Industry confident about future of plastic at Telford event
You would excuse executives from the plastics industry to be licking their wounds as they assembled in Shropshire.
But they were in bullish mood, despite the bad press they have suffered since the issue of plastic waste was raised by Sir David Attenborough's Blue Planet ll.
The message coming from the Plastics, Design & Moulding (PDM) event in Telford was that the material does have a future, although there was a need for a more innovative approach.
The conference, at Telford International Centre, also called for the industry to fight back by highlighting the benefits plastic products have to our everyday lives.
Sir David's BBC documentary highlighted the environmental catastrophe as a million birds and more than 100,000 sea mammals die from eating and getting tangled in plastic waste.
Philip Law, director general of the British Plastics Federation, said: "We are currently in the grip of uncertainty. We are at the mercy of the rapidly shifting sands of global politics.
"The public image of plastics, if there is such a thing, has taken a knocking – spurred on by the media and also incited by David Attenborough's Blue Planet II programme. This pressure is by no means confined to the UK. In France, Macron is putting more pressure on the plastics industry.
"The industry will emerge stronger, leaner and fitter than ever before, even if we have to accept new regulation which I actually think will serve to protect us in the future.
"We have got a high level of innovation and a diversified spectrum of markets. Products of the future will be many and varied. It will take us into new areas.
"Personally I am really confident about the role of plastics in the future. It remains the material of the 21st Century and onwards, and it will be an essential component of at least the UK economy."
Theresa May has described plastic waste as "one of the greatest environmental challenges facing the world" and said the UK was taking a lead in tackling the problem.
A consultation on banning the disposable plastic products will launch later this year in an effort to cut the amount of waste that ends up in rivers and oceans. Major food groups, including McDonald's, are looking to replace plastic straws with paper.
There are currently about 5,000 manufacturers of plastic products in the UK, and the industry employs 170,000 people.
Dr Paul Shipton, consultancy director of Shawbury-based rubber and plastic testing centre Smithers Rapra, said: "I think the industry is pretty invisible. People rely on the industry but they don't really engage in it.
"Everyone is very pleased with their mobile phone or computer. They appreciate the product but don't understand the plastics in it.
"Brave, ambitious targets have been set. There is a pretty blank cheque there we have got to respond to.
Innovate
"I think there is a danger we could be too defensive about the industry. We have got to show we can innovate and that the industry is no different to any other.
"The products themselves – if they are handled in the right way they are pretty harmless. Lots of things are put into the sea, plastics float but other materials don't float. That is one of the problems.
"We need sensible laws and regulations to be made. We have got to have a national policy. Part of our job is to give the best support we can to consumer companies."
He added: "We need to innovate but we need to say this is what we are going to do next. We need to show the benefits, not just to the environment, but to the consumer as well."
Theresa May has launched a long-term strategy to tackle the issue, including eradicating all avoidable plastic waste in the UK by 2042.
Key to this is a crackdown on throwaway plastics. Under the Government's plan, supermarkets will be urged to introduce "plastic-free" aisles while taxes and charges on single-use items such as takeaway containers will be considered.
Roger Baynham, chairman of BPF Recycling Group, said: "Yes, we do have a real job to do to manage plastics and make sure it doesn't get into the natural environment, but we have also got a massive job to do to talk about the benefits of plastics in society. It is fundamental to so many aspects of our lives."
This year's two-day PDM conference, which started on Tuesday and was held at the Telford International Centre centred around issues affecting the industry.
As well as the waste crisis, talks were also held on the Chinese ban on plastic waste imports and Brexit.
