 502,000 tonnes of the total - approximately 60% of the agricultural plastics used.

Almost 80% of LDPE films are consumed in 8 countries: Germany, Ireland, Great Britain, France, Belgium, Spain, Italy and Portugal.

The growing demand for agricultural products across Europe has led to:

• the development of more efficient production methods
• an increase in the volume of crops grown
• a focus on improving crop yields
• the need to protect the soil
• greater environmental awareness

To help meet these demands, the plastics industry has developed high-performance products that aid crop production and provide protection during storage.

Agricultural plastics fulfil a number of important purposes: from enhancing crop yields and quality to soil protection and crop preservation.  As such they are part of the environmental solution.  Additionally, the application of agricultural plastics reduces energy and water requirements as well as the need for pesticides and fertilisers.

The extensive benefits provided by agricultural plastics have led to their widespread adoption across Europe with EU member countries consuming an estimated volume of 1.3 M tonnes.

Only 46% of the agricultural plastics used in Europe are recovered each year and only half of this volume is recycled.  By creating APE, Europe's plastic converters intend to do more to recover a valuable resource that can be re-used or recycled into other products.