The British Plastics Federation (BPF, London; www.bpf.co.uk) held its annual general meeting on 17 May 2018, and re-elected Bruce Margetts (Bericap) as president for a second term. Martin Althorpe (Epwin Group) was elected as vice president. After five years as honorary treasurer, Paul Jukes retired and Brent Nicholls (Wavin) was elected as his replacement.

According to Margetts and director general Philip Law, the four most significant issues for the BPF in 2017 were skills, Brexit, marine litter and the Grenfell Tower tragedy – see Plasteurope.com of 04.07.2017. Last year, 28 new companies joined the association, which also witnessed a significant rise in its media coverage. The UK plastics association noted that traffic to its website has risen along with the public and media attention on plastics. Its annual review reported that BPF references in the press rose to over 500 over the course of 2017, with BPF representatives appearing on UK radio and television six times in December alone.

The BPF recently released its circular economy vision document – see Plasteurope.com of 25.05.2018 – which is intended to drive innovation and improve UK recycling rates. To help the UK government deliver commitments according to its "Industrial Strategy", the BPF has two key goals leading up to 2030 – for zero plastic packaging to end up in landfills and minimising plastics entering the sea from the UK.

The UK plastics industry has already proposed extending and revising the current "Packaging Recovery Note" (PRN) system – see Plasteurope.com of 25.04.2017. The BPF would also like to see the current PRN system extended to include plastic items that are not packaging, but are used with takeaway food and drinks, such as cutlery and straws. However, revisions to the system would need to support developments in recycling infrastructure in the UK, says BPF.