The Future of Plastic Packaging
Public Meeting Organised by EMERGE Recycling held on Thursday, Nov 24th, 2011
There is over 1 million tonnes of domestic mixed plastics packaging waste going to landfill every year. One third of plastic production is packaging. 4% of oil annually goes to making plastic. 80% of shoreline debris is plastic. Plastic production is increasing by 9% per year. There are increasing concerns about the health impacts of plastic packaging.
Should we be investing more in recycling plants that can sort plastics, or should we be designing packaging that can be more easily recycled? Should we be developing bio-plastics, made from plant material or using non-plastic packaging? Should we be aiming for zero landfill or making plastics bio-degradable? Are we trying to minimise energy use or CO2 production? Or should we simply focus on reducing use of plastics?
The meeting will comprise 4 short and provocative presentations followed by Q&A.
Speakers
Nick Cliffe, Marketing Manager, Closed Loop Recycling. Worked in the recycling field for 10 years, on timber with FSC, furniture with Greenworks and now on food grade plastic recycling.
Stuart Foster, Director, RECOUP, working on cradle to grave sustainability of plastics. Formerly worked for the Environment Agency, WRAP and Local Government.
Iain Ferguson, Environment Manager, The Co-operative Food, responsible for reducing food packaging. He is a Chartered Environmentalist and a Fellow of the Institute of Packaging.
Richard Thompson, Professor of Marine Biology, lead editor of volume of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society on Plastics, with ongoing research interests in plastic debris and marine litter.
The event is free, and all are welcome.
