The British Plastics Federation’s (BPF) Annual Dinner, which took place this year as an in person event on 14 October in London, as always included a prize-giving ceremony to present the BPF’s Special Commendation for the Horners’ Award, the BPF Gold Medal and the BPF Energy Award.
The event was opened by BPF Director General Philip Law, who introduced the BPF’s current president Karen Drinkwater, a founding director of JSC Rotational Limited. After noting how it was encouraging that the trade association had now grown to just under 500 organisations, Drinkwater went on to say that ‘the future has the word ‘plastics’ written all over it’.
“If you take the government’s 10-Point Plan for a green industrial revolution in the UK, there’s a very positive plastics story attached to each of the main points, be it Zero Emission Vehicles, greener buildings, or advancing offshore wind power. Plastics make all these possible.”
She stressed that the trade association was determined to take a lead in responding to the government’s ambitious Net Zero Carbon emissions target and pointed to numerous activities already underway as well as to various other BPF initiatives aimed at minimising the impact of plastic on the environment.
It was then time to announce the winners of the various awards.
Technical Director of Epwin’s Fenestration Division Martin Althorpe won the BPF Gold Medal for Services to the Federation. Martin Althorpe has been a longstanding chairman of the BPF’s Windows Group Technical Committee, the group’s Management Committee and is also the immediate past president of the BPF.
The BPF Energy Award for outstanding achievements in energy savings went to Beverage Plastics due to its investment in energy-saving machinery as well as the creation of an energy management team and weekly ‘energy patrols’. Faerch Poole Ltd received the runner-up award for its long list of improvements, such as investing in new compressors and chillers and converting the motors from DC to AC on large sheet extrusion lines.
Karen Drinkwater then asked Martin Muirhead from the Worshipful Company of Horners to present the BPF’s Special Commendation for the Horners’ Award. This went to Matrix Moulding Systems in recognition of its ‘Soniplas’ flow enhancement technology, which improves the profitability and environmental credentials of injection moulders.
Around 440 delegates attended the event at the Royal Lancaster London. The event was sponsored by LG Energy, Engel, S&P Global Platts, RJG, K2022, EY, Summit Systems, Plastribution, Interplas, Ecosurety, Listgrove, Siemens Financial Services and BPF Energy.