Award-winners announced at BPF Annual Dinner

The British Plastics Federation’s (BPF) Annual Dinner took place in London on 14 October 2021. One of the key networking events for the UK plastics industry, the event also includes the presentation of the BPF’s Special Commendation for the Horners’ Award, the BPF Gold Medal and the BPF Energy Award.

After opening the event, BPF Director General Philip Law introduced the BPF’s current president Karen Drinkwater, who is also a founding director of JSC Rotational Limited. After commenting on how it was encouraging that the trade association had now grown to just under 500 organisations, Drinkwater said: “I am confident that the future has the word ‘plastics’ written all over it. If you take the government’s 10-Point Plan for a green industrial revolution in the UK, there’s a very positive plastics story attached to each of the main points, be it Zero Emission Vehicles, greener buildings, or advancing offshore wind power. Plastics make all these possible.”

The BPF president explained how the trade association is determined to take a lead in responding to the government’s ambitious Net Zero Carbon emissions target, citing numerous activities that are already underway. Drinkwater also draw attention to other BPF initiatives to minimise the impact of plastic on the environment, such as Packscore, EcoDesignGuide and online courses about packaging design. The latter two have been shortlisted for two national awards.

Technical Director of Epwin’s Fenestration Division Martin Althorpe won the BPF Gold Medal for Services to the Federation. Althorpe has been a longstanding chairman of the BPF’s Windows Group Technical Committee, the group’s Management Committee and is also the immediate past president of the BPF.

The BPF Energy Award for outstanding achievements in energy savings went to Beverage Plastics due to its investment in energy-saving machinery as well as the creation of an energy management team and weekly ‘energy patrols’. Faerch Poole Ltd received the runner-up award for its long list of improvements, such as investing in new compressors and chillers and converting the motors from DC to AC on large sheet extrusion lines.

Drinkwater then asked Martin Muirhead from the Worshipful Company of Horners to present the BPF’s Special Commendation for the Horners’ Award. This went to Matrix Moulding Systems in recognition of its ‘Soniplas’ flow enhancement technology, which improves the profitability and environmental credentials of injection moulders.

Around 440 delegates attended the event at the Royal Lancaster London. The event was sponsored by LG Energy, ENGEL, S&P Global Platts, RJG, K 2022, EY, Summit Systems, Plastribution, Interplas, Ecosurety, Listgrove, Siemens Financial Services and BPF Energy.