FEFPEB Congress from 25.-27.09.2024 in Oostende

FEFPEB Congress from 25.-27.09.2024 in Oostende

FEFPEB, the European Association of Manufacturers of Wooden Packaging, met in Oostende from 25 to 27.09.2025 for its biennial congress. EPAL, an important member of FEFPEB as an open pallet pool, took part in the congress with several board members and discussed important topics of the wood packaging industry.

EPAL sent a large delegation to the FEFPEB Congress, including EPAL President Jarek Maciążek, Vice-Presidents Tatyana Sargsyan, Jean-Philippe Gaussorgues and Davide Dellavalle, Board members Alexandre Coppée and Peter McKenzie and CEO Bernd Dörre. EPAL Belgium supported the congress as a gold sponsor and was represented with an exhibition stand.

The opening evening already offered the more than 230 congress participants many opportunities for talks and discussions. Among the participants were delegations from North and Central America, as well as representatives from Asia. Frequent topics of conversation were, of course, the challenges posed by the current market situation and European legislation (EUDR and PPWR) as well as the numerous corporate transactions in the European wood industry.

Jarek Maciążek, President of EPAL:

“With an average annual production of 100 million EPAL Euro pallets per year, the EPAL pallet pool is an important part of the European wood packaging industry. I am therefore pleased to represent EPAL at the FEFPEB Congress 2024 together with five other members of the EPAL Board. In economically challenging situations, it is important that the wood packaging industry formulates common positions and represents them with commitment. I congratulate the President of FEFPEB, Rob van Hoesel, and his team on the excellent organisation of the FEFPEB Congress 2024.”

On the second day of the FEFPEB Congress, visits to nearby companies in the wood packaging industry are traditionally held. This year, the companies of several EPAL licensees were also visited: G-Bloc, manufacturer of EPAL wood-chip blocks, and Nails of Flanders, manufacturer of EPAL nails, showed the production of components for the production of pallets, which is so important for the industry. EPAL repair company PGS REC Belgium and EPAL producer PGS De Backer Pallets have demonstrated how automating the production and repair of pallets not only increases productivity, but also improves working conditions for employees.

Jean-Philippe Gaussorgues, Vice-President of EPAL and Senior Employee of the PGS Group:

“EPAL and PGS have a long history together. It was therefore important to me to present to the participants of the FEFPEB Congress 2024 not only the whole spectrum of PGS companies in Belgium, but also their importance as part of the EPAL pallet pool.”

The third day of the FEFPEB Congress was dominated by the official congress programme with lectures on important current topics in the wood packaging industry. Again, the focus here: what are the consequences of the new elections to the European Parliament in June 2024 and the subsequent realignment of the European Commission for important issues in the wood packaging industry such as the EU Packaging Regulation (PPWR) and the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR)? Also important: the new regulation of the responsibility of manufacturers and users of packaging for disposal and recycling, which will also apply to industrial wooden packaging in the future and will impose new requirements on the recycling of wooden packaging.

Bernd Dörre, CEO of EPAL:

“It is important to us that the interests of EPAL as the largest open pallet pool in the world are adequately taken into account in the discussion of European legislative projects. While there is still little or no reuse of packaging in other areas of the packaging industry, this has been practiced in the wood packaging industry for many years with EPAL and other pool suppliers. We would like to bring this experience of EPAL into the legislative processes and FEFPEB offers us a very good platform for this.”

During the congress, EPAL Belgium presented the new EPAL Euro Pallet QR at the EPAL exhibition stand and gave a first insight into the functions of the new EPAL PALLET APP, which will be released at the beginning of 2025. The printing of individual QR codes on wooden pallets and the use of QR codes in pallet and transport logistics has attracted great interest from numerous representatives of companies from all areas of the wooden packaging industry. EPAL would like to thank the Chairman of EPAL Belgium, Patrick Proot, and the Managing Director of EPAL Belgium, Pascal Dewandeleer, for the presentation of EPAL and the support of FEFPEB in the organisation of the FEFPEB Congress.

Pascal Dewandeleer, Managing Director of EPAL Belgium:

"The FEFPEB Congress 2024 in Oostende gives us the opportunity to present EPAL and EPAL Belgium to participants from all over the world and to promote becoming part of the open EPAL pallet pool. The presentation of the new EPAL Euro Pallet QR and the EPAL PALLET APP, which will soon be available, demonstrate EPAL's innovative strength. The solutions for inkjet printing and marking wooden pallets with QR codes found during the development of the EPAL Euro Pallet QR are of great interest to the entire wood packaging industry, as the discussions with many participants at the FEFPEB Congress 2024 showed us."