Rounding up 2019
In his exclusive column this month, Philip Law looks back on a successful K show for both enquiries and engagement, and provides an update on the Federation's latest activities in the areas of circular economy, Brexit and packaging.
The ‘K Fair’ was a success for UK companies. Firms on the BPF stands received a steady level of enquiries. The BPF itself fielded the inevitable torrent of questions about Brexit and received a lot of membership enquiries. Consistent with our emphasis on community engagement, I participated in a PlasticsEurope panel about outreach to schools. I informed the audience about our ‘Ambassadors campaign’ of getting industry people into schools to make presentations using the schools kit provided by PlasticsEurope. I spoke about the longstanding Polymer Study Tours run by The Worshipful Company of Horners and supported by the BPF.
These are designed to update teachers on developments in polymers and are set up as short courses held in respected universities.
I also gave my views on the role of populism in shaping the anti-plastics agenda and stressed the need to bring new blood into the industry where the demographics are weighted towards the older employee, and where a lot of expertise is held by a reducing number of people in the over-55 age bracket.
Circular Economy credentials
To improve our general ‘circular economy credentials’ and to provide a firm evidence base for dialogue with the government, BPF has formed an agreement with EuPC to operate its online ‘MOre’ tool to monitor the uptake of recyclate in products. Individual firms will be able to submit their data on a strictly confidential basis and only the aggregated results will be published and put on the table in meetings with government.
Exploring Brexit consequences
On Brexit, we were fortunate in winning a bid for government resources – ‘The Brexit Readiness Fund’ – to help us explore further the consequences of leaving the EU with our members. Fearful that businesses might not be prepared for Brexit, the government launched a scheme to assist trade associations mount projects to help their members.
Our case was successful, and we are able to launch a legal support helpline manned by the BPF’s lawyers, Squire Patton Boggs, with the first 100 companies using it free of charge. We have also had scripted a substantial document with plastics-industry-specific guidance on Brexit, with an annexe navigating the key issues for recyclers.
“Youth, intelligence and empathy”
I was really pleased to promote Matt Davies to the position of Industry and Sustainability Manager at the BPF. His experience covers polymer and additive supply, product safety and fire issues. He was also responsible for PVC, providing executive support to the Vinyls Group. Latterly, he also took on Industry training and education. He inaugurated his new role with a successful TV appearance projecting just the image we need to – youth, intelligence and empathy.
Scoring with Packaging
‘Packscore’, a web app developed by the BPF to assess the recyclability and sustainability of a rigid plastics pack, has certainly made its mark. Still in its beta version and being perfected, it has now assessed over 1000 packs. Users include the leading European brands and retailers. This is a major, concrete BPF achievement that the industry can use to demonstrate that it is changing its game.
At the start of November, the BPF released a video across social media outlining the benefits of plastic packaging. The short video explains why using plastic intelligently is better for the environment than using alternatives and is part of the BPF’s ‘#ValuePlastic’ campaign currently running across Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. You can watch the video here.