comment
What a treat(y)!
www.britishplastics.co.uk head of content: dave gray
T: +44 (0) 1244 680 222 E: david.gray@rapidnews.com editor: rob coker
T: +44 (0) 1244 680 222 E: robert.coker@rapidnews.com Group portfolio sales manager: MANDY O’BRIEN
T: +44 (0) 01244 952 519 E: mandy.obrien@rapidnews.com Advertising Manager: Gareth Jones
T: +44 (0) 1244 952 370 E: gareth.jones@rapidnews.com Advertising Manager: Michelle Handforth
T: +44 (0) 1244 952 372 E: michelle.handforth@rapidnews.com Head of studio: SAM HAMLYN
T: +44 (0) 1244 680 222 E: sam.hamlyn@rapidnews.com SUBSCRIPTIONS:
T: +44 (0) 1244 680 222 E: subscriptions@rapidnews.com PUBLISHER: duncan wood
T: +44 (0) 1244 680 222 E: duncan.wood@rapidnews.com PRINT SUBSCRIPTION Qualifying Criteria UK – Free Europe – £249 ROW – £249 FREE digital issues available to view and download online British Plastics & Rubber is published monthly (8 times/year) by Rapid Plastics Media Ltd, Carlton House, Sandpiper Way, Chester Business Park, CH4 9QE T: +44 (0) 1244 680222 F: +44 (0) 1244 671074 © 2022 Rapid Plastics Media Ltd While every attempt has been made to ensure that the information contained within this publication is accurate the publisher accepts no liability for information published in error, or for views expressed. All rights for British Plastics & Rubber are reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without prior written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited. ISSN 0307-6164 Incorporating Polymer Age and Rubber and Plastics PEFC Certified This product is from sustainably managed forests and controlled sources PEFC/16-33-254
www.pefc.org
Head of Content
Dave Gray,
I
’m delighted to take the helm as Head of Content at BP&R and Interplas Insights – I’m no stranger to these brands, having worked on them back in the halcyon days of my youth. And what a time to re-join the plastics industry! In the face of unprecedented challenges – unstable resin prices resulting from global events, rapidly increasing sustainability legislation, and the ongoing disruptions caused by the COVID pandemic – the sector remains, nonetheless, positive. A global plastics treaty, spearheaded by the UN, is now officially a work in progress, having been agreed in principle at UNEA 5 in Kenya. I was so pleased to see the plastics industry throw it’s weight behind this idea. Let it never be said that the plastics industry is not environmentally conscious. As someone said to me recently, ‘people don’t realise, but this industry is actually full of very green people’. It’s so true. The sector has been adapting to our environmental reality for some time, entire business models have been re-written based on the need to change. The FT took a swipe at some major downstream chemicals players, who, according to the paper, had been lobbying for a version of the treaty that only focussed on recycling and re-use – thereby dodging anything that might impact on future demand. It’s
not surprising, and it’s important to explain (especially to the public) that these players represent just one stakeholder in plastics. SMEs and OEMs, who make up so much of the plastics industry, have been generally very supportive of a treaty which covers not just end-of-life, but also design and production. The reality is that single-use plastics will face further restrictions, treaty or no treaty. That’s known and accepted, it comes as no surprise. The Telegraph published something which brought a smile to my face – a review of James Piper’s The Rubbish Book, which illuminates readers on the many essential uses of plastics, and also the many inherent differences between different types of plastic. In short, the article underpins the fact that plastic itself is not the enemy of sustainability – a welcome change of tone from the mainstream media. More imminent, and closer to home than the arrival of the global plastics treaty, is the UK’s plastic packaging tax, which kicks in next month. It takes some decoding to work out what is, and isn’t taxable, but if you check out www.interplasinsights. com, the team at Summit Systems have provided a really helpful page of FAQ. It’ll be interesting to hear from materials suppliers and distributors to see how demand for recycled-content material changes once the tax kicks in. With costs for virgin resins likely to remain unstable for the foreseeable future, plus the double whammy of a tax in the packaging arena, I wonder if we’ll see a sharp uptick in demand for recycled-content grades in the first half of the year.
