Chris Bruijnes

Director of KIDV, part of Verpact

Chris Bruijnes, Director of the Netherlands Institute for Sustainable Packaging, part of Verpact, has a distinguished career in environmental sustainability.

After earning his master’s degree from the University of Utrecht in 1985, Chris began his professional journey as an analytical chemist at TNO-Delft, specializing in material analysis, particularly polymers. From 1990 to 1999, he worked at the Ministry of Environment, addressing issues like flame retardants in plastics and reducing emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) across various industries. He also played a key role in developing new international policies within the EU.

Chris then led ‘Milieu Centraal,’ the independent consumer-oriented information institute in the Netherlands, until 2008. Here, he managed an energy-saving program for existing houses, collaborating with the government, energy, housing, and construction sectors. He later worked on innovation projects with small and medium enterprises in the energy and chemistry fields.

In his current role as Director of KIDV, which has recently merged with Verpact, Chris focuses on promoting sustainable packaging among members of the EPR scheme. He and his team work on circular packaging initiatives, utilizing tools like Recyclechecks to help the industry implement Design for Recycling in packaging

Let’s focus on sustainability and not only on circularity.