DBT Event At BPF House

Natasha Temple, Head of Waste to Value and Circular Economy, Energy and Infrastructure at the Department for Business and Trade came to BPF House on 8th November for a roundtable event with BPF Members and members of the Enterprise Forum (a not for profit group the BPF is part of). The theme of the event was The Way Ahead for Recycling and future environmental legislation – plastics and the circular economy.

At the event, Philip Law, BPF Director General, highlighted the key role of UK manufacturing and the importance of legislation which releases the potential for industry to create jobs and innovate, which is based on detailed discussion with industry, which to provide stability, which is based on ‘sound science’ not knee jerk reactions to populist pressure and that aligns with relevant EU legislation and provides stability.

In her speech, Natasha Temple outlined the Government’s commitment to a circular economy. She highlighted that she is very interested in hearing from industry on feedback across the board on environmental legislation and in particular, what policies are working, what new technologies need support and what messages industry would like promoted across government.  During the question and answer session, subjects raised included actions to reduce barriers to trade, the impact the next General Election will have on future legislation, cross cutting working groups, funding for new developments in plastic recycling, more legislation to enable the circular economy, investment in UK infrastructure and concerns around fraud and the Plastic Packaging Tax. Natasha Temple indicated that she is happy to meet with BPF members further to discuss issues further and would be interested in attending a future BPF Recycling Group meeting.