The British Plastics Federation (BPF, London / UK; www.bpf.co.uk) and the Packaging & Films Association (PAFA, Nottingham / UK; www.pafa.org.uk) intend to create a new business group for the plastics and flexible packaging industry, due to become fully operational on 1 January 2016. As part of the plan, PAFA members will join the BPF and together with the latter’s packaging members create a new group within the federation, representing more than 70 producers. The new unit will be headed by PAFA chief executive Barry Turner.

While the BPF’s packaging group is made up mostly of rigid packaging producers, PAFA’s members specialise in flexible packaging. The combined group will include key industry players such as Coveris, Faerch Plast, CeDo, Klöckner Pentaplast, Alpla, Linpac, RPC, Schoeller Allibert and Nampak, among others.

Commenting on the decision, Turner said, “This move will create a single, more powerful point of contact with governments across the UK, will enable us to leverage the combined expertise of both organisations and will ensure that the communication and services to members are further enhanced.”