Annual Review 2015
Contents 2015 in Numbers 2 BPF Key Membership Benefits 3 BPF Key Executives 2015 4 President’s Report 6 Director General’s Report 8 Membership Services 10 UK Plastics Industry 2015 14 Finance & Administration 15 Public and Industrial Affairs 16 BPF Communications 17 BPF Structure 19 BPF Business Groups 20
Polymer Suppliers Group 20
Polymer Distributors & Compounders Group 20
Masterbatch & Technical Compounds Group 20
Additive Suppliers 21
Bio-Based Polymer Interest Group 21
Vinyls Group 22
Plastics Packaging Group 23
Moulders and Specialist Processors Group 24
Rotational Moulding Group 24
Composites Group 25
EPS Group 25
Windows Group 26
Cellular PVC Group 26
Sheet and Coated Fabrics Group 26
Recycling Group 27
IPWAF Group 28
Plastics and Rubber Equipment Group 28
Pipes Group 29
BPF Central Expert Committees 31 Overseas Business Development 34 BPF Events 37 BPF Seminars 2015 38 Annual Dinner 2015 39 Projects / Innovation / Research & Development 41 BPF Energy 44 Business Support Network 45 Horners’ Award for Plastics Design and Innovation 46 Members of the BPF 48 BPF Affiliates 51 BPF Council & Group Chairman 53 BPF Staff and Consultants List 55 BPF Events 2016 56
BPF Annual Review 2015
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2015 in Numbers 26 new corporate members
1,400 attendees at our events 1,400 and seminars
5 countries visited for foreign trade shows
A record breaking 508 guests at the BPF Annual Dinner
5 new employees
1 brand new company website
Some of our targets for 2016
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To work closely with the EU and UK Governments in regards to the Circular Economy Package
To get inspire more communications campaigns surrounding the benefits of plastics to society
To launch a plastics education website, Polymer Zone, providing educational resources for school children, teachers, and parents
To work with a wide range of stakeholders to help limit the presence of plastics in the oceans
To enhance and expand the membership benefits of our organisation
To continue to represent the UK Plastics Industry at important national and international trade shows
BPF Annual Review 2015
BPF Key Membership Benefits About the British Plastics Federation For over 80 years the British Plastics Federation has been the leading voice for the UK plastics industry. The BPF represents over 500 members from across the plastics industry supply chain including polymer producers and suppliers, additive
manufacturers, plastics processors, recyclers, services providers, end users and machinery manufacturers. The Federation promotes the interests of its Members principally through its 18 Members Groups as well as its five Central Expert Committees which address Sustainability, Fire, Product Safety, Industrial Health & Safety and, as of 2015, Skills and Education.
The Federation offers its members the unique opportunity to share experience and resolve industry issues through unified action. Furthermore, members can participate directly in exclusive member-only networking events including seminars, meet the buyers events, group meetings and the Annual Dinner.
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10 Membership Benefits
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Lobbying and representation
The BPF is one of the largest sector specific trade associations in the UK. With over 30 staff and 500 members the Federation represents around 80% of the UK plastics industry by turnover. With an industry turnover in excess of £23bn p.a. this means the Federation wields significant influence at all levels from overall policy to standards making.
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Exclusive peer to peer networking opportunities
As the BPF represents all levels of the plastics industry supply chain it can offer members the opportunity to network with both customers and suppliers, enabling them to share information and generate business.
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Sales leads direct to your inbox
The BPF online sales leads system generated around 1000 sales leads per year which are distributed direct to our members via email and available 24/7 to view in the BPF Members area. In addition to the sales leads submitted online, the BPF gather 100s of sales leads per year from visiting national and foreign shows – all of which are circulated directly to members and are available to view (and download) online.
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Comprehensive grant finding service
BPF Members get free, exclusive access to a searchable database of 8,000+ regional, national and European-wide grants, loans and other hard to find programmes. The funding information is researched by a dedicated team and updated in real time. Members have the ability to save previous searches and receive email updates on the latest, most relevant funding available.
Legislative guidance, member updates and technical advice Members receive regular updates from their dedicated Account Managers on key industry issues, relevant legislative changes and any new reports of interest to specific Groups. In addition all members receive the fortnightly BPF Member newsletter keeping them abreast of all the latest developments from the BPF and the wider plastics industry. In addition members gain unlimited access to the BPF’s team of industry specialists who can answer questions and signpost members to relevant sources of knowledge. Members can download around 800 technical papers from BPF organised seminars via the online BPF Member portal.
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Access to plastics market intelligence, giving you a competitive advantage All members get free, unlimited access to a unique database featuring information on the global plastics market including detailed information on polymer consumption in the top 80 countries as well as downloadable lists of plastic trade magazine, exhibitions and associations. In addition members can access a list of 100’s of plastics agents & distributors around the world who the BPF have met at various international plastic events.
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Free legal advice
Members gain instant access, via a dedicated phone line, to a team of lawyers giving free legal advice on issues such as Tax, VAT, PAYE, Payroll, Employment and Personnel, Health and Safety and Commercial Legislation.
Raising the profile of your company
BPF Members come up top in any search on the BPF Industry Directory and are featured on all relevant group pages. In addition, the BPF will publish members’ press releases, articles and case studies free of charge on its website and will share member updates via its various social media channels. With nearly 10,000 followers on social media (including Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook) and in excess of 1.5 million page views a year on the BPF website, the BPF can provide the perfect shop window for member products and services.
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BPF Members’ Directory
The BPF produce an annual member directory featuring all BPF Members with a searchable list of over 400 categories and services. This guide is available to download on the BPF website and is distributed at all UK and foreign shows the BPF takes part in. Over 3,000 hard copies are distributed around the world each year.
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Member discounts
Members gain substantial savings on a large number of products and services. This includes a 58% discount on the fees for the Climate Change Agreement, 20% in the BPF Plastics Bookshop and discounts on a wide variety of services offered by Business Support Network members. It also includes discounts on BPF seminars and third party exhibitions such as Interplas and the PPMA Total Show as well as the world’s leading international shows.
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BPF Key Executives 2015 as of 31 December 2015
Directors
Philip Law
Stephen Hunt
020 7457 5000 plaw@bpf.co.uk
020 7457 5044 shunt@bpf.co.uk
Director-General
Managers
Membership Services Director
Francisco Morcillo Public & Industrial Affairs Manager 020 7457 5037 fmorcillo@bpf.co.uk
Senior Executives
Paul Baxter
Dr Sara Cammarano
Senior Commercial Events and Projects Executive
Senior Industrial Issues Executive Moulders, Rotational Moulders, Health and Safety, Composites
020 7457 5047 pbaxter@bpf.co.uk
020 7457 5013 scammarano@bpf.co.uk
Justyna Elliott
Senior Business Development Executive Trade Shows, Equipment Group, Business Support Network
020 7457 5001 jelliott@bpf.co.uk
Group Staff
Julia Trew
Caroline Ayres
Plastic Pipes Group Director 0193 234 3409 carolinea@plasticpipesgroup.com
Admin, Finance and Receptionists
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BPF Annual Review 2015
Helen Fogarty Administrator
020 7457 5022 hfogarty@bpf.co.uk
Plastic Pipes Group Standards Manager 0179 332 6284 julia.trew@plasticpipesgroup.com
Daniel Frake
Fozia Ghadiali
020 7457 5004 dfrake@bpf.co.uk
020 7457 5003 FGhadiali@bpf.co.uk
Finance Assistant
PA to Director General
Directors
Darren Muir
Finance & Administration Director 020 7457 5000 dmuir@bpf.co.uk
Managers
Angella Ladner
Finance & IT Manager 020 7457 5005 aladner@bpf.co.uk
Matthew Davies
Aria Heidarian
Product Safety, REACH, Fire Safety, Raw Materials Groups, Vinyls Group
Construction Groups
Industrial Issues Executive
Industrial Issues Executive 020 7457 5033 aheidarian@bpf.co.uk
020 7457 5048 mdavies@bpf.co.uk
Laura Hindley
Industrial Issues & Communications Executive Packaging
Giselle Jauregui
Helen Jordan
Marketing Executive
Sustainability Issues Executive Recycling Group, Sustainability
020 7457 5007 gjauregui@bpf.co.uk
020 7457 5015 hjordan@bpf.co.uk
020 7457 5043 lhindley@bpf.co.uk
Bob Hawkins
Robert Price
0787 295 6746 bhawkins@bpf.co.uk
0797 640 3985 rprice@bpf.co.uk
Membership Services
Meral Heatley
PA to Membership Services Director 020 7457 5009 mheatley@bpf.co.uk
Executives
Projects and Membership
Projects Executive
Christine Pottinger
Karen Spillman
020 7457 5000 reception@bpf.co.uk
020 7457 5000 reception@bpf.co.uk
Receptionist
Receptionist
Admin, Finance and Receptionists
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President’s Report It gives me great pleasure to introduce the British Plastics Federation’s Annual Report for 2015. It paints a picture of an industry in good health and a vibrant trade organisation that our members can rely on and be very proud of. A new departure for the Review is the inclusion of a photographic gallery of the members of the BPF’s Council, its supervisory body. In such a large industry you might not have met them all so I think it helpful to be able to put a face to the name! More than ever before, an effective BPF is an essential component of our industry’s fabric. Our Business Conditions Surveys, now completed bi-annually by over one hundred firms, show that early 2015 marked the pinnacle of progress in confidence since the depths of 2009-10. Optimism, however, was moderated by several developments. One was the plunge in the oil price, with its associated ramifications for the polymer market. The uncertainty of the General Election also encouraged further caution, as does the whole debate on the UK’s EU membership. The Government’s move to push training costs more fully onto the shoulders of industry and the review of energy taxation were also seen, at the time, as ‘risks to business’. Despite these uncertainties in the macro economy, no one can fail to be impressed by the resilience of the UK plastics industry and our ability to adapt to these changing dynamics. One particular feature which emerged during 2015 was the need for brand owners and retailers to maintain their interest and support for the use of plastics recyclate in the face of a combination of factors creating some challenges for plastics recyclers and re-processers. Plastics recycling has a crucial role to play in helping us to develop our sustainability message and I am pleased to see that the BPF’s Recycling Group continues to develop. Once again we were able to discuss the industry’s overall economic position with the Bank of England. The BPF’s Council held its 15th July meeting inside the Bank and members had a full opportunity to describe the conditions in their sub-sectors to the Bank’s senior officials. We concluded with a spirited interchange with Monetary Policy Committee member, Dr Martin Weale, cautioning him not to generalise on UK productivity and pointed to the great strides made in productivity in the UK plastics sector. As you will read later, 2016 saw the BPF engaged, with UK Government financial encouragement, in the preparation of a strategic vision for the UK plastics industry.
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BPF Annual Review 2015
BPF President David Hall
When published, this will promote the crucial role of the plastics sector to Government, to customers and other key stakeholders. The contribution of our industry to the economy is impressive, yet because of the wide applications we serve; it is often difficult for us to achieve the profile our industry deserves. Our combined turnover now stands at £23.5 billion. We employ 170,000 people in over 6,200 companies. The strategy will provide a focus for the various strands of activity and form an excellent basis for member firms to hold discussions with their local Members of Parliament, illustrating how they fit into this very large and highly progressive industry. I have always believed that plastics are the materials of the future. Their carbon saving qualities are so apparent to us in the industry. Most innovations in the world are made possible, to a large extent, by the use of plastics. The UK is often at the forefront of these innovations and it is no co-incidence that many of the world’s leading engineering companies engaged in high performance
sport are based in the UK, utilising plastic and composite technology. Yet, we still face two issues, that are not necessarily related. One is that the reputation of our industry is continually and often unjustly brought into question particularly in connection with litter on land and the presence of plastics in the seas. The other is that we find it hard to recruit new, bright young blood into the industry despite an excellent record in upskilling the employees we have. This will be formally highlighted in our strategic discussion. I would particularly like to place an emphasis in my Presidency on encouraging actions to alert schoolchildren to the benefits of plastics materials and products and to the considerable employment opportunities in the industry. I was therefore delighted at our Annual Dinner – incidentally the largest ever staged with 506 attendees – that circa 60 plastics industry executives responded to my call by volunteering to be ‘Polymer Ambassadors’, prepared to venture into
schools with a BPF prepared presentation and armed with a schools kit, jointly branded BPF/PlasticsEurope, and backed up by the resources available on a BPF website, www. polymerzone.co.uk Recognising the successes of people in the industry also has its part to play in encouraging youth. Therefore it was a great pleasure for me at the Annual Dinner to present the BPF’s Gold Medal for exceptional service to the BPF to Mike Jones of Distrupol for his work as the longstanding Chairman of the BPF’s Industrial Health and Safety Committee. Likewise, Dr Stuart Patrick, formerly of Akcros was thoroughly deserving of his medal awarded for his painstaking work as Chairman of the IOM’s PVC Conference Committee, responsible for staging the PVC industry’s triennial global Conference in Brighton. I am delighted to report that our new BPF Directorial team headed up by Philip Law, now have their feet well and truly under the table and are actively transforming our BPF for the better. We have a vision and a renewed sense of purpose. The quality of strategic discussion in the BPF’s Council is at a very high level and we have a highly creative staff team which is clearly focussed
on developing your interests. Several major structural developments took place in the second half of 2015. One was the creation within the BPF of a new forum for Plastics and Flexible Packaging by our own BPF Packaging Group and by the independent Packaging and Films Association, a significant and very important move as it created for the first time in our industry’s history in the UK a unified platform for the UK’s plastics and flexible packaging manufacturers. I would like to extend a very warm welcome to those members of PAFA who have joined the BPF as a result. To help address both the industry’s image and reputation as well as its need for highly skilled staff we instituted an Education and Skills Committee which devised Polymerzone, a web resource of teaching aids about plastics. Recognising the emergence of prominent, across-the-board issues such as marine litter, we set up a Sustainability Committee aimed at co-ordinating overall BPF policy. I am grateful to Philip Watkins of Gabriel Chemie and Jason Leadbitter of Ineos ChlorVinyls, respectively, for taking on the Chairmanship of these committees. A further key development was bringing the administration of the BPF’s Climate
BPF Gold Medal Winner Mike Jones
Change Agreement (CCA) in-house from 1st January 2016. This will result in cost-savings which are being passed on to participants in the CCA in the form of further discounts on fees. With the BPF membership now standing at over 500 Members I am confident that our influence will grow steadily in the future. Our finances are solid and we are slowly building our reserves to where we feel they should be. I am pleased to say that the Strategy and Finance Committee will once more make available in 2016 a sum of £20K to apply to worthy projects likely to benefit the industry in the education and skills arena. I became President in May 2015 taking over from Mike Boswell. Mike oversaw considerable change in the management of the Federation and I would like to thank him for handing over to me a revitalised organisation in such good shape. My thanks also to my stalwart colleagues on the BPF’s Council and Strategy and Finance Committee, their passion, energy and commitment results in vigorous debate. Finally, none of this would be possible without the dedication of the whole BPF staff who keep the show on the road so efficiently. I am sure you will join me in thanking them all for their contribution.
BPF Gold Medal Winner Dr Stuart Patrick
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Director General’s Report Philip Law
Director General 020 7457 5000 plaw@bpf.co.uk
2015 was a very strong year for the BPF. Membership grew past the 500 companies mark, a result of several factors. The extension of our value proposition, the heightening of the BPF’s profile, contacts made through specialist UK trade fairs, and the boost given by a part-time dedicated membership sales person towards the close of 2015 all contributed to this. A major transformation took place in the packaging space. Discussions between myself and Barry Turner, the Chief Executive of PAFA, initiated at the beginning of 2015, came to fruition at the year end when a new grouping for the plastics and flexible packaging industry was created within the BPF by PAFA and the BPF’s own Packaging Group. For the first time one body will represent this industry, hugely important as its companies are at the sharp end of major consumer pressures. It will provide more resource to tackle issues and rationalise activity. A truly historic move! A further key development is the bringing in-house of the administration of the BPF’s Climate Change Agreement. Thanks to the excellent co-operation of Inenco, we are able to do this relatively seamlessly and provide a cost saving for the participants of the CCA who will benefit from further discounts. Our plan to establish two new Central Expert Committees to develop responses to strategically important issues was vigorously prosecuted. The Education and Skills Committee was set up to improve the resources on plastics available to schools, the recruitment of young people into the industry and the upskilling of existing employees. Chaired by Past President Philip Watkins it benefits from the support of Cogent and the Worshipful Company of Horners. We have also set up a Sustainability Committee which will deal with the broad emerging environmental issues affecting the industry such as litter, plastics in the oceans, waste management options, energy and feedstock availability. This is particularly important at a time when the EU’s flagship
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BPF Annual Review 2015
BPF Director General Philip Law at the BPF Annual Dinner
recovery programme based on a ‘circular economy’ is under consideration. We have embarked on a programme of making the discussions in the BPF’s Council and Strategy and Finance Committee much more industry strategic in their nature. We were able to use the development of an Industry Strategy, financially supported by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Cambridge Institute for Manufacturing for this purpose. Its output will be reported in early 2016 and we anticipate some new activities based on the priorities identified. Moving the BPF forward in the direction required by the membership requires highly skilled staff with all the attributes needed in public-facing, customer-orientated roles with an extensive knowledge base in plastics and their issues. Hence more effort and resource has been applied to their training and development. During the year we were delighted to appoint Francisco Morcillo as Public and Industrial Affairs Manager, Helen Jordan as Sustainability
Executive, Aria Heidarian as Industrial Issues Executive and Giselle Jauregui as Marketing Executive. Bob Hawkins, an industry veteran and former owner of Munchy, was appointed to a part-time role in membership recruitment. During the year the BPF was heavily immersed in sustainability questions affecting all materials and products. Many of these were focused into the EU’s ‘Circular Economy Package’ to which the BPF responded. We were also very active in defending particular chemicals from media attack or burdensome legislation, such as ADCA. When plastic bags were legislated against in October 2015 we participated in television news programmes and supply chain debates, for example in Selfridges. The BPF has never had a higher profile in its history with TV and radio coverage combining with an extensive presence in the press. Our fundamental message that the UK is a world leader in plastics manufacturing expertise and the preferred location to
Philip Law meeting the Prince of Wales at an event organised by the Marine Conservation Society
source, materials, products, equipment and expertise has been communicated very effectively through our re-vamped website, www.bpf.co.uk, and our range of Buyers’ Guides, made available in 2015 at exhibitions in India (Plastindia in Gujarat), Italy (Plast in Milan), China (Chinaplas in Guangzhou), Turkey (PlastEurasia in Istanbul). In the UK we have participated in multimaterial trade associations such as the Packaging Federation and the Construction Products Association. We also maintained our membership of the Engineering and Allied Machinery Association (EAMA). On the international front BPF hosted in London an annual meeting of CIPAD, the global plastics association Directors’ meeting, of which I am Secretary-General. Representation was maintained in the following organisations: n EuPC (European Plastic Converters) Philip Law, Stephen Hunt & Francisco Morcillo
n PRE (Plastics Recyclers Europe) Roger Baynham (Philip Tyler Polymers) n EPPA (European Windows Profile) Francisco Morcillo and Martin Althorpe (Epwin) n EUMEPS (European EPS Products Manufacturers) David Emes & Sara Cammarano n EUROMAP (European Machinery Producers) Philip Law & Stephen Hunt n TEPPFA (European Pipes and Fittings) Caroline Ayres
We re-confirmed our strong partnership with PlasticsEurope and highly value the collaboration of its North Region Director, Kim Christiansen, and Resource Efficiency Manager, Adrian Whyle. With PlasticsEurope and PAFA we staged a Parliamentary event on the 25th November 2015. Focussing on
packaging issues. This was well attended by MPs and Lords. We returned another strong financial performance in 2015, the result of membership growth and retention, a strong events programme and full tenancy in BPF House. A review of our participation in thirdparty funded Research and Development Projects resulted in a decision to make a studied withdrawal from them over 2016-17. My deep thanks go to our excellent President David Hall, for his exceptionally sharp and perceptive observations and the generous allocation of time from his intensive schedule, and to the BPF staff for their dedication and unfaulting willingness to go the extra mile. Stephen Hunt, Membership Services Director and Darren Muir, Finance and Administration Director have worked like Trojans in 2015 and my gratitude to them is immense.
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Membership Services Stephen Hunt
Membership Services Director
Mobile Views on Website
020 7457 5044 shunt@bpf.co.uk
Over the course of the year the Federation attracted 26 new companies into membership. New Members came from across the industry supply chain, with companies joining the Recycling, Packaging, Equipment, Moulding, Polymer Suppliers, Rotational Moulding and Polymer Distributors Groups. Polymer Ambassador Programme The BPF will be launching a Polymer Ambassador programme in 2016, which will run alongside the Polymer Zone website. The initiative was announced at the BPF Annual Dinner, which took place in October 2015, where 56 people agreed to sign up to the scheme. The aim of the scheme is to encourage individuals within the Plastics Industry to visit their local schools in order to deliver presentations about the benefits of plastics. Polymer Ambassadors will be armed with a Polymer Education Kit, which PlasticsEurope have kindly translated into English and provided for use in 2016. UK Based Trade Shows In addition to exhibiting at four large international shows in 2015 (Plastindia, Chinaplas, PlastEurasia and Plastics and Rubber Indonesia), the BPF also exhibited at two major UK exhibitions – PDM (16-17 June, Telford) and the Advanced Engineering Show (4-5 November, Birmingham). At all shows, the BPF was there to represent its Members and did this by distributing the Plastics Industry Directory, which is a comprehensive list of all BPF Members. This document is always greatly valued by visitors to the shows and several thousand are distributed in hard and soft copies each year by the BPF both nationally and internationally. New Website and Industry Directory At the start of 2015, the BPF relaunched its main website. Many of the pages were completely redesigned from scratch, with a specific focus on enhancing the mobile
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BPF Annual Review 2015
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2011
2012
2013
2014
117,752
159,304
UNIQUE VIEWS
104,546
134,121
95,924
TOTAL VIEWS
115,554
88,216
119,644
83,405
www.bpf.co.uk monthly pageviews*
115,554
friendly aspect of the website. Traffic from mobile devices now accounts for 19% of all traffic to the website and this figure is almost double of that two years ago. Not only was the website overhauled but the online BPF Industry Directory was also revamped. This feature on the BPF website serves as an incredibly powerful shop window for businesses looking for manufacturers within the UK Plastics Industry. The industry directory features over 2000 UK plastics firms, with BPF members appearing first in all search engine views. The new Industry Directory also features location searching, allowing businesses to search for relevant firms within a set distance from any location in the UK. The website redesign has contributed to an increase of nearly 20% in terms of monthly page views.
2015
* based on Google Analytics data taken in October each year
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Membership Services Polymer Zone During 2015, two significant events took place which directly led to the creation of Polymer Zone; an education portal focused on plastics and aimed at school children, their teachers and their parents. The first happening was the conception of the BPF Skills and Education Committee. This took place as a reaction to the increased challenge the UK Plastics Industry was facing when looking to attract individuals with the required skill set. It was felt that one of the key reasons for this was that, as an industry, ‘plastics’ was not seen as an attractive career. This was exacerbated by negative attitudes that exist within the classroom setting about
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plastics as a material and the perceived effects on the environment. The second event was the inception of the ‘Plastics Industrial Strategy’. This document was created as an action following numerous meetings with BPF Members, as well as discussions at two dedicated workshops. Two of the seven key themes that were eventually highlighted in the document were the challenge of raising the profile of the industry, as well as that of education and skills in its broader sense. For years, the BPF website has been one of the most viewed websites in the world for information about plastics (with over 1.5 million page views in 2015), however there was little information that would really
appeal to a younger audience. Over the course of 2015 the BPF, with the assistance of the Skills and Education Committee, began to create a microsite, www.PolymerZone.co.uk, which was to act as a hub for information on the industry and present this in a way that was engaging to young minds. The website consists of nearly 50 videos about the Plastics Industry, as well as educational kits, presentations, lesson plans and a random plastic fact generator. Furthermore, the BPF commissioned an infographic titled ‘Plastics Saves’, which will be used to help promote the website whilst simplifying, in a visual capacity, how plastics save energy, carbon, water, fuel, lives and food.
In conjunction with the BPF
Entries close on:
31 July 2016
The Horners’ Award for Plastics Innovation & Design 2016 & The Horners’ Bottlemakers Awards 2016 The Horners’ Award for Plastics Innovation & Design and the Horners’ Bottlemakers Award are run jointly by the Worshipful Company of Horners and the British Plastics Federation. The prestigious Horners’ Award for Plastics Innovation & Design is believed to be the longest running plastics design award in the world, having first been held in 1947. The award is for any polymer based product and includes polymer related machines or processes. The Bottlemakers Award is for a polymer based package with closure i.e. a plastic bottle, jar or hollow container. Entries will be judged on design innovation, demonstrable commercial potential and environmental advantage. Both awards offer an excellent opportunity for UK companies (designers, manufacturers or material suppliers) to showcase their expertise in plastics innovation!
For more information and to enter please visit: www.hornersaward.co.uk
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UK Plastics Industry 2015
6,200
Companies in the Plastics Industry
1.7 m
Tonnes of material produced
3.3 m
Tonnes of plastics materials processed
170,000 ÂŁ23.5 bn
People employed
25
Plastics Industry turnover
ÂŁ6.7 bn
Value of exports
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BPF Annual Review 2015
5,200
M anufacturers of plastics products
Employees per firm (average)
35%
Plastic & plastics products exported
Finance & Administration We are pleased to report that 2015 was another highly satisfying year as membership numbers continued to climb, giving us the opportunity to invest in the staff, systems and infrastructure to enable us to provide first class service to our members. From a personal perspective, this was my first full year as Director of Finance and Administration and I certainly got to appreciate the skills, dedication and hard work of my Finance and Administrative team (not forgetting the fabulous skills of our catering and events lady Sue). On a wider scale, the UK economy continued to gather pace despite a constantly shifting social, environmental and political landscape giving rise to a growing degree of confidence from our members and the industry in general.
Financial Performance
10.4% Increase in income (excluding 2014 exceptional items)
£3.4k Unadjusted surplus before tax
bureaucracy diverted resources from our core membership functions. As ever, a careful focus on costs was always in the forefront of our thought ensuring the deliverance of economy, efficiency and effectiveness of our Organisation. Despite significant investment in the building we post a rise to £2,284,878. A long-term contract was signed with our partners and friends at Plastics Europe who will continue to base UK operations at BPF House. This partnership significantly boosts both the efficiency and firepower of both organisations. In summary, a year of investment and achievement ensures that we are well positioned for the future to continue to deliver additional value to the membership while maintaining a strong balance sheet and operating model. Financial security through the effective management of resources The BPF continued to ensure the Federation remains financially secure in all areas through regular management reporting, monitoring of key financial metrics, and robust budgetary systems (setting, monitoring and control actions). BPF House Another year of full occupation of BPF House is testament to the satisfaction of our much valued tenants. The onward march of development in this most vibrant area of
Darren Muir
Finance Director 020 7457 5000 dmuir@bpf.co.uk
London results in this being a much sought after location, which should ensure that this healthy income stream is maintained. A long term programme of investment on BPF House commenced with the refurbishment of the lift; bringing it up to date with the highest operational and safety standards. This was a task made considerably easier with contacts given to us by the Lift and Escalator Industry Association (Where would the world be without Trade Associations!). Replacement of the toilets and the installation of showers was also undertaken, again enhancing the “BPF House experience”. Our meeting room and catering facilities continued to yield high satisfaction ratings and it should be pointed out that significant discounts are available to members, which gives phenomenal value for a London City venue. Finally, I am delighted to once again report that we maintained our 5-Star Rating after Hackney Council food inspectors assessed our catering and kitchen facilities.
£53.5k Increase in reserves £39.9k Increase in net current assets £23.4k Increase in net Assets If we exclude exceptional items, we have seen growth across most revenue streams with events performing particularly well. A decision was made to commence a controlled withdrawal from EU funded research projects, as a declining income coupled with increases in costs and
Teamwork: The BPF Finance and Admin team in action
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Public and Industrial Affairs Francisco Morcillo Public & Industrial Affairs Manager
020 7457 5037 fmorcillo@bpf.co.uk
Sarah Plant
Public & Industrial Affairs Manager (until October 2015)
The Public & Industrial Affairs team works tirelessly to ensure industry messages and campaigns make the maximum impact with UK Government, the media and the wider population. Informing and Engaging with Politicians In the run-up to the General Election in May 2015, the BPF launched a Political Engagement Toolbox, providing information, guidance and assistance to enable Members to engage with their local parliamentarians. The BPF, along with its working partners – the former Packaging and Films Association (PAFA) and PlasticsEurope – hosted a parliamentary lunchtime reception in November 2015 at the House of Commons. The reception was a fantastic opportunity for members to meet their local MPs, as well as other parliamentarians, and to engage with the Minister for Environment and Rural Affairs, Rory Stewart. Improving Public Perceptions of Plastics in Schools In 2015, the BPF developed and implemented its Education & Skills Committee, which provides a platform for the industry to increase awareness of plastics among primary and secondary schools, and to influence the career advice given to school leavers. Social media has also become crucial in the way the industry communicates to the wider public, especially with younger generations. As such, the BPF has initiated an extensive campaign using Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to illustrate the benefits plastics brings to the modern word in a visual and engaging capacity.
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BPF Annual Review 2015
Current Business Conditions The latest Business Conditions Survey (June) indicated that 72% per cent of respondents forecasted an increase in UK sales turnover. Export sales expectations were also up, with 39% expecting an increase. Additionally, 39% of member firms expected an increase in profitability. Waste, Recycling and the Circular Economy A Central Expert Committee on Sustainability emerged during 2015 to provide a platform for the BPF to deliver cross-membership engagement on crucial issues, and to communicate the benefits of plastics products towards a resource-efficient and sustainable future. Plastics Industry Recycling Action Plan (PIRAP) PIRAP was launched in June 2015 by the BPF, and its partners PAFA and PlasticsEurope, in conjuction with WRAP. The plan offers solutions for all parts of the supply chain; from designing for recycling and influencing recycling habits to developing end-markets and sorting contaminated materials. The action plan was supported by key stakeholders across the supply chain and was endorsed by Rory Stewart, MP, who mentioned that it was encouraging to see the industry working together to develop a plan that helps to protect the environment and grow the economy. On-Land and Marine Litter The BPF and other stakeholders have engaged with ‘Neat Streets’, a project aiming at addressing the issue of litter by changing public behaviour. The campaign, initiated by INCPEN and lead by Hubbub, has showed promising results and has brought the issue to the attention of parliamentarians. Marine litter continues to have significant visibility in the media and has resulted in an increasing appetite for national and global initiatives dedicated to addressing the issue. Working in partnership with PlasticsEurope and PAFA – the ‘Plastics 2020’ alliance – we have continued to engage with national campaign groups as part of the Marine Litter Action Network (MLAN), working together to find ways to reduce marine litter. Among those condemning plastics in the sea is the Prince of Wales, whom BPF DirectorGeneral Philip Law met on 22nd July at an event organised by Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) and the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) on Fistral Beach, Newquay, Cornwall. Philip Law also wrote to PM David
Cameron, in advance of June’s G7 meeting, to alert him to our own industry actions and concerns, particularly Operation Clean Sweep, which continues to gain momentum and has doubled its signatories during 2015. EU Proposal on the Circular Economy The European Commission released the revised Circular Economy Package on 2nd December 2015. Whilst the BPF and its members support the spirit of the proposals, there are concerns about the practicalities of the policies put forward. We will be working with UK Government and the European Union to influence and develop the plan during 2016. Carrier Bag Charge A mandatory charge for single use plastic carrier bags in England was introduced in October 2015. The BPF has been critical of the Government’s inclusion of a review clause for an exemption for ‘biodegradable plastics’ due to the potential harmful impact upon plastics recycling. The Government has announced that ‘further work is needed’ to asses this exemption. Chemicals in Plastics REACH continues to gather attention of many of the BPF’s member firms and, for some, is now of critical business importance as the focus moves towards the evaluation and authorisation of chemicals identified as ‘Substances of Very High Concern’. Activity focussed on avoiding the listing for authorisation of the key blowing agent Azodicarbonamide (ADCA) has resulted in positive results. For the Commission, DG Growth and DG Environment have adopted a joint position on the chemical; that is ‘for the time being’ ADCA should not be included in Annex XIV. In a not so positive note, MEPs passed a non-binding Resolution demanding that the European Commission does not authorise the recycling of plastics containing the phthalate plasticiser DEHP. The BPF will continue its lobby to support our recyclers, calling for a sensible outcome regarding this crucial issue. Finally, the European Commission prepared a ‘Proposal for a new measure on Bisphenol A (BPA) in food contact materials’ in response to industry calls to address issues surrounding the safety of the chemical. After the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) reconfirmed its safety in all current uses, we feel cautiously positive that the final result of this exercise could potentially solve this longstanding industry issue.
BPF Communications BPF Communications: The Media The BPF always prides itself on possessing an impressively high profile in the media and 2015 was no different. Drawing upon the strong relationships the BPF has cultivated with its valued media contacts over many years, particularly Plastics & Rubber Weekly and British Plastics and Rubber, we were able to make our mark within industry related news. In 2015, we issued around 60 press releases and published a number of our members’ press releases to the website, which spoke of exciting developments in innovation. The impact of these messages was heightened by the remarkable 1.4 million page views the BPF website acquired during the year, as well as the distribution of key information across all of our social media platforms. We always believe in taking a tough stance with issues that could potentially hamper the growth of the UK Plastics Industry. We weren’t surprised to receive a great deal of media attention when it came to the plastic bag tax and we appeared on BBC 6 o’clock news and 10 o’clock news, as well as a variety of radio shows, to discuss the issue and to point out that litter on the streets, including plastic bags, is an anti-social behavioural problem that industry endeavours to tackle. Marine litter and chemicals within plastics were both popular topics within mainstream media in 2015 and the Plastics Industry often bore the brunt of negative feelings towards these. We immediately responded to a ‘The Times’ piece that was titled ‘Everyday plastics plunge men into fertility crisis’, pointing out that REACH ensures rigorous evaluation and testing of chemical substances and
their uses. Following a front page spread in ‘The Times’ titled ‘The 5p bag tax is a drop in the ocean — we’re drowning in toxic plastic’, we took the opportunity to write to the editor of the newspaper to point out that the problem of litter can be combated through a combination of education, public information, law enforcement and the adoption of responsible waste management practices. It was encouraging to see that both of our responses was published in the following editions of the newspaper. It is of great importance to visibly support initiatives of like-minded organisations in the industry, with the BPF’s ethos of ‘Stronger
Laura Hindley
Industrial Issues & Communications Executive 020 7457 5043 lhindley@bpf.co.uk
Together’ underpinning all of the work we do. We signed up as a sponsor of HUBBUB’s ‘Neat Streets’ campaign, which began with a series of interactive installations and exhibitions over the summer in Villiers Street (London) that trialled new ways of encouraging people not to litter. A joint letter from the Manufacturing Alliance, on which the BPF was a co-signatory, was published in ‘The Sunday Times’ during 2015. This letter was directed at Parliamentary candidates and called for a focus of attention on the needs of manufacturing. Additionally, we extended our network of concurring peers by meeting with organisations such as the Natural Hydration Council to produce a fact sheet about PET bottles and to offer our expertise in areas such as chemicals and food safety. With the Circular Economy proposal being released by the European Commission in December 2015, 2016 is set to be an important year for industry and one way we will be supporting our Members is by using our solid media presence to preserve the interests of the Plastics Industry.
ABOVE We were co-signatory on a letter that
was printed in ‘The Sunday Times’.
RIGHT Our response to an article titled ‘The
5p bag tax is a drop in the ocean’ in ‘The Times’. BELOW BPF Director General, Philip Law, appeared on BBC News
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BPF Communications BPF Communications: Social Media Social media is of the utmost importance for every company. Not only does it allow a business’ message to reach an unlimited number of people but it enables them to interact with their customers. In a report published by We Are Social in January 2015, the number of active social media users worldwide was estimated to be in the region of 2,078,000,000, which was a huge jump from the 1,730,000,000 recorded the previous year. This provides companies with excellent opportunities to extend their messages globally. As the UK’s leading plastics trade federation, our social media channels are of great significance to us. Our BPF social media platforms provide followers with the latest BPF and industry news, as well as generating an opportunity to drive engagement between the BPF, its members, and the wider
community forum, which is something we place a great deal of value on. Of all social media platforms, the BPF saw the biggest growth on Twitter. Our number of followers increased from approximately 5,000 at the end of 2014 to just over 6,250 towards the final stages of 2015. Our policy of open engagement with organisations who are striving for the same industry and environmental goals was a key feature of our Twitter strategy, such as supporting HUBBUB’s innovative ‘Neat Streets’ campaign and Recoup’s fantastic ‘Plastics Reborn’ initiative. Our Facebook page gained over 100% more ‘likes’ in 2015. This growth is predominately the work of more frequent and engaging industry related posts, which are often provided to us by BPF Members. Interestingly, Facebook came out top in terms of traffic being driven from social media platforms, with 34.5% of page views being attributed to Mark Zuckerberg’s creation.
The BPF employs its LinkedIn account in three key ways. The BPF has a LinkedIn company page, which has around 1,210 followers. We also operate a BPF Group, which only BPF Members can join. This serves as a forum for every BPF Member to network online, discuss important industry-related issues and to share information they feel would be of importance to their peers. Additionally, we also possess a BPF Rotational Moulding LinkedIn Group, which currently has 720 active members. LinkedIn is proving to be an excellent way for BPF Members and other industry professionals to exchange professional details online and to become informed of the latest industry news. In 2015, our YouTube channel became more active. During the spate of media attention surrounding the plastic bag tax, we uploaded a number of videos illustrating our engagement with the media surrounding this issue.
2014
Estimated social media users worldwide
1,730,000,000
2015
2,078,000,000
BPF Social Media Channels
Likes in 2015
Followers in 2014 Followers in 2014
Followers in 2015
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BPF Annual Review 2015
Followers in 2015
BPF Groups & Committees Specialist Committees
Sustainability
Product Safety
Fire Safety
Sk ills & Education
Health & Safety
Equipment
Expanded Polystyrene
BPF Groups
Cellular PVC-U
Additives
Industrial Plastics Welding & Fabrication
Flexible Foam
Plastics and Flexible Pack aging
Rotational M oulding
Composites
Plastic Pipes
M asterbatch & Technical Compounds
Polymer Distributors & Compounders
Sheet & Coated Fabrics
Vinyls
M oulders & Specialist Processors
Polymer Suppliers
Recyclers
Windows
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BPF Business Groups Industrial Issues Executive
Polymer Distributors & Compounders Group
Masterbatch & Technical Compounds Group
020 7457 5048 mdavies@bpf.co.uk
CHAIR David Viehoff, Ultrapolymers
CHAIR Russell Livesey, Colloids
The Polymer Distributors & Compounders Group continued to provide an authoritative voice within the raw materials sector of the Plastics Industry during 2015. Following oil price concerns throughout the year, the Group focused on raw material pricing and the ability to guarantee stock. They also looked at price forecasting this year and remained up-to-date on issues with raw material availability in the EU and international markets. As well as analytics, the Group also continued to look at fraud in the industry, often holding an Experian facilitated Credit Circle where new developments could be discussed. The Group Chairman, David Viehoff, stepped down at the end of 2015 and was thanked for his services. Mike Boswell will assume the role in 2016.
The Masterbatch & Technical Compounds Group continues to provide a strong platform for UK colour and additives masterbatch manufacturers and suppliers to promote the role of colour in plastic products. The Group has focused this year on a variety of topics including skills and education within the industry, working with the Additives Suppliers Group at times to help identify ways of increasing the influx of skilled workers into the sector. The Group has also been heavily focused on REACH developments, namely changes for colour additives and implications for the supply chain resulting from REACH legislation. Further to this, following the developments with the oil price, the Group has remained abreast of supply security issues and raw material prices.
Matt Davies
Polymer Suppliers Group The Polymer Suppliers Group consists of an alliance of companies with a substantial interest in all issues affecting the plastics supply chain. Members of the Polymer Suppliers Group are able to participate in various elements of BPF activity made possible through its active participation in the Federation’s Central Committees and Business Groups. Constant monitoring of legislative developments is a key priority of the Group, as well as a particular interest in the view of plastics to Government, media and the wider public. This year has seen focus on REACH related issues, continuing into 2016 with further focus on REACH 2018 and its implications.
Feedstock guarantee remained a key issue during 2015
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BPF Annual Review 2015
Additives continue to be a major topic of REACH within the Industry
Additive Suppliers CHAIR Jim Jeffries, Chemson
The BPF Additive Suppliers Group continues to provide a unique platform to promote the essential function and importance of additives in plastic products. This year has seen a continued focus on interaction with other groups in the BPF, namely the Masterbatch & Technical Compounds Group. Together they have worked on strategies for increasing the skilled
work force within the industry sector and looked at bettering polymer education with the UK school system. Further to this, REACH has become a paramount topic of focus, with additives chemicals a key issue for the Plastics Industry. The Group itself has worked extensively on individual issues (such as ADCA), as well as legislative implications related to REACH.
Heavy metal pigments have seen wide ranging restrictions under REACH legislation
Bio-Based Polymer Interest Group (formerly Bio-based & Degradable Plastics Group)
The growth in global demand of bioplastics has led to increased focus on this sector
2015’s push has been to get the Group active again within the BPF. The Group held its inaugural meeting in June 2015, where the scope was redefined and the Group’s activities outlined for the future. This meeting resulted in a ‘Bioplastics: End of Life Opportunities’ workshop held in the autumn, where members of various waste stream industry sectors met with biopolymer producers to discuss the potential issues and opportunities for bioplastics in the waste stream. Following a frank but successful discussion, the Group is looking to hold future workshops where key ideas can be brought to the table again in the hope of creating a coherent strategy across the supply chain which can be supported by all.
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BPF Business Groups Francisco Morcillo Public & Industrial Affairs Manager
020 7457 5037 fmorcillo@bpf.co.uk
Matt Davies
Industrial Issues Executive 020 7457 5048 mdavies@bpf.co.uk
Vinyls Group CHAIR Roger Mottram,
INOVYN ChlorVinyls
The BPF Vinyls Group Members include representatives from various PVC producers, converters, additives suppliers and recyclers who work together on a coherent programme of activity to promote the positive contribution that PVC can make to everyday life. 2015 has seen the Group continue its extensive communications campaigns, building on the success of 2014 to address the de-selection and negative views of PVC products. This involved various initiatives including making contact with local authorities, housing associations, architects, structural engineers and procurement officials to highlight not only the vast improvement in PVC products’ environmental performance, but also to showcase their economic and aesthetic benefits within construction. Following on from this, the Group exhibited at two Procurex shows, a trade show designed for procurement and aimed at introducing people to specifiers within various sectors. This saw further contacts established involved in procurement, including officials from local government and NHS trusts. The campaign has also led to some local councils revising previous discriminative procurement guides to no longer ‘blacklist’ PVC products, allowing for fair competition for the PVC market. Further to the efforts mentioned, the RECOMED PVC medical waste recycling scheme technical project continued during 2015 and excelled under BPF and Axion
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BPF Annual Review 2015
Consulting guidance. The scheme has now recycled over 1.2 tonnes of medical PVC waste at the two pilot hospitals, with two more signing up for the scheme. It has even won a Barema & AAGBI environment award and a short film describing the project is due in early 2016. The Vinyls Group also submitted an application for a new communications project with VinylPlus at the end of 2015, this time looking at the opportunity of recycling used and expired PVC shop cards. Under the name RECOCARD, the project will involve working with retailers to establish a collection scheme, whereby the used and expired shop cards within the store will be collected and stored on site. Once enough PVC material has been collected, this will then be transported to a recycler to be turned into PVC pipes and other PVC materials. The project will be another ideal way to promote the VinylPlus voluntary agreement and will help to further communicate the ability of PVC products to contribute to a circular economy and to showcase their sustainability and societal benefits. The Group remained abreast of other topics affecting the PVC industry, including the issue of hazardous waste classification and the implications for PVC waste. Through lobbying and regular contact with government departments (namely DEFRA and BIS), the Group has continued to argue its case about the classification of PVC waste as non-hazardous, looking at definitions found within the EU Waste Frame Directive that state “where a Member State has evidence to show that specific waste that appears on the list as hazardous waste
does not display any of the properties listed in Annex III, it may consider that waste as non-hazardous waste. Additionally, the Group has also focused on REACH implications for certain PVC additives, again remaining up to date on the topics and also challenging stances potentially damaging to the industry where possible. This has included work on the ability to recycle DEHP-containing products and lead-containing products to further support the EU Circular Economy. 2016 will see the Group continue its ambition to expand the communication campaigns for tackling both the negative views of PVC and its deselection within public procurement. The Group will continue with its technical project and also continue to stay on top of REACH, including the REACH 2018 implications for the industry sector.
Matt Davies and Roger Mottram on Stand at Procurex Scotland
Laura Hindley
Industrial Issues & Communications Executive 020 7457 5043 lhindley@bpf.co.uk
BPF and Sharpak met with Luke Hall MP
Plastics Packaging Group CHAIR Bruce Margetts, RPC
In 2014, The BPF’s Packaging Group represented manufacturers of all types of plastic packaging, including bottles, drums, trays, cups and vending packaging, containers and protection packaging. The BPF values its strong connections with media outlets and these were enjoyed by the Packaging Group during 2015. Responding directly to a number of front page stories in mainstream media publications, such as the Sunday Times and The Daily Mail, that centred around plastics packaging and marine litter, the BPF’s responses were featured in subsequent issues of each print newspaper. On 22nd April June 2015, the BPF hosted a successful ‘Plastics Packaging’ seminar at BPF House in London. Attendees were joined by speakers from INCPEN, Recoup, the FPA, and featured a panel discussion element Our response defending plastics packaging was published in The Times on 19 June, 2015
with Sense About Science and Science Media Centre. In the run up to the UK General Election, which took place in May 2015, BPF Packaging Group members sought to engage with their local MPs through the use of the BPF Political Engagement Toolbox. Jack Straw MP visited
an RPC site in Blackburn, Stephen Kinnock MP attended a meeting at an additional RPC site in Wales, and BPF and Sharpak representatives met with Luke Hall MP, who is also the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Retail, to discuss the Plastics Industry’s economic weight. On 25th November 2015, in conjunction with PAFA and Plastics Europe, the BPF hosted a ‘Plastics 2020 Parliamentary Reception.’ The event was very well attended by MPs and industry professionals alike, with Rory Stewart MP revealing that Defra will be revising the plastics packaging recycling
The Plastics 2020 Parliamentary Reception was well attended by MPs and BPF members
targets in 2016. At the BPF’s Annual Dinner, it was announced that the BPF and PAFA intended to set up a new business grouping for the plastics and flexible packaging industry. This aims to provide, for the first time in the UK, a single point of reference for companies supplying the highest volume market for plastics materials. The new group, which will operate within the BPF’s legal structure, will comprise over seventy manufacturers of plastics and flexible packaging and will be fully operational from 1st January 2016 under the leadership of Barry Turner. We believe that the new group will combine the great traditions of both the BPF and PAFA to create an extremely powerful platform for this industry sector and thus massively increase its comparable advantage.
BPF Annual Review 2015
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BPF Business Groups Sara Cammarano
Senior Industrial Issues Executive 020 7457 5013 scammarano@bpf.co.uk
Moulders and Specialist Processors Group The BPF Moulding and Specialist Processors Group represents and promotes the interests of BPF Members producing technical components through a variety of processes including injection, compression, transfer and blow moulding, as well as vacuum and thermoforming. Membership of the BPF Moulders and Specialist Processors Group brings with it many benefits, including benchmarking studies, health and safety guidance, sales, marketing and international networking opportunities, and exclusive access to European Bodies.
Following the success of the rotational moulding case studies and LinkedIn page, the BPF set up a Moulders and Specialist Processors case study page with the aim to raise the profile of its members. The BPF also opened a “BPF Injection Moulders Forum” page on LinkedIn to help members to gain more positive visibility and to inform both members and non-members about the Federation’s activities. Following on from the success of the first “Meet The Toolmaker” event, the BPF and the Gauge and Toolmakers Association (GTMA) organised the Meet the Toolmakers 2015 in December 2015. The event was a roaring success, with more than 70 attendees from just over 50 companies in attendance. The day served as an informal occasion for moulders and toolmakers to get together under one roof and discuss their upcoming projects, learn about toolmakers’ capabilities, and find out more about the advantages of re-shoring. Attendees were very pleased with the event, which they said allowed them to network and quickly gain the
contacts they were after. The BPF delivers fortnightly bulletins to all members of the Moulders Group. The bulletins highlight useful stories that enable members to stay abreast of any key changes in legislation, as well as informing individuals about the BPF’s initiatives. As with every year, the Group undertook a benchmarking survey. This survey allowed members to gain a clearer view of the industry. The results are first seen by participants of the survey but they are made available to the full membership at the beginning of the following year.
Meet the Toolmaker Event, Warwick, 2 December 2015, Warwick
Rotational Moulding Group CHAIRMAN Stuart Forrester
The BPF’s Rotational Moulding Group is one of the most active and fastest growing groups in the Federation. During the last 12 months, Group membership increased by 30%. In February 2015, the BPF Rotational Moulding Group organised its third annual rotational moulding seminar, which focused on the topic of troubleshooting and assisting rotational moulders in finding solutions to key issues. The seminar, which brought together key industry experts, included a series of informative presentations and the audience was invited to pose questions to the panel of experts. The event attracted over 110 attendees from 50 firms. In September 2015, the Group took part in ARMO 2015; an international Rotational Moulding Conference. The conference, with 51 stands, was a huge success that attracted some 500 attendees who joined to learn something new from the interesting and highly engaging presentations. Members of the BPF Rotational Moulding Group continually strive to work in partnership with other assets in the supply
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BPF Annual Review 2015
Rotational Moulding Troubleshooting Seminar, Redditch, 24 February 2015
chain to bring about advances in materials development and the design of rotationally moulded products. The Group’s drive to strengthen the industry through knowledge sharing drove the initiation of a BPF Rotational Moulding Group LinkedIn page that counts more than 760 members. It functions as a platform to promote the rotational moulding industry, as well as informing rotational moulders about some of the Group’s most important initiatives. This includes the Group’s Health & Safety Guidance; a document produced to tackle the health and safety issues highlighted by the “Safety Notice” issued by
the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The Group commissioned Dr Nick Henwood of Rotomotive and Mr Martin Spencer of Uniqueroto to create a publication highlighting key health and safety considerations for the rotational moulding industry. The aim of the document is to provide a list of what to assess and what to look for when carrying out a risk assessment. The document will also include a series of individual machine guidelines for the most popular types of machines and will include a ‘Specific Risk Assessment’ section, which will analyse particular issues associated these machines.
Composites Group CHAIR Lee Forbes, Forbes Group
The BPF Composites Group safeguards and boosts the image of composites and the composites industry.
EPS Group CHAIRMAN David Emes
The BPF Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) Group continues to represent the interests of all UK EPS market leaders since its establishment in 2009. The Group now consists of EPS manufacturers from construction and packaging sectors, as well as the National Blown Bead Association (NBBA), which provides authoritative and reliable information about the performance of the material. In 2015, the Group began a communications campaign to support the industry, to facilitate the rebranding of EPS to “AIRPOP, Engineered Air”, and to aid the general public in understanding the advantages of the use of EPS. Furthermore, the EPS Group website was revamped in 2015 with a new format, which was very well received by members and increased visits to 1,500 views a month. The EPS Construction Centre joined the National Home Improvement Committee (NHIC) in 2015, which is a great lobbying opportunity for the Group to discuss various
The Group takes part in trade shows such as PDM, PLAST 2015, Interplas, Engineering Design and the Advanced Engineering Show. A seminar on Thermoplastic Composites was held on October 2015, providing an opportunity to network and listen to legislative issues of the sector at national level. At European level, 2015 was another successful year for the EPS Group in terms of its contribution to the EUMEPS activities with the launch of a new Strategy Development Survey. The survey was presented to the National Associations (NA) in Heidelberg, Germany in November 2015, indicating the need to create industry unity on association issues and use our fragmentation as strength. Each NA was then assigned a particular strategy component to formulate a concrete action plan for 2016. The BPF EPS Group was assigned to cooperate with an Italian competency centre, which promotes significant standard product quality test methods made by the University of Milan. The Group also became part of the EUMEPS Technical Working Group, working on Wikipedia postings in connection with EPS and related issues, such as fire and toxicity, with the aim to correct misinformation. In addition, the BPF EPS Group was awarded the status of competence centre for fishboxes, and a project is underway to promote EPS as the best material for this application.
expert speakers covering topics such as PEI press capability development, thermoplastic CFRPs and thermoplastic composites for automotive structural parts. The Group is already working on the organisation of its 2016 seminar on composites.
Sara Cammarano
Senior Industrial Issues Executive 020 7457 5013 scammarano@bpf.co.uk
Aria Heidarian Industrial Issues Executive
020 7457 5033 aheidarian@bpf.co.uk
2016 will be another challenging year for the EPS Group in terms of lobbying and advocacy. The Group has initiated contact with local MPs and the National Home Improvement Council (NHIC) in an effort to have the upper hand in combating legislative issues.
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BPF Business Groups Francisco Morcillo
Timber Design PVC Windows
Public & Industrial Affairs Manager
020 7457 5037 fmorcillo@bpf.co.uk
Aria Heidarian Industrial Issues Executive
020 7457 5033 aheidarian@bpf.co.uk
Windows Group CHAIR Martin Althorpe – Epwin Group
The BPF Windows Group (BPFWG) represents the interests of the entire UK PVC-U windows supply chain, including window system companies, raw material suppliers, additive suppliers, fabricators and installers. The Group’s mission is to position itself as the leader in the windows market. In 2015, the Group continued to work to actively contribute to the evolution of technical standards; coordinating the entire industry’s activities to raise awareness of the advantages of using PVC-U as the preferred sustainable material for windows. Some of the main industry challenges that the Group focused on include the introduction
of Part Q of the Building Regulations, which requires windows and doors installed in new builds to be compliant to PAS 24 (Enhanced Security Performance), and the recycling of lead-stabilised PVC. Further to the efforts of the Group in 2014
Cellular PVC Group
to start working on Building Information Modelling (BIM), the Group held various workshops for the fenestration sector to focus on the development of the Product Data Template for windows. BIM requires, among other things, that all the information from the designer to builder is transferred electronically, and that three dimensional models are collaboratively shared between parties. The UK Government has stated that all public contracts from 2016 must use BIM with 3D Plus data. At a European level, BPFWG worked closely with the European PVC Window Profile and Related Building Products Association (EPPA) and with the Construction Division of the European Plastics Converters (EuPC) to support the industry against challenges related to legislation, the environment, consumer and ethical demands.
Sheet and Coated Fabrics Group
CHAIR Dave Osborne –
Swish Building Products
The Cellular PVC Group is focused on the technical issues facing the industry and is active in influencing both British and European Standards. It has close links with the likes of BSI and BBA, as well as European Trade Association counterparts. In 2015, the Group welcomed the announcement by the European Commission, DG Growth and DG Environment that they had adopted a joint position on the foaming agent
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BPF Annual Review 2015
Patio door flood testing
Azodicarbonomide (ADCA), indicating that “for the time being” it should not be included in Annex XIV. In 2016, the Group will continue to promote the uses of PVC products through its entire lifecycle.
The Sheet and Coated Fabrics Group represents the interests of manufacturers of plastic sheet and coated fabric products. Members of this group cooperate to maintain the high standards of the sector, ensuring industry best practice. In coordination with the Vinyls Group, members of this Group continued to respond positively to the environmental issues of the industry, whilst keeping abreast of legislative developments and standards affecting the sector.
Recycling Group The Recycling Group consists of members from the whole range of plastic recycling processes taking place in the UK and includes some of the leading plastic recycling companies. The Recycling Group works hard to represent the interests of its Members and ensures their views form part of the decision making process for any new or updated regulations / legislations. The Group recognises the importance of working across the supply chain and with stakeholders to maximise the use of recycled plastic. The Group’s Rigids (non-packaging) and Films Working Group have both been successfully working in 2015 to tackle key issues in their sectors. These issues include REACH legislation, the plastic carrier bag levy, contamination of feedstock, promoting the high quality products they produce, and increasing the recycling content in products. A BPF seminar, Recycling the ‘Unrecyclable’, took place in June. It was a great success, with over 50 people attending. The seminar provided an opportunity to explore the new technologies and techniques available; these new innovations will enable a wider range of plastics to be recycled. It also looked at the alternative options if the recycling of a material is not possible. In June, the Group also exhibited at the Plastics Recycling Show at Telford International Centre. This gave members an opportunity to establish contacts with professionals from across the industry, as well as providing plastics recycling information to visitors. Granulator cropping down plastic into small pieces
Plastics 2020 (BPF, PAFA and Plastic Europe) also launched the Plastics Industry Recycling Action Plan (PIRAP) at the Plastics Recycling Expo in Telford. PIRAP is working to strengthen links across the supply chain and is aiming to contribute towards achieving the UK Government’s plastic packaging recycling target. PIRAP will help the Recycling Group to engage with other areas of the recycling chain and allow them to work together to solve any issues. The results of the annual return survey 2013 were released in September. This showed that, in 2013, more than 2/3 of UK Plastics Recycling was carried out by BPF Recycling Group members, with 660,000 tonnes handled. This is an increase of 150,000 tonnes when compared to the figure achieved in 2011. This increase is a direct effect of the growth of membership of the group which now represents an estimated turnover of £900 million. In December, a DEFRA consultation on changes to plastic recycling targets for 2016-17 and new targets for 2018-20 was released. The Group has previously expressed concerns that current targets were unachievable and were having unexpected consequences on the market. They welcomed the opportunity to provide evidence and an insight into how proposed changes would impact on their sector. The information the Group presented formed the skeleton of the BPF response and they anticipate the outcome of this consultation in 2016. The Group has also played a vital role in providing evidence to DEFRA and the
Francisco Morcillo Public & Industrial Affairs Manager
020 7457 5037 fmorcillo@bpf.co.uk
Helen Jordan
Sustainability Issues Executive 020 7457 5015 hjordan@bpf.co.uk
European Commission to influence the EU Circular Economy Package which was released at the end of 2015. The package features a 55% plastic packaging prepared for reuse / recycling target for 2020, Extended Producer Responsibility requirements and the intention to develop a specific plastic strategy by the end of 2017. Plastic recycling is key to the Circular Economy and in 2016 the Group will work with policy makers to ensure any responses to the package take into consideration the UK plastic recycling industry’s views. The Group will also use this as an opportunity to continue its work to ensure a sustainable UK plastics industry is developed. Twin Screw Extruder
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BPF Business Groups Justyna Elliott
Plastics and Rubber Equipment Group
020 7457 5001 jelliott@bpf.co.uk
The Plastics and Rubber Equipment Group has seen an increase in the number of Members joining the Group since 2014 and by the end of 2015, the total reached 35 companies. The new firms in the Group who joined in 2015 were: Ceramicx, Ingersoll Rand, Staubli UK, Vecoplan Ltd, Verus Precision UK Ltd, Zeppelin Systems Ltd. The Group is very diverse and covers machinery manufacturers, providers of software for process monitoring and also offers an online portal for the sale of machinery. In 2015, the BPF took part in a few of the national exhibitions, including Advanced Engineering in Birmingham and PDM in Telford. This provided a great platform for networking with some of the existing equipment members and meeting with potential new Group members. Objectives of the Group include increasing sales within the UK and abroad, and networking with industry peers at various events organised by the BPF. A few Members took part in the ‘Meet the Toolmaker’ event on the 2nd December at Engel’s office’ which was organised together with GTMA, while others took part in foreign trade shows as part of the UK Pavilion: n Plastindia Gujarat, India 5-10 Feb 2015 n Plast Milan, Italy 5-9 May 2015
Senior Business Development Executive
IPWAF Group The Industrial Plastics Welding and Fabrication (IPWAF) Group includes (but is not exclusive to) manufacturers, distributors, fabricators, stockists, equipment suppliers, contractors and laboratories. The Group’s mission statement is ‘to be recognised as the leading membership body representing industrial plastics welding and fabrication’. The aim of the Group is to foster a high level of professionalism in the area of the design, product development, manufacturing, marketing and sales activities of its member firms and the wider industrial plastics fabrication and welding industry in the UK.
n Chinaplas Guangzhou, China 20-25 May 2015 n Plastics and Rubber Indonesia Jakarta, Indonesia 18-21 Nov 2015 n PlastEurasia Istanbul, Turkey 3-6 Dec 2015
The Equipment Members are listed in the BPF Industry Directory, along with the services they provide and contact details. This Directory is distributed at all UK and foreign events, which is a fantastic way to promote the machinery manufacturers and generate new sales.
PLASTIC SAVES FUEL O ver the lifetime of the average car, lightweight plastic parts save around
For every 7 truck s needed to deliver paper bags,
3,000 litres
of petrol as a result – which would get you to and from New York almost five times!
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BPF Annual Review 2015
1 truck
is only needed for the same number of plastic bags
less energy
Production of plastics pipes uses than concrete or iron and since lightweight they save on transport costs and emissions in the building industry
The B oeing 787 Dreamliner is comprised of: plastic composites by volume, which by weight contributes to a
50%
80%
20% fuel saving
Pipes Group PRESIDENT Chris King, Wavin
The Plastic Pipes Group (PPG) represents the interests of UK manufacturers of plastics piping systems. The PPG membership comprises manufacturing and associate members concerned with the UK manufacture of plastic pipe systems and provision of raw materials. Plastics piping systems range in size from small plumbing pipe to pipes in excess of 3000mm diameter for use in highways and surface water management. Within the Building Services sector plastic pipes are utilised in new build and increasingly in renovation projects in many applications such as hot and cold water, heating and cooling (including underfloor heating), ventilation, air conditioning, sprinklers and above ground drainage in the form of soil, waste, overflow, and rainwater guttering and down pipes etc. The Civils and Utilities sectors use plastic pipes in the water industry in drinking water distribution, sewerage systems, management of waste water from buildings and collection and dispersal of rainwater. The gas industry has incorporated the use of plastic pipes for low pressure situations and thermoplastic and reinforced plastics are now much more
widely used in higher pressure applications. Specialised plastics piping systems are also increasingly used in highly aggressive industrial applications and contaminated land sites. In order to address the needs of this widely diverse application and product range the PPG is split into three Application Groups to cover all areas of interest to the PPG. Chairmen of the Application Groups are appointed from among the members by the Group Council. Working Groups are formed under each Application Group as and when needed for specific projects. The PPG is managed by a Group Council comprising senior representatives from Member and Associate Member Companies. A Group President and Vice President are elected from the Group Council for a period of two years. The directorate of the PPG, as well as representatives of its member organisations, regularly contribute to the work and debate of international bodies wherever this is relevant to UK industry interests. The PPG works closely with The European Plastic Pipe and Fittings Association (TEPPFA) and in 2015 the PPG Director was elected as Vice-President of TEPPFA, further cementing liaisons between the two bodies. The PPG and representatives from its members companies are highly involved in working on producing high quality standards (BS’s, BS EN’s, WIS’s, BBA’s
Caroline Ayres
Pipes Group Director 0193 234 3409 carolinea@ plasticpipesgroup.com
etc.) By ensuring our products are third party certified to these standards, users and specifiers are assured our products are fit for purpose. The PPG is therefore at the heart of the process of defining the accepted practices for the use of plastic pipes – and of managing desirable adjustment to those standards whenever technological progress or changes in statutory regimes require it. In addition to representation of their interests, the PPG is also concerned to keep its members fully up-to-date with developments – technological, statutory, regulatory or practical – which relate to the industry as a whole rather than to individual company interests. The Plastic Pipes Group monitors reports on the impact of plastic pipes systems on the environment and human health. TEPPFA commissioned an independent study by the Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO) to measure the environmental Use of large diameter pipes in attenuation systems contribute to successful water management
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BPF Business Groups Pipes Group Structure
PIPES GROUP COUNCIL
President Vice President
Director Standards Manager Secretary
footprint of various plastics pipe systems based on life-cycle assessment. The work was validated by the Denkstatt sustainability consultancy in Austria and confirmed an excellent environmental performance of plastic pipes for utilities and building applications. In 2015 the PPG began expanding its activities from those of largely technical and regulatory issues to promoting membership of the PPG as being indicative of quality products. All members have agreed to abide by the members charter and are committed to producing high quality products with third party approvals to the relevant standards. 2015 has been another busy year for the PPG. There is a lot of ongoing activity within the Application and Working Groups and we are extremely grateful for the high level of
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AG1 Civils Utilities
AG2 Building Services
AG3 Regulatory Affairs and Sustainability
AG1 P1 Pressure Standards
AG2 P1 Hot and Cold Applications
AG3 P1 CE Marking
AG1 P2 Non-Pressure Standards
AG2 P2 Soil and Waste Applications
AG3 P2 Work Group Promotion
participation and involvement of members who make this work possible. Highlights have included updating the statistics collection scheme to provide members with up-to-date and relevant data, a 2 day seminar for all PPG members presented by JANA Laboratories looking at the issues and testing regimes for pipe used in ring water mains, twice yearly meeting with WRAS (Water Regulations Advisory Service) to address issues members have in obtaining WRAS approvals for their products, regular meetings with Water Companies via the PPLG (Plastic Pipes Liaison Group), series of press articles regarding the importance of correct procedures for installing electrofusion fittings and beginning to look at producing a knowledge bank for all areas of the piping systems industry on its website. The PPG will continue its work in 2016 to be at the core of standards writing for plastics piping systems, work closely with government and regulatory bodies to ensure our views are heard and to be a voice for plastics systems in the wider piping systems industry.
Plastic Pipes Liaison Group
Plastics plumbing offers ease of installation in buildings
BPF Central Expert Committees Matt Davies
Industrial Issues Executive 020 7457 5048 mdavies@bpf.co.uk
Fire Safety Committee CHAIR Christine Lukas, DOW Chemicals
Product Safety Committee
n Plastics in Toys – including PAH testing n EU CLP Regulation n Plastics in Contact with Food – including changes to exposure assumptions and NIASs n Water Contact Plastics – including member states legislative and test method developments n R EACH 2018 implications
CHAIR Chris Howick,
INOVYN ChlorVinyls
The Product Safety Committee provides a forum for Members to access advice and guidance in relation to developments within legislation affecting the use of plastics in articles. Its main areas of concern for 2015 were: n R EACH – including legislative changes and individual chemical issues such as BPA, ADCA and DEHP
The Fire Safety Committee acts as a key advisor to the Federation in responding to enquiries relating to the safety of plastics in fires. The Committee also provides an essential forum for ensuring BPF Members’ views are adequately represented in the area of fire performance standards and legislation. This year, the Committee has focused on international environmental developments, including those in the US involving fire safety codes. The Committee has also focused on REACH updates including the registration and restriction of HBCD. Further to this, the Committee has updated members on fire toxicity standards developments within the UK and international standards organisations.
Guidance from the Committee is provided to the wider BPF Membership through the BPF Newsletter as well as via the BPF’s website.
PLASTIC SAVES WATER Using plastics in modern washing machine drums reduces water consumption by
40-50%
The production of plastic bags consumes
less than 4% of the water needed to make paper bags paper bags
O fficials in Los Angeles recently released 96 million plastic balls into the 75-acre Los Angeles Reservoir in hopes of preventing
300 million gallons
Plastic pipes have the lowest overall failure rate when compared to other materials and are designed to last more than
100 years
of water from evaporating each year
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BPF Central Expert Committees Senior Industrial Issues Executive
Industrial Health and Safety Committee and Safety in Manufacturing Plastics (SIMPL)
020 7457 5013 scammarano@bpf.co.uk
CHAIR Alan Brow, Amaray
Sara Cammarano
The BPF Industrial Health and Safety Central Committee meets regularly and closely monitors Health & Safety issues for the industry. The output of this committee is communicated through regular seminars and the BPF’s Health and Safety newsletter. The BPF also conducts an Annual Accident Survey. All member companies are sent a questionnaire based on RIDDOR (reporting of incidents, diseases and dangerous occurrences) format to fill out. The Committee has launched, together with fellow industry trade associations and the HSE, SIMPL (Safety In Manufacturing PLastics). This is an initiative , which is now in its second phase (2014-2017), to reduce the incidence of accidents and ill-health in the UK Plastics Industry.
Matt Davies
Industrial Issues Executive 020 7457 5048 mdavies@bpf.co.uk
Education & Skills Committee CHAIR Philip Watkins, Gabriel-Chemie
Following its inception in late 2014, the BPF Education & Skills Committee acts as the authoritative reference point for assessing the UK Plastics Industry’s future human resources and skills requirements, whilst promoting the flow into the industry of personnel through polymer education. The Committee’s work includes the setup of its dedicated online educational
portal, Polymer Zone, as well as the Polymer Ambassador Programme. Members will be trained to conduct experiments and deliver presentations to school children, as well as supplying schools with free Polymer Kits for use in the classroom.
PLASTIC SAVES ENERGY Insulating foams in buildings saves
Without
EPS packaging 2,400 million tonnes energy consumption would double when compared to alternatives
of greenhouse gas globally in their lifetime
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BPF Annual Review 2015
The use of plastic composite panels in Swiss trains has led to a
25% reduction
in weight and consequently significant energy savings
Recycling just one plastic bottle saves enough energy to power a 60W light bulb for
6 hours
Sustainability Committee
Helen Jordan
This new committee will promote and encourage sustainability within the Plastics Industry. The committee’s work will be based on a sustainability framework and key topics which link into this will be identified. Initial meetings have recognised that a lot of work has already taken place to make plastics more sustainable, as well as the role of plastics in improving the sustainability of other products. The committee will provide an opportunity for the industry to promote
020 7457 5015 hjordan@bpf.co.uk
Sustainability Issues Executive
this to stakeholders. The committee will also initiate sustainability projects within the industry and share best practice with BPF members.
The BPF Sustainability Committee will initiate sustainability projects
PLASTIC SAVES FOOD Wrapping bananas in a modified atmosphere bag extends shelf-life by
2 – 3 days
In Europe,
The shelf-life of beef can be
only 3% extended by of all products 5 – 10 days delivered to customers are spoilt during transport thank s to pack aging – compared to 50% in developing countries
Wrapping a cucumber in plastic film extends its shelf-life to up to
14 days
when using the most advanced plastics pack aging solution
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Overseas Business Development Justyna Elliott Senior Business Development Executive
020 7457 5001 jelliott@bpf.co.uk
Plastindia From 5th to 10th February 2015, the BPF organised the British Pavilion at Plastindia, the largest plastics exhibition in India. This year was the 9th edition of the show and, for the first time, the show took place in Gandhinagar, Gujarat - having previously been held in New Delhi. Official numbers quoted by the show organisers illustrate that there were 1,590 exhibitors, from 35 countries, and around 200,000 visitors.
DID YOU KNOW...? It takes 25 recycled drinks bottles to make a fleece jacket
The trade fair featured a large European Contingent organised by Messe Dusseldorf, which included national pavilions from Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and of course Britain. In addition, there was national participation from a number of other countries including Japan, USA, Canada, China, Korea and Taiwan. The British Pavilion, organised by the BPF, was located in Hall 11 and was made up of 12 companies. Most of the British companies were supported by UK Trade & Investment grants of £2,500, as well as grants of £3,000 that were new to the show. The companies as part of the British Pavilion were: n The Aerogen Company Ltd n Atlas Converting/TITAN n British Plastics Federation n Euro Exim Ltd n FARREL Pomini n MSA Engineering Systems Ltd n PREA Ltd n ROCOL Ltd n Seven Seas International n Technobell Ltd n Tinius Olsen Ltd n Victory Lighting
Plast Between the 5th and 9th May, Europe’s largest plastics exhibition held in 2015 took place in Milan, Italy. The BPF exhibited at the show to promote our members and distributed information on the European Projects that we are involved in. The exhibition takes place every three years and this edition attracted 50,593 visitors and 1,514 exhibitors from 58 countries. The foreign visitors accounted for nearly 18,000 from 114 countries, making it a truly international event. Mario Maggiani, Managing Director of Promaplast and PLAST organizer, has already announced that the next edition of the show will be an exception to the three-year rule and will take place between 26th and 30th September 2017.
British Group at Plastindia 2015 On the evening of the 5th February 2015, the BPF in collaboration with UK Trade & Investment Ahmedabad, organised an evening reception and dinner for UK Exhibitors and a number of selected Indian companies interested in the UK Plastics Industry. The evening was a great success, with nearly thirty Indian representatives arriving to meet with the British companies. The next edition of Plastindia has been scheduled for 7th to 12th of February 2018 and will once again take place in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
British Group at Plastindia 2015
The BPF distributed information on all Members via the Plastics Industry Directory
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British Pavilion at Chinaplas 2015
Chinaplas The BPF ran the UK Pavilion, with thirteen exhibitors, at the world’s largest plastics annual exhibition, Chinaplas. The show took place between 20th and 23rd May 2015 in Guangzhou and it rotates every two years between Shanghai and Guangzhou. The show covered a net area of more than 240,000 sqm; an increase from the 2014 of 230,000 sqm in Shanghai and 220,000 sqm in 2013 in Guangzhou. The 2015 edition attracted over 120,000 visitors and featured over 3,200 exhibitors. The show proved to be a major success for all UK companies with busy days throughout the show. The British Pavilion was located in Hall 9.2 and was made up of thirteen companies. Most of the British companies who exhibited were supported by the UK Trade & Investment grants of £2,500.
The companies who exhibited as part of the British Pavilion were: n The Aerogen Company n Ashe Converting Equipment n Boston Matthews n British Plastics Federation n EPI (Europe) Ltd n Euro Exim n J&A Young (Leicester) Ltd Jayplas n Meech n Nextool (UK) Ltd n Plastics in Packaging n Rapidflame Ltd n Vision Engineering Ltd n Zotefoams
To enhance our presence at the show and to promote UK exhibitors, we distributed 1,000 copies of a 64 page guide to British exhibitors that was printed in both English and Simplified Chinese. The 2016 edition of Chinaplas, which is scheduled to take place between 25th to 28th April 2016 in Shanghai, will no doubt once again break all records.
This show has been excellent for us – it has highlighted some niche products that we can make and start to export to China and India. As a direct result we will be buying some new machinery. This show has given us some direct sales and will now lead to us making some serious investment which I would estimate would create at least 6 new jobs. JASON YOUNG Jayplas It has been a very busy Chinaplas probably one of the best of the last 5-6 years in terms of quality of companies and credibility of visitors - who were mostly purchasing people and decision makers, who know exactly what they were looking for and in a position to buy. The facilities and logistics around the show have been first class and the whole operation has been incredibly smooth. We have already expressed our interest in signing up for the next Chinaplas show in Shanghai. EDDIE GRANT The A erogen Company
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Overseas Business Development Plastics and Rubber Indonesia The BPF coordinated a group of UK exhibitors under the British Pavilion banner at the key plastics exhibition in Indonesia, which was held in Jakarta between 18th and 21st November 2015. The event runs every year but for the first time there was an officially organised UK group of exhibitors supported by the UK Trade & Investment. This year was the 28th edition of the show and was co-located with other related exhibitions, including Mould & Die Indonesia, Plaspak Indonesia, and Drinktech. The official figures of the show were reported as 13,019 visitors and 638 exhibitors from 29 countries, which included 9 international pavilions. The UK exhibitors at the show were: n Intouch Monitoring Ltd n Gas Injection Worldwide Ltd n J & A Young (Leicester) Ltd t/a JAYPLAS n Fraser Anti-Static Techniques Ltd n Gilbert Curry Industrial Plastics Co Ltd under www. theplasticshop.co.uk n British Plastics Federation n Wells Plastics n EPI Europe Most of the exhibitors, prior to the show, attended the BPF “Opportunities in Indonesia
and Vietnam” seminar which was held on the 10th November in Birmingham. The seminar featured presentations by the British Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia, the Indonesian and Vietnam Embassy in UK, UK ASEAN Business Council and more. The pre-exhibition seminar gave attendees useful tips on doing business in Indonesia and provided them with a chance to network with one another. During the show, representatives from the British Chamber of Commerce Indonesia and UKT&I Indonesia met the exhibitors and discussed ways they can assist UK companies. With a population of nearly 250 million, Indonesia is the 4th most populous country globally with a large proportion of the affluent middle class. Plastic consumption in Indonesia, according to the Indonesian Olefin, Aromatic and Plastic Association (INAplas) is still relatively low on a percapita basis at just over 17 (kg) per year, compared to around 35 kg in Malaysia 40 kg in Thailand and Singapore and around 100 kg in Western Europe. This highlights the scope for future growth, as personal income continues to rise in Indonesia’s consumption-led economy. The next edition of Plastics and Rubber Indonesia will be held in Jakarta between 16th and 19th November 2016.
PlastEurasia The BPF coordinated a British Pavilion at the largest plastics exhibition in Turkey, called PlastEurasia, which was held in Istanbul beteween 3rd and 6th December 2015. This year was the 25th Anniversary of the show, which attracts nearly 44,000 visitors and over 1,000 exhibitors from 41 countries, making it one of the largest plastics trade fairs in the world. This year the UK Pavilion featured six exhibitors: 1 Ashe Controls 2 British Plastics Federation 3 Farrel 4 Nextool UK Ltd 5 PREA Ltd 6 TMB Patterns Most of the exhibitors were supported by the UKT&I grants of £2,500. Additionally, six of the BPF members took part in the catalogue show offer, which included a listing in the UK Group Guide and distribution of their brochures at the show. During the show, the BPF took part in the “Istanbul Plastic Summit”,which was organised by the Turkish Plastics Association called PAGEV. The purpose of the Summit was to discuss the main issues of the EU Plastics Industry and to look at the possibility of co-operation between the countries around the table. The involved parties were: Assocomaplast from Italy, PlasticsEurope from Belgium, Novamont from Italy, Aspaplast from Romania, Dow from Italy, PlasticsEurope from Italy, BAP from Bulgaria, HGK from Crotia, Borealis from Italy, Ravago Group from Italy, AHPI from Greece, Juplas from Serbia and the British Plastics Federation from UK. The next edition of the show will take place between 7th and 10th December 2016 at the Tuyap Exhibition Centre.
British Pavilion at Plastics and Rubber Indonesia 2015
Intouch already has a few clients in South East Asia including just one in Indonesia. We are hoping to gain more in Indonesia as a result of exhibiting at the show this year. Our production monitoring, scheduling and reporting system can really help the manufacturers in Indonesia who will be able to save money by process optimisation and improving efficiency. In the four days of the show we made several good contacts which we hope will result in some new business relationships very soon.
JOHN HARDWICK Intouch M onitoring Ltd
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BPF Annual Review 2015
Daily paper during the PlastEurasia exhibition with the special feature on the Istanbul Plastic Summit
BPF Events ARMO 2015 In 2015, the BPF hosted ARMO 2015; a 3-day international rotational moulding event, which took place between 13th and 15th September in Nottingham. ARMO is an annual international conference whose previous editions have taken place in Chicago, Lyon and Goa. The event attracts visitors from all over the globe who wish to listen to presentations on all aspects of the rotational moulding industry. It was last in the UK in 2008 and once again proved a huge success in 2015 on its return to the British shores. ARMO 2015 attracted over 500 visitors from 41 different countries. As well as the presentations, the conference also included an exhibition that featured over 50 trade stands for visitors to explore. The presentations at ARMO 2015 included topics such as ‘An exploration of the North American market’, ‘Making Rotational Moulding Sexy’ and ‘Lightweight Clamping Solutions’, which all contributed to providing a comprehensive examination of the industry both in the UK and worldwide.
On top of the core presentations of the event, ARMO 2015 also ran two preevent seminars on water cooling and energy efficiency and ran a student design competition that attracted entrants from all corners of the world. The conference also provided an opportunity for rotational moulders to network, relax and enjoy themselves. The gala dinner at ARMO 2015 took place in a converted church in the heart of Nottingham and treated attendees to bands, drinking and a look ahead to the 2016 event on Australia’s Gold Coast. The calendar of events also included a spouse programme for visitors to enjoy, which included a trip to a stately home and a walking tour of the city.
Paul Baxter
Senior Commercial Events & Projects Executive 020 7457 5047 pbaxter@bpf.co.uk
ARMO 2015 Trade Exhibition
ARMO 2015 Trade Conference
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BPF Seminars 2015 In 2015 the British Plastic Federation hosted six varied and highly successful seminars, which covered a wide range of topics important to the Plastics Industry. 27 FEBRUARY 2015
Rotational Moulding Group – Troubleshooting Seminar The first event of the 2015 programme was a Rotational Moulding Group troubleshooting seminar. This event proved to be an outstanding success, attracting over 100 visitors from all parts of the UK. Returning once again to the West Midlands, this conference provided attendees with an opportunity to explore the problems that face the rotational moulding industry and to seek solutions to their issues in an open forum that combined the knowledge of all attendees. 19 MARCH 2015
Health and Safety The 2015 Health and Safety seminar proved as popular as ever, once again returning to
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the Midlands and taking place at Grace Road Cricket Ground in the heart of Leicester. This year’s conference featured presentations on topics such as crisis communications and risk assessment legislation and provided a forum for the discussion of health and safety in our industry; an issue of great importance to the BPF. 22 APRIL 2015
Plastics Packaging Returning for 2015, the BPF ‘Plastics Packaging Seminar’ provided an opportunity for attendees to explore the important issues in plastics packaging. Topics at this event included illegal imports in packaging, trends in flexible packaging and communications campaigns on packaging.
of new technology and including discussion from key industry figures, this event proved to be hugely popular and brought together the entire recycling industry at the IOM3 in Central London. 4 JUNE 2015
Plastics in Automotive Applications This seminar once again provided an exploration of this growing and hugely important sector for the Plastics Industry. Presentations from industry leaders such as Nissan, KPMG and Dupont allowed attendees to gain an insight into the changes and trends that will affect their businesses in the coming year. 7 OCTOBER 2015
Thermoplastic Composites 2 JUNE 2015
Recycling the ‘Unrecyclable’ A new event for 2015, ‘Recycling the Unrecyclable’ looked to explore new and exciting technologies and techniques that will add previously unrecyclable products to the circular economy. Featuring the launch
Run in conjunction with Composites UK, the 2nd edition of this seminar was the last seminar of the year for the BPF. This event proved to be extremely successful, attracting a large audience to discuss topics as diverse as fibre placement, automotive parts and braided composites.
Annual Dinner 2015 The BPF returned to the Lancaster London hotel for its 82nd Annual Dinner, which took place on the 29th October 2015. The event proved to be yet another great success for the BPF, attracting a record audience of over 500 guests from all sectors of the Plastics Industry and all parts of the UK to celebrate the achievements of the British Plastics Industry and of the BPF. The 2015 dinner was kindly sponsored by Inenco Group, Veka Recycling, Gabriel Chemie, Plastribution, Chemson, Siemens, Capital Allowance Specialists, Listgrove and BPF Energy. Guests were treated to a gala evening of food and entertainment. This year’s event began with guests being welcomed by the beautiful piano music of Kate Threlfall and finished with ‘Jazz a la mode’, which provided the perfect accompaniment to the after-dinner networking and socialising. This year’s after dinner speaker was Gerald Ratner, who famously described his own products as ‘crap’ in a speech at the CBI and destroyed his large jewellery business empire. He has since rebuilt his fortune and is back in the jewellery business. He provided stories of his rise and fall and rise again and proved to be a big hit with guests on the evening. BPF Director General Philip Law welcomed the audience and provided an introduction for the assembled guests. He also announced the winners and runners up of the Horners
Diners at the BPF Annual Dinner 2015
Award, Guardian and Oxtex respectively. Philip Law also announced the winner of the BPF Energy Award for 2015, who was GKN Aerospace. BPF President David Hall of Polypipe also spoke to the crowd. David spoke about the strength of the UK Plastics Industry and the cautious optimism reflected in the results of the BPF Business Conditions Survey. He discussed how plastic was ‘the product of the
Paul Baxter
Senior Commercial Events & Projects Executive 020 7457 5047 pbaxter@bpf.co.uk
Gerald Ratner, the guest speaker at the BPF Annual Dinner 2015
21st century’, as well as the achievements of the BPF in 2015, and plans for 2016. In particular, so as to enhance the reputation of the Plastic Industry in schools, David announced the launch of a Polymer Ambassador Programme. As part of his speech, David announced a new group within the BPF, the Plastic and Flexible Packaging Group, which took effect on 1st January 2016 when PAFA officially merges with the BPF. David finished his speech by announcing the winners of the BPF Gold Medal for 2015, who were Mike Jones of Distrupol and Dr Stuart Patrick. David praised Mike’s work on relentlessly pressing health and safety in the industry. Discussing Dr. Patrick, David mentioned his involvement in the Brighton PVC conference and his hard work in ensuring that the event was a roaring success. The Annual Dinner 2015 proved once again to be a cornerstone of the British plastics events calendar and the BPF looks forward to the 2016 Annual Dinner, due to take place on 13th October 2016.
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BOOK YOUR TABLE NOW Thursday 13th October 2016 – The Lancaster London Hotel
Start time – 7.15 for 7.45pm
The most prestigious plastics event in the UK Exclusive members only event Network with up to 500 plastics industry representatives Entertain your clients at this exclusive event High profile after dinner speaker
Sponsored by
Plastinum
Gold
Silver
Silver
Silver
Silver
Bronze
BPF Energy Award
www.bpfannualdinner.co.uk
Projects / Innovation / Research & Development 2015 has been a busy year for the BPF and its involvement in European Projects. Through these projects, the BPF has continued to maximise its international exposure and bring the latest developments to the attention of our members. The European funding landscape has changed somewhat for the BPF as Horizon 2020 (H2020) has now taken over from the previous Framework programmes. While this brings some much needed and welcome reform to the funding focus (to more commercially orientated, less research based projects) this funding
regime does not require a Federation organisation to be part of the funding application, as was such in previous schemes. While the lack of an automatic requirement for inclusion in these funding applications may see a reduction in our involvement going forward, the BPF continues to perform a vital role in such applications by providing market insight, contacts and opportunities to promote and maximise the commercial success of projects under this programme. If you would like any further information on any projects that we are currently involved
Robert Price
Projects Executive 0797 640 3985 rprice@bpf.co.uk
with, please look at the individual project website or, alternatively, our services are available for dissemination and exploitation activities.
Projects Completed during 2015
SMART
SuperCleanQ
The final SMART project meeting took place in June 2015 were the project was reviewed by the Project and Technical officer from the REA. The project demonstrated the types of products that the SMART process could be applied too and provide a sustainable solution to the re-use of rubber tyres. Given the outputs from this project it may be that further funding is sort to commercialise this opportunity.
This project has now been finalised, with the REA approving all the work and resulting outputs. The tools and procedures that have been developed for QA in plastics recycling processes that are targeted at food contact applications can be viewed on the results page of the SuperCleanQ website. You can also download the completed results pack for viewing at your leisure. If this area is of interest and you require further information, the relevant contact information is also provided:
PROJECT WEBSITE
www.smart-recycle.eu
PROJECT WEBSITE
www.supercleanq.eu SuperCleanQ is part-funded under the European Commission’s 7th Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant Agreement Number 285889.
TDM Seals
This project is part-funded under the European Commission’s 7th Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant Agreement Number 286465.
TDM Seals project is finished. Pending the final report from the REA, the project has been very successful and has meet its primary objective of producing low-friction seals. In addition, the project has illustrated a reduction in theeir dynamic friction of over 20%. Details of the final results and summary can be read and downloaded from the project website. PROJECT WEBSITE
www.tdm-seals.eu This project is part-funded under the European Commission’s 7th Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant Agreement Number 298647.
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Projects / Innovation / Research & Development Ongoing Projects
SlipSafe This project sets out to reduce the level of slip-accidents in commercial and private dwellings. The project is now entering its testing and analysis stage, with results and further dissemination activities planned for 2016. The project is complex in its nature, as not only is it seeking to provide a solution to slip-accidents but at the same time to enable easy cleaning of floors. Additionally, the project aims to produce a new testing method for allowing the monitoring of slipperiness as a function of the wear of installed flooring material. Results and updates will be published in due course on the project website. PROJECT WEBSITE
www.slipsafe.org SlipSafe is part-funded under the European Commissions’ 7th Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant Agreement Number 606691.
Next1Koat (N1K) This project is near completion and has developed some interesting polymers, which are believed to have implications for industries beyond the initial target market of the woodworking and furniture manufacture. There is also interest within the project to expand beyond the end of the FP7 programme. Using seaweed polymers as a base, N1K is developing a triple finish system which is of high quality and long lasting. The new coating, based on seaweed, has further advantages:
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BPF Annual Review 2015
n Environmentally friendly: no VOCs n High renewable content n Low carbon footprint As we move closer to a low carbon economy, products like this will become more mainstream in their application. The website has the latest information, including a highly informative and engaging video presentation explaining the process. The project seeks SME coating manufacturers to pursue this further. PROJECT WEBSITE
www.next1koat.eu This project is part-funded under the European Commission’s 7th Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant Agreement Number 304998.
EuroPHA This project is also well into its testing and analysis phase, which involves a pursuit of developing a 100% natural and biodegradable bioplastic formulation to be used for food packaging applications. The ultimate aims are as follows: n Consumers to be able to dispose of products together with food residues without the need of separation n Products will be >95% bio-based and 100% compostable by EU Standards n Increase European PHA market share by reducing the final product cost by up to 40% n Develop novel formulations of PHA for food packaging During 2016, as more information becomes available, the website will be updated and the BPF will circulate results to interested members.
HiPerDry A prototype MW-SHSD (Microwave enhanced superheated steam drying) system, which aims to achieve the following: n 30%-50% reduction in process energy costs and run time n Ability to dry heat sensitive hygroscopic polymers (especially biopolymers) without the risk of material degradation n Build up know-how about the drying and processing of heat sensitive bioplastics n 90% of energy input recoverable from the excess steam Europe is currently leading the development and processing of bio-based polymers. This project aims to promote this position further by developing an innovative process by providing a solution which avoids partial degradation of the polymer and enables significant time and energy savings.
PROJECT WEBSITE
www.europha.eu This project is part-funded under the European Commission’s 7th Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant Agreement Number 604770.
GreenPack This project continues to work towards establishing a fully recyclable 100% PET package for food contact with an O2 barrier, thus enabling improved transparency and a low CO2 footprint. Beyond the main goal, there is a secondary potential output from this project. This is to design and distribute a dedicated recycling model that is based on the recycling model of the 100% PET soft drinks bottles, however also has the ability to be adjusted based on specific food package features.
PROJECT WEBSITE
PROJECT WEBSITE
www.hiperdry.eu
www.greenpack-project.eu
This project is part-funded under the European Commission’s 7th Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant Agreement Number 606425.
This project is part-funded under the European Commission’s 7th Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant Agreement Number 605698.
BPF Annual Review 2015
43
BPF Energy Darren Muir
Finance Director 020 7457 5000 dmuir@bpf.co.uk
338
BPFE Partners in CCL scheme
91,460
Tonnes of carbon saved by CCL Partners
12,874,124 With the Plastics Sector Climate Change Agreement (CCA) reaching the end of the first reporting period (target period 1), our intense programme of information gathering was rewarded with the news that we achieved 100% recertification rate for our partners. The focus of BPF Energy was the communication and guidance to our CCA partners and a scheme of early warning systems informing where targets were unlikely to be met. In some cases, we were able to actively assist partners in the achievement of targets as demonstrated by the fact that we were the most active sector in introducing NOVEM, enabling the revision of targets. A continuation of our series of popular seminars included ‘CCA Target Period 1 and beyond’, featuring guest speakers from industry and breakout sessions on individual
CCL savings achieved by partners
89.4%
Satisfaction rating for Seminars
DID YOU KNOW...? PVC blood bags have been saving lives since the 1950s
Superior Seals Ltd – Green 3 Facility, BPF Energy Award Runner-up
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BPF Annual Review 2015
BPF Energy Award winner GKN Aerospace Western Approach
member topics such as NOVEM and CCA administrative issues. Our annual seminar ‘Energy Management for Plastics Processors’, which was presented by the inimitable Dr Robin Kent, drew the crowds also. We provided detailed consultation responses, with special regards to ‘reforming the business energy efficiency tax landscape’ and continued to work closely and develop relationships with governing bodies including the Department for Energy & Climate Change, Environment Agency, Ricardo-AEA, and HMRC. Finally, congratulations to BPF Energy award winner GKN Aerospace Western Approach and to Superior Seals Ltd – Green 3 Facility as Runner-up.
Business Support Network
The Business Support Network (BSN) is formed of service providers, testing houses and course providers who are associated with the BPF. Their services are there to support the Plastics Industry, including our Members, who can benefit from free consultations and discounts. Training providers such as Edinburgh Napier University, Polymer Training and Innovation Centre, Solutions4Polymers and G&A Moulding Technology can help with skills and development, as this is an increasingly common issue within the manufacturing industry. Another area where BPF Members can
bolster their knowledge is legal advice by Squire Patton Boggs and access to a free legal helpline by Croner. Pera Technology can aid BPF Members with product and process research and development, which is something that is of the utmost importance to many plastics manufacturers. BPF Members can also benefit from tax relief on their R&D cost and patents via services offered by GGTS and Patent Box, which could save on average £43,000 for SMEs and £300,000 for large companies. Those companies who are looking for financing of their machinery may benefit from scheduling a meeting with Siemens Financial Services who specialise in equipment finance, leasing and vendor finance solutions. Other services offered by the BSN Members include HR and recruitment by the leading plastics recruitment specialists Listgrove, and health and safety services that are provided by global independent safety science company UL International.
Justyna Elliott Senior Business Development Executive
020 7457 5001 jelliott@bpf.co.uk
RJG Technologies UK have benefited from being a Member of the BSN Group at the BPF in a number of ways. It provides us with networking opportunities at events such as the Meet the Toolmaker and the annual dinner. It also provides opportunities to exhibit internationally at Trade Shows as part of the BPF British Pavilion. The BPF also provides a platform to get our views across with respect to training to government bodies. Overall by participating we gain good value for our annual membership.
RICHARD BROWN M anaging D irector, R JG Technologies U K Ltd.
Croner
Recruitment and HR Services
Edinburgh Napier University
G&A Moulding
Impact Solutions
Listgrove Ltd
Plastics Training Services
Polymer Education, Research & Consultancy
GGTC
Goverment Grant & Tax Consultants
Polymer testing and training
International HR and Recruitment specialists
Patent Box Consultants Ltd
PERA
Polymer Training & Innovation Centre
Solutions4Polymers Limited
Siemens Financial Services
Squire Patton Boggs
UHY Hacker Young
UL Enterprise
Oltec Group
Facilities Management Specialists
Plastics Training Services
Legal Expertise
Business Innovation
Corporation Tax Consultants
Polymer Training & Support Solutions
Chartered Accountants
Financial Services Provider
Global independent safety science company
Willis Commercial Network Insurance services
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Horners’ Award for Plastics Design and Innovation Kim Hawksworth
Marketing Executive (until September 2015) 020 7457 5007 khawksworth@bpf.co.uk
Giselle Jauregui
Marketing Executive 020 7457 5007
gjauregui@bpf.co.uk
The Horners’ Award is run jointly by the BPF and the Worshipful Company Of Horners (an ancient guild and livery company of the City of London) and is awarded for innovation in plastics design and manufacture or in the processing of plastics. The prestigious Horners’ Award, that takes place every year, is believed to be the longest established Design Award for Plastics in the world. It’s a cornerstone of the Horners’ many activities supporting Design and Education in the Plastics Industry.
GUARDIAN Anti-Piracy Barrier, winner of the 2015 Horners’ Award for Plastics Design and Innovation
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BPF Annual Review 2015
Horners’ Award for Plastics Design and Innovation Winner 2015 This year’s winner of the Horners’ Award for Plastics Design and Innovation was the highly innovative GUARDIAN Anti-Piracy Barrier. The worthy-winning entry was developed by Guardian Maritime Limited, which is owned and run by husband and wife team David and Teresa Stevens. The barriers are made from a UV stabalised grade of Total 4041; a new generation Metallocene polymer, suitable for large rotational mouldings. The judges were impressed by the relatively simple design, which acts both as a visual and physical deterrent and can be tailored to fit any vessel and oil rigs. The product is an industry compliant system and provides 24/7 protection against stowaways, robbery and piracy. It is believed to be the only “undefeated” passive antipiracy deterrent.
DID YOU KNOW...? Someone built a real house made entirely of plastic LEGO bricks!
I am very proud to have been chosen for this award, being recognised by such an esteemed guild is a great honour. TERESA STEVENS O wner and D esigner of G UA R D IA N
Horners’ Award for Plastics Design and Innovation Runner-Up 2015 The judges were also delighted to nominate the ‘Expanding Horizons in Reconstructive Surgery’, which was developed by Oxtex, as the runner up. Two surgeons, who continuously found a need for extra soft tissue, collaborated with the Department of Materials at Oxford University to develop a hydrogel polymer technology that can manually stretch tissue over a period of time to produce “extra” skin for reconstruction. The self-inflating Oxtex device combats all the limitations of the current commercial devices. Additionally, the Oxtex device can be produced in a range of different shapes and sizes for different anatomical locations.
Horners’ Bottlemakers Award The prestigious Horners’ Bottlemakers Award is awarded for a plastic bottle, jar or hollow container, made by any process including extrusion blow, injection blow, injection stretch blow, injection moulding, rotational moulding or vacuum forming. Entries for this award must have significant UK content in Design, Materials or Manufacture and a proven record of commercial success. Bottlemakers Award Winner 2015 This year’s Horners’ Bottlemakers Award winner was judged to be the 1.5 litre Ribena bottle made by BPF Member Logoplaste UK. The PET bottle was designed to deliver optimum performance, while providing a clear sustainable advantage over existing products. The bottle has a style in keeping with the existing smaller Ribena bottles, while boasting an impressive aesthetic appeal and delivering excellent impact resistance; both in the supply chain and in the home. The product has numerous design features which allow it to run on the existing glass bottle filling lines, as well as overcoming challenging internal pressures during the Bottlemakers Award Highly Commended Certificate 2015 The judges were also delighted to nominate two entries for the highly commended certificate; The SprayPET Aerosol Container and the Millers Oils Flowcontrol Bottle. The SprayPET Aerosol Container, developed by Plastipak Packaging (formerly APPE), is a plastic aerosol container which has been designed to replace tinplate or aluminum cans. As a one-piece container, it can be used in gel, cream or mist applications in home, personal care
Horners Award
A History The following extract is taken from ‘The Moulding of an Industry: The History of the British Plastics Federation’, by Geoffrey Stanley and Clifford Wetch (1983).
Bottlemakers Award Winner 2015: the 1.5 litre Ribena bottle
filling process. The new 1.5L Ribena bottle now includes ribs to support the vacuum and a honeycomb base for strength and support. A Logoplaste UK spokesman said, “We are delighted to have been chosen as the winner of the 2015 Horner’s Bottlemakers Award and recognised for our contribution to innovation.”
Plastipak Packaging’s SprayPET Aerosol Container
LEFT
Millers Oils Flowcontrol Bottle, manufactured by RPC Promens
ABOV E
products and food. The Millers Oils Flowcontrol Bottle, manufactured by RPC Promens, features a unique dispensing closure that allows oil to be fully controllable and to flow freely and easily. The container creates a distinctive presence on-shelf to highlight the innovative closure while still remaining in keeping with other plastic oil container
In the 1940s: “the Worshipful Company of Horners’ approached the Federation with proposals for a link between their ancient craft and the modern plastics industry and on their initiative an exhibition of plastics applications staged at Guildhall. In the following year the Horners’ Company generously presented a sum of 50 guineas to the Federation to be expended at the discretion of the Council on awards to craftsmen in the plastics industry. These awards were offered for design and emphasis was placed upon encouraging younger craftsmen. “In 1947 there were two classes, one for the design of a mould in which the first prize was won by W. Westwood of the Tool Makers, Fox & Offord Ltd. and a drawing for the arrangement of a moulding tool in which the first prize was won by F. Seed of United Ebonite and Lorival. “A few years later the regulations for the award were modified to cover the design of a product made from plastics materials. This relationship between the Federation and the Worshipful Company grew stronger over the years and now flourishes root and branch. At this time the subject of industrial design in the UK was coming into prominence and the Board of Trade created a National Council of Industrial Design. This Council was amongst other things responsible for mounting the ‘Britain can make it Exhibition’ in September 1946 and the Federation co-operated actively with it in this endeavour. “
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Members of the BPF Additives
Cellular PVC-U
Addmaster (UK) Americhem Europe Aquapurge Astropol Baerlocher UK BASF Chemson Chemtura Manufacturing UK Colloids ColorMatrix Europe Corcoran Chemicals Covestro Rohm & Haas (UK) Eastman Company UK eChem EPI (Europe) ExxonMobil Chemical Gabriel Chemie UK Grolman Hubron (International) IKA (UK) IMCD UK Kronos LKAB Minerals Lysis Technologies Mitsui & Co UK Omya UK RaKeM Reagens UK Wells Plastics West & Senior
Epwin Group Eurocell Profiles Kestrel BCE Swish Building Products
Business Support Network Croner Edinburgh Napier University G&A Moulding Technology GGTC Impact Solutions Listgrove OLTEC Group Patent Box PERA Technology Polymer Training & Innovation Centre Siemens Financial Services Squire Patton Boggs Solutions4Polymers UHY Hacker Young UL International (UK) Willis Commercial Network
Composites Forbes Technologies Hygrade Industrial Plastics Llewellyn Ryland Plasticon UK Solent Composite Systems
Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) BASF plc Chemtura Dart Products DS Smith Foam Products Energystore Ineos Styrenics Jablite Moulded Foams Peterhead Box Company Kingspan Styrochem Finland Oy, UK Regional Office Sunpor Thermalbead Thulcraft Vita Cellular Foam (Kay-Metzeler) Warmfill
Flexible Foam Converters Beasley Pillows Comfortex Duflex Platt & Hill
Industrial Plastics Welding and Fabrication (IPWAF) Members Advanced Plastic Technology Plastipack
The following companies were members of the BPF as of 31 December 2015
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BPF Annual Review 2015
Masterbatch & Technical Compounds Abbey Masterbatch Addmaster (UK) AEI Compounds Americhem Europe A Schulmann Broadway Colours Colloids ColorMatrix Europe ColourTone Masterbatch Gabriel Chemie UK Hubron (International) Performance Masterbatches Prisma Colour Silvergate Plastics Wells Plastics
Moulders and Specialist Processors Adreco A K Industries Aeroplas (UK) Agentdraw Algram Group Avalon Plastics Bemis Bespak Europe Big Bear Plastic Products BNL (UK) Bolton Plastic Components Broanmain Brother Industries UK C J Tool and Mouldings Calsonic Kansei Washington Carclo Carclo Technical Plastics Champion Mouldings Cinram Operations UK Craemer UK Curver UK Daniels Healthcare Data Plastics Denroy Desch Plantpak DuBois Eaton Essentra Components Euro Extrusion F-L Plastics Flambeau Europlast Forteq UK Limited Frontier Plastics Goodfish Grupo Antolin Leamington Hallam Plastics Hozelock Husqvarna
Ideal Standard manufacturing UK J F McKenna John McGavigan Johnstone Safety Products Labone Castleside Lettergold Plastics Magna Interiors (UK) McLaren Plastics Measom Freer Mecaplast Peterlee Melba Products Mold Systems Mollertech UK Northern Ireland Plastics Northpoint Numatic International One51 ES Plastics (UK) Owen Mumford Oxford Plastics Systems Peak Plastics Peerless Plastics and Coatings Pentagon Plastics Piolax Manufacturing Plastic Omnium Automotive Plastic Engineering Solutions Plasticom Polymermedics RGE Engineering Ricoh UK Products RPC Group R-TEK Limited Rutland Plastics Sherwood Plastic Products SMR Automotive Mirrors UK SPM Plastics SPS Plastics (t/a UPG) St Davids Assemblies Sterilin Stewart Plastics Straight Strata Products Taylor Engineering and Plastics Tex Plastic Products Tex Plastics – Derby Thermo Fisher Scientific Thumbs Up (Bury) TS (UK) VIP Polymers W H S Plastics Warden Plastics Weltonhurst West Pharmaceutical Services Whistle Stop Plastics Zotefoams
Packaging Alpla UK Anson Packaging Bericap (UK)
Blowplast Canyon Europe Constar International UK Coveris Dart Products Europe Esterform Global Closure Systems UK Graham Packaging Highland Spring Jubb UK LB Europe Linpac Packaging Logoplaste M&H Group Mauser UK McBride Measom Freer Nampak Plastics Europe Nolato Jaycare Perfectseal Philips Avent Plastek UK Plastic Bottle Supplies Portola Packaging Robinson Plastic Packaging RPC Group RPC Promens Schoeller Allibert Sharpak Bridgwater Spectra Packaging Solutions TS (UK)
Plastics Pipes Group Aco Technologies Aliaxis UK Asset International Borealis UK Durapipe UK Geberit Sales George Fischer Sales Glynwed Pipe Systems PE GPS PE Pipe Systems Hydro International INEOS Vinyls UK John Guest Marley Plumbing & Drainage McAlpine and Co Polypipe Building Products Polypipe Civils Polypipe Terrain Radius Systems Rehau Sustainable Drainage Systems Uponor Wavin
Plastics and Rubber Equipment ABB The Aerogen Company Ashe Converting Equipment Billion UK Boston Matthews Buhler Sortex CCS Technology Ceramix C R Clarke & Co (UK) Engel UK EPICOR Software UK Farrel Formech International HiTech Automation Ingersoll Rand Instron Intouch Monitoring IsoCool Lloyd Instruments Meech International MSA Engineering Systems Munchy NDC Infared Engineering Negri Bossi PlastikCity RUD Chains Staubli Tinius Olsen TR Fastenings Trans XL International Vecoplan Verus Precision UK Xtrutech Zeppelin Systems UK
Polymer Distributors & Compounders 4Plas ALBIS UK Biesterfeld Petroplas Distrupol Elasto UK Gazechim Plastics UK Hardie Polymers Hellyar Plastics Longfield Chemicals Nexeo Solutions Performance Plastics Perrite Petlon Polymers Plastribution Polydist UK Resinex Sumika Polymer Compounds (UK) Teknor Apex UK Ultrapolymers
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Members of the BPF Polymer Suppliers Alphagary Axion Recycling Basell Polyolefins UK Berwin Group Covestro Dugdale EMS Chemie UK Floreon Transforming Packaging INOVYN ChlorVinyls JSP International Lanxess Luxus Plastic Technology Services SABIC UK Solvay Polymers Vinnolit Vinyl Compounds
Rotational Moulding 493K ACO Technologies A. Schulman Gainsborough Balmoral Group Bioquell UK Broadway Colours Corilla Plastics Crompton Mouldings Etills Europalite Excelsior Roto Moulding Gordonellis Impact Solutions JFC Manufacturing (Europe) Jonesco (Preston) JSC Rotational Kingspan Leafield Environmental Lysis Technologies Mailbox Mouldings International Matrixpolymer Orchid Plastics Palm Equipment International Persico Prismacolour Queens University Belfast Rotational Mouldings Rotomotive Rototek Steel Tool Solutions Stewart Plastics Tecni-Form UniqueRoto Ultrapolymers
Recycling Group Axion Recycling
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BPF Annual Review 2015
Biffa Polymers Boomerang Plastics BPI Recycled Products C K Group Centriforce Products Chase Plastics CL Rye Trading Closed Loop Recycling Dennison UK DS Smith Recycling ECO Plastics Recycling Ecotech London ELG Carbon Fibre Ecodek Vannplastic Failand Paper Services Jayplas (J & A Young – Leicester) JFC Plastics Luxus MBA Polymers UK Oxford Plastics Systems Polymer Extrusion Technologies UK Philip Tyler Polymers PlasGran PlasRecycle Polypipe Civils PPR WIPAG PVCR RECOUP Regain Polymer Repro Plastics Roydon Group Sortology Summit Systems TDG Recycled Plastics Trafford Services Veka Recycling Veolia Viridor Polymer Recycling Wellman Recycling Y S Reclamation
INOVYN ChlorVinyls Polyfloor UK Polypipe Renolit Cramlington Rohm & Haas Europe Solvay Polymers Tarkett UKRFA Vinnolit Wavin
Windows Chemson Deceuninck Duraflex (Masco UK) Epwin Group Eurocell Profiles Halo Listers Trade Frames Mitsui & Co UK Profile 22 Systems Rehau Renolit Cramlington Rohm and Haas Europe Snowdonia (Windows & Doors) Sheerframe Spectus Window Systems Swish Window & Door Systems Veka Plc Zenith Staybrite
Sheet & Coated Fabrics Altro Fenner Palram UK Polyflor Tarkett
Vinyls Altro Floors Baerlocher UK Berwin Group Chemson Dugdale Eastman Company ExxonMobil Chemical Glynwed Pipe Systems
DID YOU KNOW...? Food waste has at least 10 times the environmental impact of packaging waste
BPF Affiliates Flexible Foam Research Limited (FFR Ltd) Dr David Waite administrator@dwaite.demon.co.uk
Flexible Foam Research Limited, established in 1984, carries out research and /or development on behalf of the UK manufacturers of polyurethane flexible foam, which if successful would be beneficial to the whole of the industry. It is also represents the UK polyurethane flexible foam industry in discussions with UK Government departments, standards agencies in the UK and Europe and other trade associations/representation bodies associated with flexible foam products both in the UK and Europe.
Insulating Concrete Formwork Association (ICFA) http://www.icfa.org.uk/
The ICFA was formed over 15 years ago under the umbrella of the British Plastics Federation and the Ready Mixed group of Companies by ICF manufacturers to develop a clear and concise direction and generic standards by which we all adhere. The ICFA has full Authority over the 10 Full members of the association who pledge to follow some simple rules and install wall systems to the best of their ability.
Gauge and Tool Makers Association (GTMA)
Northern Ireland Polymers Association (NIPA)
www.gtma.co.uk/
http://www.polymersni.com/
GTMA represents the individual expertise of our members and the collective engineering resource we represent in precision engineering within the Tool Making, Jigs and Fixtures, Additive Manufacturing, Metrology and other critical manufacturing related products and services in the engineering supply chain. Our work with OEMs and Tier 1s is to provide a valuable resource for manufacturing companies within the Aerospace, Automotive, Rail, Marine, Medical and Energy markets. GTMA management is operating under the standards of ISO 9001:2008 accreditation to provide supply chain solutions, business services, technology transfer and industry networks for companies throughout the engineering supply chain.
NIPA is an organisation which represents and promotes the Polymer Sector in Northern Ireland. including converters, fabricators, recyclers, suppliers and HE/FE institutions. The association has recently expanded its activities and now also provides excellent networking facilitation, both locally and internationally and influencing policies. NIPA also provides a full range of bespoke, Advanced Technical Training Programmes on materials, processing and applications for individual companies. The association now also facilitates and assists with the development of company growth strategies as well as individual or collaborative R&D and innovation programmes for NIPA members.
Packaging and Films Association (PAFA) No website, merged with the BPF Packaging Group as of 1st January 2016
PAFA (the Packaging and Films Association) combines the interests of the former PIFA and FPA to represent the £2 billion UK industry engaged in the development and manufacture of films and the conversion of lightweight flexible packaging and rigid sheet.
Plastics Consultancy Network (PCN) http://www.pcn.org
The Plastics Consultancy Network is the leading international independent consultancy network for plastics products. Made up of a network of independent consultants covering all areas of the plastics industry – from raw materials through to mergers and acquisitions.
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BPF Affiliates DID YOU KNOW...? According to Recoup’s ‘Household Plastics Collection’ survey, nearly 50 billion bottles and trays have been saved from landfill in the last 20 years
PlasticsEurope AISBL http://www.plasticseurope.org/
PlasticsEurope is one of the leading European trade associations with offices in Brussels, Frankfurt, London, Madrid, Milan and Paris. We are networking with European and national plastics associations and more than 100 member companies, producing over 90% of all polymers across the 27 EU member states plus Norway, Switzerland, Croatia and Turkey.
Scottish Plastics and Rubber Association (SPRA) http://www.spra.org.uk/
SPRA promotes the advancement of plastics, rubber and related materials, through education and training in the science, engineering and design associated with the manufacture, conversion and end-use of polymeric materials.
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BPF Annual Review 2015
Yacht Brokers, Designers and Surveyors Association (YBDSA Holding Limited) http://www.ybdsa.co.uk/
YBDSA is the overall company for the Association of Brokers and Yacht Agents (ABYA) and The Yacht Designers and Surveyors Association (YDSA). Both are professional associations providing membership services including training opportunities through in-house expertise and external professionals within the marine field. Our members cover a broad range of boat types from small RIBS to superyachts – power and sail – inland, coastal and sea-going. We also offer services for Registration of vessels in the UK and other overseas registries and British (MCA) certification of under 24m vessels for commercial use, such as charter, angling and offshore services incl. windfarms. We are authorised by HMRC to operate a Customs Warehouse scheme for nonVAT paid vessels to be offered for sale in the UK.
BPF Council & Group Chairman BPF Business Groups as of 31 December 2015
BPF Central Expert Committees as of 31 December 2015
Additives Suppliers Group
Plastic Pipes Group (PPG)
Education and Skills Committee
CHAIR Jim Jeffries
PRESIDENT
CHAIR Philip Watk ins
Chemson
Chris K ing Wavin DIRECTOR Caroline Ayres
Gabriel-Chemie UK
Cellular PVC Group CHAIR Dave Osborne
Swish Building Products
Plastics and Rubber Equipment Group
Composites Group CHAIR Lee Forbes
Forbes Group
Expanded Polystyrene Group (EPS/NBBA) CHAIR David Emes
Flexible Foam Converters Group Industrial Plastics Welding and Fabrication Group (IPWAF)
Polymer Distributors and Compounders Group CHAIR M ike B oswell
Plastribution
Polymer Suppliers Group
Fire Safety Committee CHAIR Christine Luk as
DOW Chemicals
Industrial Health & Safety Committee CHAIR Alan Brown
Amaray
Product Safety Committee: REACH & Regulatory Issues CHAIR Chris Howick
INOVYN
Recycling Group CHAIR Roger Baynham
Philip Tyler Polymers
Sustainability Committee CHAIR TO BE APPOINTED 1ST QTR 2016
Rotational Moulding Group
Masterbatch & Technical Compounds Group
CHAIR Stuart Forrester
CHAIR Russell Livesey
Colloids
Sheet and Coated Fabrics Group
Moulders and Specialist Processors Group
Vinyls Group
Corilla Plastics
CHAIR Roger M ottram
Packaging Group CHAIR Bruce M argetts
RPC Group (Bericap UK as of 01/01/16)
INOVYN
Windows Group CHAIR M artin Althorpe
Epwin Group
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BPF Council & Group Chairman The Council of the British Plastics Federation as of 31 December 2015
PRESIDENT
Carl Reeve Data Plastics
David Hall Polypipe Group
EQUIPMENT Chris Francis Meech International
Chris Tudgay Rehau
POLYMER SUPPLIERS
M ike Jordan Summit Systems Colin Sarsons WHS Plastics
David Hughes Solvay Specialty Polymers UK Danilo O liynik Schoeller Allibert Kevin Jack son Covestro UK
RECYCLING Roger Baynham Philip Tyler Polymers
David Hall Polypipe Group M ike B oswell Plastribution Huw Radley Solent Composite Systems Steve Bright Nexeo Solutions Plastics UK
REPRESENTATIVES Paul B ooth OBE PlasticsEurope (SABIC)
Jason Crump Tarkett
ADDITIVES SUPPLIERS & SPECIALIST COMPOUNDERS
Karen Drink water JSC Rotational Moulding
Andy Jones Baerlocher UK
M artin Althorpe Epwin Group
John Steadman Aquapurge
Peter Law Peak Plastics
Philip Watk ins Gabriel-Chemie UK
Phil M addox Leafield Environmental
PROCESSORS
Stephen M ancey Logoplaste
Brent Nicholls Wavin
Bruce M argetts RPC Group (Bericap UK as of 01/0116)
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BPF Annual Review 2015
HON. TREASURER Paul F. Jukes
EX OFFICIO MEMBERS Philip K . Law Director-General
Darren M uir Finance & Administration Director / Federation Secretary
Stephen Hunt Membership Services Director
BPF Staff and Consultants List Staff and Consultants of the British Plastics Federation as of 31 December 2015 Caroline Ayres Pipes Group Director*
Fozia Ghadiali PA to Director-General
Angella Ladner Finance and IT Executive
Paul Baxter Senior Commercial Events & Projects Executive
Bob Hawkins Membership Consultant
Philip K. Law Director-General
Meral Heatley PA to Membership Services Director (part-time)
Francisco Morcillo Public & Industrial Affairs Manager
Dr Sara Cammarano Senior Industrial Issues Executive Sue Cocks Caterer (part-time)
Darren Muir Finance and Administration Director
Aria Heidarian Industrial Issues Executive
Matthew Davies Industrial Issues Executive Carol Day PA to Pipes Group Director* Justyna Elliott Senior Business Development Executive David Emes Chairman EPS & NBBA Groups* Helen Fogarty Administration Assistant (BPF/PlEur/Pipes/EPS)
Laura Hindley Industrial Issues & Communications Executive
Christine Pottinger Receptionist (part-time)
Stephen Hunt Membership Services Director
Robert Price Projects Consultant
Giselle Jauregui Marketing Executive
Karen Spillman Receptionist (part-time)
Paul Jervis Windows Group Technical Consultant* Frank Jones Pipes Group Consultant*
David Thompsett EPS Consultant* Julia Trew Standards Manager PPG*
Helen Jordan Sustainability Issues Executive
Carole Wheeler Finance & Office Administrator
Dan Frake Finance Assistant *not based at BPF Offices, London
PLASTIC SAVES LIVES O ver
3,000
police officers’ lives have been saved over the past 30 years due to the fact that protective vests are made with tough plastics materials
Seat belts, when used, reduce the risk of fatal injury to front-seat passenger Car occupants by
45%
light-truck occupants by
65% There are more than
Every year, about
3D printed hearing aids worldwide
pacemakers, insulated by a polymer, are fitted globally
10 million 600,000
BPF Annual Review 2015
55
BPF Events 2016 13 OCTOBER
27 APRIL
10 NOVEMBER
BPF Annual Dinner Lancaster London Hotel
REACH BPF House, London
PVC To be confirmed
9 MARCH
19 MAY
23 NOVEMBER
3D Printing BPF House, London
Rotational Moulding Northamptonshire County Cricket Club, Northampton
Recycling To be confirmed
16 MARCH
AUTUMN 2016
Health and Safety Squire Patton Boggs, Birmingham
27 SEPTEMBER
Packaging Seminar
Automotive BPF House, London
13 APRIL
Managing Your CCA – TP2 and Beyond Squire Patton Boggs, Birmingham
6 OCTOBER
Composites UK BPF House, London
An initiative by the British Plastics Federation
The BPF’s education portal for teachers and young people Inspire and deepen young people’s understanding of plastics
Classroom activities aligned to the school curriculum
50+ videos and downloadable content on the plastics industry
www.polymerzone.co.uk 56
BPF Annual Review 2015
BPF House 5-6 Bath Place Rivington Street London EC2A 3JE TEL
+44 (0)20 7457 5000 WEB
www.bpf.co.uk EMAIL
bpf@bpf.co.uk