The Interplas 2021 conferences have been opened by Rapid News Group CEO Duncan Wood and British Plastics Federation Director General Philip Law.
BPF Director General Philip Law
Wood welcomed all visitors and exhibitors back to the show after an extended postponement brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the delay has given exhibitors an extra year of technological innovation, product development and new materials to bring to this event.
"Much has happened during the last four years," Wood continued. "During that time the plastics sector has been unfairly treated by mainstream media with some poorly researched and hyperbolic headlines levelled against our industry ... It is therefore wonderfully ironic that the plastics industry was prominent in many of the solutions that enabled us to fight back against COVID."
The Rapid News Group CEO then introduced the first keynote of the event, delivered by Philip Law. Titled 'A Brave New World', Law began by repositioning the UK not as an island torn off from the edge of Europe, but as a gateway into the heart of the continent. Law too praised the togetherness and resilience of the plastics industry in the face of multiple challenges, including Brexit, COVID-19, and environmental scrutiny, and concluded that - with the growing interest in space-faring technology, it is likely to be plastics that will make such endeavours a reality in the not-too-distant future.