ECOFUT, an association under the French law 1901, was created in July 1992 at the initiation of the French industrial and commercial rigid plastic packaging manufacturers of the Chambre Syndicale des Emballages en Matière Plastique (CSEMP) - (French Plastic Packaging Board), with the participation of producers of raw HDPE materials, PP packaging manufacturers, the bucket section of the packaging industry and the operators accredited by ECOFUT.

In France, ECOFUT organises the recovery of HDPE industrial packaging (capacities from 10 to 1200 litres - cans, jerry-cans, drums and bulk containers) and PP buckets (capacities from 0.5 to 30 litres ) in order to give a concrete answer to the problems dealing with recovery of industrial packaging.

Focusing on the promotion and improvement of the quality of rigid plastic packaging, ECOFUT is seeking to bring efficient help to industrial users of this packaging, in compliance with the decree, in order to enable them to meet their new obligations more easily.

ECOFUT offers an organised network for the recovery of the packaging concerned, respectful of environment (principle of proximity, design of packaging integrating the possibility of different methods of recovery, complementary recovery methods) and is interested in the environmental impact of the package during its entire lifetime.

The ECOFUT registered label is symbolised by a logo, displayed on the packaging of the member manufacturers of the association . This mark guarantees the final holders that packaging carrying this label can be subject to a recovery procedure and can be recovered by the operators accredited by ECOFUT.

The legal framework

ECOFUT operates in the French and European legal framework based on decree No.94-609 dated 13 July 1994 dealing with packaging waste for which the final holder of the packging is not the household and the 94-62-EC directive dated 20 December 1994 dealing with packaging and packaging waste.

According to the decree dated 13 July 1994 "the holders of packaging waste mentioned in the 1st article must :

	Carry out themselves the recovery process in authorised installations according to the terms and conditions specified in articles 6 and 7 of the decree;
	Hand the packaging waste over to a contracted operator of an authorised installation under the same conditions;
	Or turn over the waste to a contracted intermediary who assures the transportation, trading or brokerage of the waste, under the supervision of article 8 of the decree."

The 94/62/EC directive, submits all packaging to critical requirements and sets the figures and percentage objectives for recovery.

The critical requirements of the directive:

Prevention through reduction at source Reuse  Recovery : 50 % at the minimum and 65 % at the maximum in weight of the packaging waste and for recycling, 25 % at the minimum and 45 % at the maximum in weight of all the materials with a minimum of 15% for each material (plastic, glass...)  Limited heavy metal contents

ECOFUT develops close relationships with Public Authorities and Ministries on environmental questions, regulations, recovery, transportation.