Changing of the guards at CELAB Europe Data Mining workstream

 

CELAB europe Data Mining workstream: Aleš Krmela, Delfort´s global sales and marketing director for release base paper (right), has taken over the Chair of CELAB Europe’s Data Mining workstream from Wilhelm Münninger, who is retiring as Technical Director at Mondi Release Liner.

Willi Münninger has served the release liner industry for more than 30 years in different positions at Mondi, dedicating his career to broaden the use release liners in industrial as well as consumer applications. “I’m convinced that self-adhesive technology is a modern and effective method of connecting materials with each other, often superior to other alternatives. But as an industry have to acknowledge that our technology also generates waste, not always easy to handle. Therefore it was a great opportunity when about three years ago the CELAB industry initiative was launched with the goal to ensure an improved environmental footprint for this industry’s products. For me participating in this initiative gave a wonderful opportunity to close the loop in my professional career, from distributing release liners all over the world to making sure that used materials find a second life by recycling methods. In close collaboration with the other workstreams, the Data Mining workstream, which I was chosen to lead, exposed many locations in Europe that already recycle used release liners. I thank Ophélie Gourdou for her support as project leader, and am very glad that Aleš is taking over my role as a workstream leader, and of course I will continue supporting him and CELAB with my contributions during the rest of this year.”

Aleš Krmela holds a Ph.D. in company economics and management from the Brno University of Technology, Czech Republic. He has been working as Delfort´s global sales and marketing director for release base paper since 2013. “I am passionate about developing business models based on circular economy strategies, and to contribute to a true holistic sustainability of our industry. This was also a reason for me to get actively involved with CELAB Europe, from the very beginning in 2020. Currently, I am actively involved in the work of four different work streams of CELAB Europe, next to being an active member on FINAT committees and the IRLA association. As Willi’s successor, I would like to contribute to an improved data-based understanding of the current status of release liner recycling, as well as to improve CELAB´s ability in tracking progress. The past two years, CELAB has made a remarkable progress in developing ‘heat maps’, we have released an interactive map of collectors and recyclers in Europe, and important circular economy stakeholders in our industry have been identified. However, as we gain new knowledge, we also discover some blank spots that need to be filled. Therefore, we want to particularly focus further on consolidation of the fragmented data, get both better understanding of the waste locations and of the second life or the end-of-life strategies for the waste, as well as in establishing a reliable waste recycling rate. I trust that, next to other achievements of CELAB, in 12 months from now, we will be able to present reliable, detailed and fact-based information on the European self-adhesive labelling industry liner and matrix waste recycling rate. In conclusion, I would like to express my deep appreciation of the work conducted by my predecessor in this role. It is a true honour and privilege to succeed a highly respected industry expert as Dr. Wilhelm (Willi) Munninger.“