BOPET Films Europe

What BOPET Films Europe does

BOPET Films Europe is a membership-based trade association founded in 2019 and headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, that promotes the value of BOPET (biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate) film across European flexible packaging and industrial applications. BOPET films are polyester films produced by stretching PET in two primary directions, giving them high tensile strength, chemical and dimensional stability, transparency, gas and aroma barrier properties, and electrical insulation. The association represents major BOPET producers including Ester Industries, Mitsubishi Chemical, Mylar Specialty Films, Toray, Polyplex, SRF, and Uflex, alongside machinery and supply-chain members such as Bruckner and Dornier. Its core activities centre on research and promotion of end-of-life recycling options (mechanical, monomer, and feedstock/pyrolysis recycling) to boost circularity in markets where BOPET already constitutes 5-10% of volume by weight but up to 25% of packaging structures by count. The organisation operates as a non-profit, generating revenue through recurring membership fees from BOPET film producers and industry participants.

The association's flagship initiative is Vita Nova, a consortium launched in February 2021 with Searious Business to promote mono-PET flexible packaging for the circular economy, recruiting sorters, recyclers, machine manufacturers, and brand owners. BOPET Films Europe was among the first signatories of the European Plastics Pact in March 2020, and has subsequently partnered with Arcus (pyrolysis trials demonstrating 65% oil yield and 95% conversion) and aligned with ReNew ELP and Mura Technology on HydroPRS hydrothermal recycling. The organisation distributes technical assets including a TNO-commissioned comparative Life Cycle Assessment (signed September 2022) and the Vita Nova "Race to Zero" presentation, and maintains market-development presence at AMI Multilayer Flexible Packaging, ALL4PACK, Interpack, and AMI Plastic Pouch conferences. Its go-to-market is essentially community-led and event-driven, with Steven Davies as Chair, Michael Kreuter as Vice Chair, and Mark Dawes as European Market Development Manager.

Name

BOPET Films Europe

Legal name

BOPET Films Europe

Website

https://bopetfilmseurope.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Short description

BOPET Films Europe is a Brussels-based, membership-funded trade association founded in 2019 that promotes BOPET polyester film in European flexible packaging and industrial applications. It serves BOPET producers, recyclers, and brand owners through the Vita Nova circular-economy consortium, European Plastics Pact engagement, and technical recycling research.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Packaging Industry Trade Association

NAICS

Plastics Packaging Film and Sheet (including Laminated) Manufacturing (326112), Plastics Packaging Materials and Unlaminated Film and Sheet Manufacturing (32611)

SIC

Unsupported Plastics Film & Sheet (3081)

akta.pro primary industry

Polyester & Nylon Films (PET/BOPET, PA/BOPA) (IMALABAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Recyclable/Mono-Material Flexible Packaging (PE/PP-Based, Compatibilized Structures) (IMALABAN), Packaging Recovery & Closed-Loop Programs (Take-Back, Deposit-Return, EPR Support) (IMALAMAF), Plastic Wrap & Cling Film (CRAJAGAC)

Keywords

• Flexible packaging films
• BOPET film association
• Polymer sustainability advocacy
• Packaging circularity research
• Circular economy packaging

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership fees: BOPET Films Europe is a membership-based trade association. Revenue is generated through membership fees from BOPET film producers and industry participants.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

BOPET Films Europe is a membership-based trade association that promotes the value of BOPET (biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate) films in flexible packaging and industrial applications. The association conducts research on end-of-life recycling options (mechanical, monomer, and feedstock/pyrolysis recycling), runs the Vita Nova consortium initiative promoting mono-PET flexible packaging, and publishes comparative LCA studies and technical resources. Its activities center on advancing circularity, food-contact approved recycled content, and material efficiency for household flexible packaging structures across Europe.

Product overview

BOPET Films Europe is a membership-based trade association promoting the value of BOPET (biaxially-oriented polyethylene terephthalate) films in flexible packaging and industrial applications. The organization's core offering centers on BOPET films, which are versatile engineered films with properties including high tensile strength, chemical/dimensional stability, transparency, gas barrier properties, and electrical insulation. BOPET films constitute 5-10% by weight but form the backbone of up to 25% of flexible packaging structures. The association's flagship initiative is Vita Nova, a consortium (partnered with Searious Business) promoting mono-PET flexible packaging for circular economy. BOPET Films Europe also provides research resources including comparative LCA results, pyrolysis trial data, and TNO-commissioned environmental assessments. The organization focuses on end-of-life recycling solutions including mechanical recycling, monomer recycling, and feedstock recycling (pyrolysis) to boost circularity of flexible packaging markets.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Vita Nova: A consortium of industry players promoting the use of mono-PET flexible packaging in the circular economy. Launched by BOPET Films Europe and Searious Business in February 2021. The initiative aims to develop material redesign options, quality sorting guidelines, recycling pathways, and design for recycling guidelines for mono-PET packaging.

Products and services

• BOPET Films (Biaxially-Oriented Polyethylene Terephthalate) BOPET is a versatile engineered polyester film made by stretching polyethylene terephthalate in two primary directions. It delivers high tensile strength, chemical and dimensional stability, transparency, reflectivity, gas and aroma barrier properties, and electrical insulation. BOPET films serve as the backbone of up to 25% of flexible packaging structures and are used in consumer electronics, automotive, green energy, and medical device applications.
• Vita Nova Initiative A consortium initiative developed with Searious Business that promotes mono-PET flexible packaging for circular economy. The program develops material redesign options, quality sorting guidelines, recycling pathways, design-for-recycling guidelines, and proves viable end markets for mechanically recycled flexible PET, inviting producers, sorters, recyclers, machine manufacturers and brand owners to participate.

Quantifiable outcome

• Enables over one million tonnes of sustainable flexible packaging in Europe
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• ReNew ELPcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 31 March 2021ReNew ELP is constructing HydroPRS recycling lines capable of processing 20,000 tonnes of plastic waste per year, including PET-based flexible packaging laminates. The advanced recycling process was developed by Mura Technology with ambitions for 1 million tonne global annual recycling capacity.
• ArcuscoreTechnology or Integration · 18 March 2021BOPET Films Europe partnered with Arcus to prove PET compatibility in pyrolysis processes. Analysis of mixed plastic samples achieved 65% pyrolysis oil yield and 95% conversion of feed to useful products, demonstrating BOPET films can be processed efficiently in feedstock recycling.
• Searious BusinesscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 23 February 2021Searious Business and BOPET Films Europe co-launched the Vita Nova initiative, promoting mono-PET flexible packaging for a circular economy. Searious Business is a social enterprise focused on preventing plastic pollution through systemic change and accelerating brands towards circular plastic use.
• Mura TechnologycoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2021Mura Technology developed the HydroPRS (Hydrothermal Plastic Recycling Solution) advanced recycling process with ambitions to see 1 million tonne global annual recycling capacity in operation or development by 2025.
• European Plastics PactflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 6 March 2020BOPET Films Europe signed the European Plastics Pact as among the first signatories. The Pact aims to boost recycled plastics in packaging to an average of at least 30%. BOPET films are uniquely placed to help deliver this goal as the only viable option for food contact approved recycled content.
• AMI (Applied Market Information)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerAMI organizes industry conferences where BOPET Films Europe participates to share technical expertise and promote BOPET film value in flexible packaging applications.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• CEFLEX (Circular Economy for Flexible Packaging): Multi-stakeholder initiative focused on designing circular flexible packaging; directly competes with BOPET Films Europe and Vita Nova on the mono-material flexible packaging narrative, often advocating mono-PE/PP structures over PET laminates.
• Petcore Europe: Trade association representing the PET value chain in Europe; overlaps with BOPET Films Europe on PET recycling, food-contact approval, and circularity advocacy, with overlapping member companies.
• Flexible Packaging Europe: European trade association for the flexible packaging industry; covers the same downstream converters and brand owners BOPET Films Europe engages, but from a substrate-agnostic position.
• European Plastics Pact (initiated by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and WBCSD): The Pact itself — of which BOPET Films Europe is a founding signatory — is a multi-stakeholder commitment framework that shares the same membership pool and circular packaging agenda.

Broad incumbents

• Plastics Europe: Pan-European trade association representing plastics producers; broader remit than BOPET Films Europe but directly shapes the Brussels policy landscape in which BOPET Films Europe operates, including messaging around polyolefin recycling.
• European Plastics Converters (EuPC): Trade body representing European plastics converters; a key stakeholder in flexible packaging circularity policy and a frequent counterpart for BOPET Films Europe in Brussels policy work.
• European Council of Vinyl Manufacturers (ECVM): Represents PVC value chain in Europe and is another substrate-specific trade association structurally similar to BOPET Films Europe in promoting a single polymer family.

Emerging players

• Plastics Recyclers Europe (PRE): European association of plastics recyclers; directly relevant because BOPET Films Europe's circularity claims hinge on the mechanical and feedstock recycling infrastructure PRE's members operate.
• European Bioplastics: Association promoting bioplastics as an alternative to conventional petrochemical films; a partial substitute narrative competing with BOPET's sustainability positioning in flexible packaging.

Others

• Mura Technology: Developer of the HydroPRS advanced recycling process that BOPET Films Europe has actively promoted; a technology partner rather than competitor, but materially shapes BOPET's end-of-life narrative.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/watch?v=9J_7xT11u8A&t=149s

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about BOPET Films Europe