EPDA Staff

A European Commission report entitled “Screening of waste management performance of EU member states” shows that, if the correct policies are enacted, it will be possible to achieve the target of zero plastics going to landfills by 2020. However, the report shows some discrepancies among countries, especially with regard to municipal waste management. Two areas of improvement are the implementation of the Waste Framework Directive (WFD) and the translation of EU requirements into national legislation.

The study notes that the countries performing above average are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Sweden and the UK. Those countries are diverting more than 90 per cent of their plastics waste from landfills. Spain, Hungary, Ireland, Portugal and Slovenia are average performers. Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Romania and Slovakia have ground to make up.

The value of plastic lost to landfill across Europe each year is estimated to be approximately €8 billion.

Registration is now open for the 56th Annual IAPD Convention and Plastics Expo! It is time to reserve your spot at the top convention in the USA for the plastics distribution industry and grab hold of the Power of Plastics.

This year’s event takes place 23-26 October in Chicago, Illinois, USA. The annual IAPD Convention and Plastics Expo is the place where leaders of the industry and top-notch technical experts meet to share knowledge and network. They also have some fun, too.

The IAPD Convention and Plastics Expo is also the place for technical sessions and this year industry-focused presentations take center stage. Check out these presentations already secured:

• Plastics in Orthodics and Prosthetics: Process, Quality Considerations and Trends
• Plastics in Chemical Process and Environmental Piping Applications
• Proven Durability: Plastics in Water and Waste Water Applications
• By Land or Sea, Plastics Gain Ground in Transportation
• Laminates in Aerospace, Chemical, Electrical, Power Plants and Semiconductor Applications
• Many more to come, watch http://www.iapd.org/events/2012-technical-sessions.cfm for updates

Sales professionals will not want to miss the Excellence in Sales Workshop on Thursday, 25 October, where you can learn to classify accounts, develop territory plans and build valuable relationships that last with the right customers. This is one of many optional events presented at the convention designed to educate and strengthen your business network. Learn more here: http://www.iapd.org/events/2012-optional-events.cfm#sales.

Never attended before? Visit the IAPD Press Room for news from the 2011 IAPD Convention and Plastics Expo or the Event Photos page: http://www.iapd.org/about_iapd/press_room.cfm

As always, you will leave this event with ideas you can use, valuable contacts and new business connections that will last.

All the details, including registration and hotel information, are online now. Please visit  www.iapd.org.

ERPA European Rigid PVC-Film Association informs:

MAP packaging (Modified Atmosphere Packaging) present a rapidly growing application as packaging for sophisticated foods such as meat, sausage, cheese, fish and other applications in the field of delicatessen. In MAP packages, which are manufactured from PVC/PE or PET/PE composites with a strong barrier against oxygen, the oxygen portion is withdrawn from the internal air. This assures good durability of the food.

A hightech application of recyclates from PVC/PE composites was found for stormwater attenuation systems. At the French film manufacturer Cifra, recyclates from used PVC/PE packaging are calandered to produce thick films. HAMON, a French manufacturer for water treatment systems produces profile sheets from the films recycled by Cifra. These are then glued to form water cisterns. The cisterns are composed as elements for a large-scale water attenuation system known under the brand name GEOLIGHT®. This system forms controllable water reservoirs. The GEOLIGHT® system can be adapted to suit the characteristics and limitations of the site. The profile cisterns show high compression force which makes them very well suited for water reservoirs underneath roads, car parks and amenity areas.

Advantages of the GEOLIGHT® system include reduced excavation costs, rapid speed of installation, low resistance to water, reduced risk of flooding, and reduced environmental pollution.

That way, recycled PVC/PE composite films are used to produce durable water attenuation and water management membranes. The project, for which further projects are already in the planning stage in Germany and the Netherlands, is called ‘pack-upgrade’ by the manufacturers of PVC package films.

About ERPA, the European umbrella organisation of rigid PVC films

ERPA (European Rigid PVC-Film Association) is the European umbrella organisation of manufacturers of rigid PVC films for packaging of pharmaceutical and medical products, foods, and electronic components as well as thermoforming, pressure and specialised applications. The head office of ERPA is at Frankfurt/Germany. ERPA is part of the European umbrella organization for plastic converting companies EuPC (European Plastics Converters) at Brussels/Belgium.

ERPA’s members include ten traditional film manufacturers with production sites in 12 countries. For further information please visit www.pvc-films.org.

Plastics specialists Wefapress have developed a new material with very high density and hydrophobic properties.

An ultra-high molecular weight low-pressure polyethylene (UHMW-PE), fine-grained “filta-plast” (porous PE) is optimised for filtering liquids and gases, atomisation, gassing and aeration, as well as fluidisation.

The porous structure and chemical resistance of the plastic material permit condensation separation and separation of emulsions or membranes in electrodialysis. filta-plast can also be used as a carrier body for liquids, e.g. in the form of porous sheets.

filta-plast is produced using precise sintering and minimal pressure. A special selection of precisely defined particle sizes, in connection with the process parameters, enables the production of the widest variety of forms with varying pore sizes. filta-plast is available in sheets, rods, tubes or moulded form per customer specification, among others. Fusing with welding mirrors and chemical/mechanical adhesion is possible with this material.

Last but not least, filta-plast is resistant to alcohols, aliphatic hydrocarbons, organic compounds such as industrial oils and is resistant to strong alkalis and acids.

For more information, visit www.wefapress.com or email info@wefapress.com.

Dear EPDA Members,

This week I read a popular trade newsletter and the headline article was a typically negative “UK double-dip recession longest on record” emphasising that the latest economic data was worse than expected. I continued to read the newsletter and within I could find nothing but positive articles concerning reports of strong performances from several companies. For example, Jaguar Land Rover was to create 1,100 new jobs and a plastics company had expanded to open a new stock warehouse and distribution centre. This journalistic scenario is the same across much of Europe and it emphasised to me the importance of forming one’s own opinion by looking at the whole picture. To do so one requires impartial business and market intelligence.

Providing this intelligence is a stated goal of this Board. As a first step, it is with great pleasure I introduce the new and innovative role of Raw Material Liaison which will be held by Duncan Smith of Brett Martin Limited. Duncan is European sales director for semi-finished products. He is well known within the EPDA for having been a sponsor, and previously an active committee member, for many years. He is well-placed to carry out the role as not only did he qualify with a degree in Materials Science & Engineering, specialising in Polymer Technology, but has amassed a wealth of industry experience and contacts ever since. Duncan will use those contacts, and those of EPDA members, to maintain an overview of market developments relating to raw material capacities, trends and new developments. Regular reports will be published on the EPDA website. A separate article will follow to expand on this new role.

Further options to provide intelligence via the Members Only area of the EPDA website are being explored and I look forward to updating you on our progress in subsequent newsletters. Moreover, we plan regular surveys to garner and share information on the current market positives and the challenges our members see across Europe.

As a final point, in addition to raising many new and exciting ideas for the future development of the EPDA, one traditional element of the conference in Budapest continued to demonstrate the caring side of our Association members, and I am delighted to announce that the Gala Dinner Auction raised a staggering €2,950 for Doctors Without Borders, the independent international medical humanitarian organisation; a figure unachievable without your kind donations and generosity.

With kind regards

David Ladyman
EPDA President

Ronn Cort, KYDEX, LLC President

The EPDA Board is delighted to hear that Ronn Cort has been appointed President of KYDEX, LLC. Ronn has been a long-time supporter of EPDA, especially through his involvement in the annual conferences, where his dynamic personality, business acumen, experience and successes in international sales and marketing have complemented our gatherings.

Ronn Cort joined KYDEX in 2005 as international business manager and served as vice president, sales and marketing before stepping into his new role. Before joining KYDEX, Ronn served as business manager within the FLM Group, a privately held company with worldwide operations for the development and manufacturing of polyurethane systems, and prior to that, as sales manager at RJF International, a manufacturer of decorative, wall covering and wall protection systems.

We wish Ronn success in his new role at KYDEX, LLC and look forward to working with him again soon.

Nylacast recently hosted the UK Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Lord Green, who visited Nylacast to see the UK manufactured engineering plastic solutions which are provided to numerous industries worldwide. In addition to Nylacast’s drive to help promote a young audience awareness in engineering and help create the future engineers of tomorrow.

Lord Green meeting with Apprentices at Nylacast

Leicester-based Nylacast were pleased to have welcomed Lord Green, the UK Minister of State for Trade & Investment, who took time out of his busy schedule to visit one of Nylacast’s manufacturing sites.

Lord Green of Hurstpierpoint was welcomed by Mussa Mahomed, CEO of Nylacast and given a guided tour by the management team, showing him the manufacturing facilities for their world renowned engineering polymers, overseeing the process from the raw chemistry through to finished components ready for shipping.

With extensive experience in projects from the Asia Pacific through to the North Sea, as a UK manufacturing company, more than 75 percent of Nylacast’s business is export, supplying more than 38 different countries with engineering solutions in a range of sectors including Automotive, Construction and Oil & Gas on a global platform.

Lord Green commented on his visit to Leicester by saying, “Turning the UK’s trade deficit around is not going to happen overnight, it’s going to take years – it’s a marathon, not a sprint – but it’s a marathon we can complete. I am very encouraged with what I’ve seen and heard at the companies I have visited today. They are leading the way when it comes to overseas success, helping put this county firmly on the export map.

Lord Green was particularly interested in the unique qualities and advantages of the materials and solutions provided by Nylacast working closely as a trusted engineering solutions provider to a vast array of industries and companies worldwide. In addition to a high focus on customer relationships and R&D in synergy with a value adding solution.

Mussa Mahomed, Nylacast CEO, commented, “We are extremely delighted and grateful for the help and support from the UKTI in our endeavours to promote export and help in winning millions of pounds of business overseas. It’s a great morale booster for the company and we are proud to welcome Lord Green to our site”.

Nylacast also showcased to Lord Green various areas and departments of the business, with a strong focus on the development of skills, training and education internally and externally through close links with educational institutions including Bradford University, Loughborough University, Leicester College and South Leicestershire College, with whom Nylacast participate on various programmes including Knowledge Transfer Partnerships.

Lord Green also met and spoke to a number of university students and apprentices, as well as international students on internships and staff members on management training courses.

With an increasing worry of skills shortages in the UK, this is a positive fact for both Nylacast and UK manufacturing, Nylacast CEO, Mussa Mahomed commented, “As a way of combating a skills shortage and investing in people, it’s great to see staff members improving their skills through in-house training courses as well as enthusiastic young students wanting to gain experience and education through placements and apprenticeships. The apprentices currently at Nylacast have made great strides and will make successful engineers of the future; they get to work through the whole business from maintenance right through to quality control coupled with the benefit of gaining qualifications at the same time. It continues to be a mark of commitment for Nylacast to be able to have an input in the early stages of their careers”.

About Nylacast Ltd

Established in 1967, Nylacast is still headquartered in Leicester where it employs nearly 400 local members of staff. Operating within the engineering plastics sector, Nylacast are a company that pride themselves on being able to provide the customer with a complete Engineering Polymer Solution. With world class Engineering expertise and state of the art manufacturing, warehousing, distribution and sales facilities strategically located world-wide, Nylacast are able to provide their world renowned engineering solutions to a global customer base.

With extensive experience in numerous projects from the Asia-Pacific through to the North Sea, as a UK manufacturing company, Nylacast currently achieve an export figure of over 75 percent, providing engineering polymer solutions to over 35 countries through working closely as a trusted partner with their clients and always striving on building customer relationships.

Operating to the high quality standards of ISO 29001:2011 Oil & Gas, IS) 9001, TS 16949 and ISO 14001, Nylacast operate in a variety of key industries including Automotive, Offshore, Oil & Gas, Construction, Mining, Pharmaceutical and Defence, to name but a few.

Relive the 2012 EPDA Annual Conference in Budapest, Hungary, with presentations from the keynote speakers and market segment meetings. Image from all the events are also ready to viewed. Visit the Members Area and enter the password EpdaPlastics.

Thank you for attending EPDA Annual Conference.

The Board spoke with many members during the conference to gather input. Some of the ideas and suggestions that were given include: (1) creating a separate meeting for distributors prior to the joint meeting of distributors and manufacturers during the Plastics Stock Shapes Committee Meeting; (2) deliver better content for the committee meetings, specifically the PVF and Stock Shapes Meetings; (3) include the conference fee for one delegate into the membership dues; (4) provide more plastics industry data for EPDA’s market niche; (5) get more distributors to attend the conference; and (6) promote more distributor-focused best practices sharing and networking.

Your input is vital to assisting EPDA in making the conference programme more valuable to your learning experience. Please share your thoughts on the meeting so the EPDA Board of Directors and staff can provide an even better experience next year.

Please complete the conference evaluation by clicking here.

Thank you,

EPDA Board of Directors