Afera, the European Adhesive Tape Association, recently welcomed over 150 commodity and specialty tape professionals from 15 countries across Europe, Asia, and the United States for critical networking and deep diving into the hottest tape business issues at its successful 67^th Annual Conference in Thessaloniki, Greece. The conference set a record for attendance and also boasted the most industry sponsorship received in the same period. 

“You are the key players, inquisitive minds, influencers and innovative leaders from the adhesive tape industry, said Afera President Evert Smit of Lohmann GmbH & Co. KG, Neuwied, Germany, in welcoming the crowd. "This event is more than just networking and knowledge sharing. It's about co-creating, transparency, changing mindsets, and meeting the new generation on its terms — and ultimately making our technologies and businesses futureproof."

A three-day program, featuring 15 seminars and three expert panel discussions, offered a unique and transformative journey into the world of commodity and specialty tapes. Three separately themed working sessions focused on market data and trends, regulatory affairs and sustainability, and current tape applications and technology highlights. The Conference Working Program was preceded by Afera’s biannual committee and flagship sustainability project (AFSP) meetings. Social activities framed and enhanced each day’s schedule, including a “Five senses” tour of the old center of Thessaloniki and networking coffee breaks and organized conference lunches, drinks, and dinners on each day. 

Market Data and Trends

Corey Reardon and Anum Javed Beg of AWA Alexander Watson Associates, The Netherlands, reported on global and European market data concerning specialty pressure-sensitive tapes (PSTs), which comprise 15% or 7.7 billion square meters of the total global PST market. Some of the key trends they covered include the soft-to-no growth in the economies of central Europe (affecting building and construction tapes), declining growth of the European automotive industry over the past year (affecting IC engine and EV tapes), the semiconductor shortage (affecting insulation tapes), tapes used as replacements for mechanical fastenings to reduce the size of product construction, and sustainability (affecting tapes with PCR content, bio-based materials and sustainable adhesives). What is the most disruptive technology they have seen in data? Innovation in the medical segment, although it takes a significant amount of time for any product to qualify. 

Smit then shared his insights into the global tape market from having taken part in the Global Tape Forum and China Adhesives and Tape Industry Association Meeting in Shanghai, China, in April 2024. This included data, strategies and other market intelligence from North America (PSTC, Pressure Sensitive Tape Council), Japan (JATMA, Japanese Adhesive Tapes Manufacturers Association), China (CATIA, China Adhesives and Tape Industry Association) and Taiwan (TAAT, Taiwan Regional Association of Adhesive Tape Manufacturers).

Edris Parsa of WACKER Chemie AG, Munich, Germany, delivered his colleague Dirk Weckesser's presentation on the trends and challenges of raw materials for the adhesives industry. The presentation was devoted to the following topics: key impacts on strategic planning; the dynamics and building blocks of feedstock trends, fossils, and global disruptions; and options and challenges to the industry's becoming sustainable. Parsa concluded with an explanation of the commercial implications of PCF of sustainability in about five years. It is important that in Europe we understand the industry is very sustainability-driven, and whether it concerns raw materials/feedstocks or CBAMs (carbon border adjustment mechanisms), companies need to deal with this strategic issue as it affects their business models and investment decisions.

Regulatory Affairs and Sustainability 

Moderator Brenden Drijgers of Kraton Corp., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, spoke on the monetary value of carbon footprint reduction in the adhesive tape industry. The panel discussed: how carbon price corresponds with carbon value; how downstream and upstream manufacturers can have the greatest impact, creating value through encouraging suppliers to utilize biobased raw materials, renewable energy sources, and sustainable practices; and rethinking solutions with circularity in mind is a question of prioritizing and adopting a holistic approach.

Spyros Konstantis, of RULER Consult in the U.K., discussed the rapidly evolving key corporate focus area of ESG from a risk management and insurance perspective. Climate- and ESG-related disclosure obligations are developing across the globe and currently vary among the regions. Tape-related businesses in Europe may be subject to SFDR, E.U. Taxonomy and CSRD, obligations of which start in 2025.

Bastian Lehmann, of mpcg in Germany, provided an overview of CSRD, ESRS and sustainability in the adhesive tape industry. The main focus of the ESRS is the double materiality assessment (DMA), which determines which sustainability issues are of material importance to a company. The biggest challenge on the path to achieving CSRD compliance is systematically collecting and managing the necessary data.

Maria Pia Spinelli, of Ergo S.r.l in Italy, gave a presentation on the significance of life cycle assessment (LCA), which supports both the ESPR and GCD by shaping product design and substantiating environmental claims. LCA results can be shared through PEFs and EPDs to ensure reliable and comparable environmental information, while also supporting schemes such as E.U. Ecolabel and EMAS.

Pablo Englebienne, the Afera Regulatory Affairs & Sustainability manager, introduced Afera’s groundbreaking collaborative PCF calculation tool for adhesives and adhesive tapes, which is in the final stages of development. First, he explained the development process and significance to the adhesive tape industry of the aligned tool, launching it under the name of TACK (Tapes and Adhesives Calculation Kit). Margarida Gama, of Sphera in Germany, provided an overview of how TACK works, its features and two specific use cases.

Collaborative Tool 

The products of the adhesives and adhesive tape industries, as enablers of energy and material efficiency, durability, repairability, upgradability, recycling, and CO₂ reduction, make an important contribution to achieving the goals of the European Green Deal and at the same time must show themselves to be CO₂-neutral by 2050 at the latest. During this transition, supporting environmental claims with hard data will be a necessity with upcoming European regulations. European adhesive tape manufacturers, converters, and raw material suppliers need an aligned, recognized standard for measuring the sustainability of adhesive tapes for product designers and engineers and everyone else in the adhesive tape value chain, as well as regulatory bodies.  

The Product Carbon Footprint (PCF), one of the most established methods for determining the climate impact of a product, sums up the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions generated by a product over the various stages of its life cycle. PCF is also becoming increasingly important within the tape industry for estimating the environmental impact of all types of adhesive tapes—in particular, a cradle-to-grave (entire life cycle) or cradle-to-gate (defined life cycle phase) assessment of PCF based on the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach, including factors such as the raw materials, manufacturing, distribution, and end-of-life stages for B2B reporting.

Afera and the German Adhesives Association (IVK) have been collaborating with Sphera, a specialized provider of sustainability consulting services, to develop a web-based, sector-wide tool for PCF calculation of both adhesives and adhesive tapes using an aligned, straightforward, affordable method. PCFs are to be calculated according to ISO standard 14067:2018: Greenhouse Gases – Carbon Footprint of Products through an expansion of the Together for Sustainability (TfS) PCF Guideline, and ISO standard 14040:2006 Environmental Management – Life Cycle Assessment. A third-party-validated calculation model has been collaboratively developed by and for the tapes and adhesives sectors, using feedback from over 30 companies (Afera and IVK members) representing the wide European industry. It is compatible with the supply chain upstream and downstream.

Revealed in Thessaloniki under the name of TACK (Tapes and Adhesives Calculation Kit), the PCF calculation tool for adhesives and tapes is in the final stages of development for B2B utilization by adhesive tape manufacturers, converters, and raw materials suppliers who are Afera or IVK members. Non-LCA experts will be able to work with the pre-customized, web-based interface that could even be linked to corporate ERP systems. Users have the possibility to input primary data from suppliers or to utilize a high-quality secondary data set curated from Sphera’s LCA database. TACK’s current database for adhesive tapes consists of 74 raw materials incorporated into adhesive tapes, plus 17 recipes for generic adhesives and release coatings, totaling 91 entries. Third-party verification of PCFs calculated with the tool will be facilitated by thorough reporting and methodology documentation.

TACK is currently in the modelling-and-preparation stage of development, after which it will be reviewed, adjusted and then validated by DEKRA in Q1 2025. The final version of the web-based PCF calculation tool is currently in the development pipeline for launching in Q1 2025. More information about all aspects of TACK, including a comparison with alternative tools, is available here.

The next event sponsored by the association is the Afera European Tape Week, 68^th Annual Conference, 11^th Technical Seminar & Committee Meetings, held September 22-26, 2025, in Thessaloniki, Greece. Learn more at https://afera.com/.