Summary of the Environmental Conference 2025

On 3-4 June 2025, the Interzero Environmental Conference took place - the most anticipated event in the recycling and environmental industry. The 12th edition of the Conference was packed with inspiring keynote speeches and substantive debates, where invited guests addressed legislative changes, the hottest environmental trends and the whole future of waste management.

This year's Interzero Environmental Conference took place at Warszawianka Hotel near Serock. The event was organised by Interzero, a leading provider of environmental services and circular solutions for companies of all sizes, and the Conference's partners were Bank Millennium and the Polish Chamber of Packaging Recovery and Recycling (PIOIRO).

As every year, the Interzero Environmental Conference brought together a distinguished line-up of guests - each day nearly 200 specialists participated in lectures and debates operating in the field of environmental protection, which provided a unique opportunity for networking and business development.

The two-day event will feature three panel discussions and 19 talks by environmental experts, eco-educators, business representatives and representatives of business organisations. The event was moderated by Kamila Kalińczak - radio and television journalist and creator of the educational game ĄĘ. The role of moderator of the discussion panels was played by Jakub Pawłowski, journalist and publicist, known, for example, for his series of videocasts "Eko Bez Kantów" carried out as one of the elements of Interzero's public education campaign of the same name.

The lecture topics of the June Environmental Conference oscillated around one of the strongest social and business trends - the circular economy. Further lectures allowed participants to look at the issue of circularity from several key perspectives: legislative, industry and consumer.

The EU and government's vision of GOZ was discussed by Paweł Sosnowski, Interzero's Board Representative for Environmental Regulation, who addressed the following in his speeches the subject of the new battery regulation and the controversial and widely reported ROP bill. Challenges of the packaging industry in the context of PPWR discussed by Konrad Nowakowski, President of the Polish Chamber of Packaging Recovery and Recycling. The buckle connecting all these areas was a speech by Interzero's Vice-President, Paweł Lesiak, who shed new light on the impact of this legislation on business and activities of Polish companies.

An extremely interesting consumer perspective was presented by Urszula Kozłowska, Communication Strategy Consultant and Marketing Educator, and Aga Wilke-Trochymiak, Senior UX Researcher from Allegro. Urszula Kozłowska demonstrated in an accessible and clear manner, how entrepreneurs can engage their customers into eco-actions and give them a real sense of empowerment. Aga Wilke-Trochymiak, meanwhile, talked about the packaging preferred by Allegro customers and discussed the Barriers discouraging consumers from changing their habits to be more eco-friendly. She also outlined the measures the company has implemented to respond to these preferences and dilemmas.

At the Environmental Conference 2025 there was also plenty of inspiration and insight from other business representatives - Among others, Tomasz Kurpiewski from McDonald's Polska, Marcin Jakubiak from Decathlon, Tomasz Patyra from Stora Enso and Ireneusz Janiczek from SodaStream talked about circular solutions used in their companies.

The lectures delivered at the Interzero Environmental Conference were complemented by expert debates, during which invited guests discussed the most pressing problems and challenges of the environmental industry. On the first day of the event, a panel "Contemporary challenges in textile recycling: How can the industry effectively close the material cycle?". The debate was introduced by Agnieszka Oleksyn-Wajda from Lazarski University, who talked about how selective collection and producer responsibility can transform the textile industry.

Two debates are scheduled for the second day of the Conference:

• Sustainable packaging is both a gain for the environment and a challenge for businesses. How to reconcile ROP and PPWR?
• SUP in practice: How to reduce single-use plastics and not lose competitiveness?

The subject matter of the first panel discussion coincided with the moment when the draft law on ROP was introduced into the government's legislative work. On 2 June, the Council of Ministers announced that the project had been given the number UC100, and already on 4 June, experts Marta Szymborska of GS1 Polska, Paweł Lesiak of Interzero, Piotr Mazurek of Konfederacja Lewiatan, Dariusz Lizak of the National Economic Chamber of the Bottling Industry and Maciej Radzki of Bank Millennium debated the solutions proposed by the government on ROP and how to reconcile them with the provisions of the PPWR regulation. The experts gathered on stage agreed that the current draft of the ROP does not meet the expectations of businesses nor does it guarantee environmental benefits. Moreover, the protractedness of legislative procedures, the uncertainty of the law and the questionable quality of legislation are a brake on new investments and on building a competitive advantage for Polish companies.

In a similar vein was the second of the debates, during which experts discussed effects of the implementation of the SUP Directive in the Polish legal order. Jakub Zieliński from Orlen S.A., Ewelina Tokarska from Eko Myjnia Operator, Dr Daniel Kiewra from FOB, Jacek Kuś from Sfinks Polska S.A., Paula Dudek from Tedmark and Zbigniew Skowronek from Interzero discussed the possibilities of limiting single-use items without a drop in competitiveness. According to the experts, the Polish SUP has been a misfire - not only has it failed to motivate entrepreneurs or consumers to reduce plastic, it has also created room for abuse through its lack of precision and wide scope for interpretation.

Events related to the Interzero 2025 Environmental Conference took place not only on stage, but also off stage. Attendees of the event were treated to booths from SodaStream, Millennium Bank, Interzero eco-devices, a colourist and the Interzero Environmental Education Team.

• SodaStream representatives presented carbonated water saturator system and talked about the brand's philosophy and its development in the spirit of GOZ and zero waste.
• Bank Millennium advisors presented to interested parties financing opportunities for green projects and investments.
• Conference participants were able to test the modern Sielaff bottle dispensers, for which Interzero is the official distributor in Poland. The Bin-e intelligent self-sorting bin, the PEL solar compacting bin and the Oklin GG-02 electric composter were also available for testing in the eco-device zone.
• A professional colourist conducted colour analyses and identified the beauty types of the Conference participants to help them make informed and always accurate shopping choices.
• The Interzero Environmental Education Team presented original educational materials and set up a recording studio to create new episodes of the Eko bez kantów videocast.

Under the motto of GOZ and circularity, the 12th edition of the Interzero Environmental Conference is now history. In conclusion, the organiser invited all those present and absent in Serock to the next industry event under the KŚ banner, which will take place in 2026. Follow the latest Interzero events >>