News

November 2011 - “Leaders Review” TV promo and video series to now permanently include Plastics Manufacturing.

The TV and online media leadership exercise that is “Leaders Review” will now include amongst its featured industries, an annual series profiling the thoughts and focus of leaders from the Plastics Manufacturing industry.

Says series creator, Peter Anich, “We were lucky enough to include Steve Wilson of Talbot Technologies Ltd and Tom Tomson of Elastomer Products Ltd (EPL) in the recent Canterbury Manufacturing series and that got me interested in checking out the plastics game a bit further.”

“A bit of a pow-wow with Robin Martin at Plastics New Zealand revealed to me the extent to which the industry not only creates but also enables other exporters, hence I thought it important to put something very public and permanently in place for the industry.”

Leaders Review is an ongoing series of TV promotionals featuring ‘insight-points’ from nominated voices of a featured industry. They can be seen daily most months in their regular 6.20AM ad break on TV One’s, AMP Business, and thanks to the channel’s own generosity, they pop up in other mainly news slots around the schedule.

LeadersReview.co.nz online features various industry series and carries short-form video chapters that are helpful for the leadership community - the key mission being to provide, “A bit of focus. A bit of go-forward,” for business owners and executives.

Plastics Manufacturing Leaders Review is slated to commence with TV promos and accompanying online video chapters from the second week of December, rounding out the overall Leaders Review series for the year.

“While we and our wider sponsor network will cover 80% or more of the Plastics series production and promotion, we are keen to also hear from,  then publicly acknowledge the year ahead, those from the Plastics supply community who would at least ‘chip in’ for their own client community in what are hard times for a few manufacturers out there.”

“Its a ongoing, very public, and philantrophic leadership exercise at many levels,” adds Peter.

The series will also be carried on the Plastics.org.nz site during its month-long rollout, along with many other business sites. For enquiries contact producer@leadersreview.co.nz

August 2011 - Tesco makes u-turn on biodegradable plastic bags

Tesco has ditched its 'eco-friendly' carrier bags after research revealed they may be more environmentally damaging than conventional plastic bags.

Last year, the retailer handed out more than two billion oxo biodegradable bags to customers in a bid to reduce its plastic waste, but it has now made a u-turn on its bag policy.

Oxo biodegradable bags are made of non-renewable plastics which degrade into water,carbon dioxide and biomass in just 18 months, provided there is the presence of oxygen and sunlight.

However, a Defra study concluded degradability would depend on where and under what conditions the bag ended up in after use - casting fresh doubts over whether oxo biodegradable bags are a better alternative to traditional plastic bags, as some manufacturers claim.

According to the European Plastics Recyclers Association, an oxo biodegradable bag is unlikely to degrade in landfill because of the absence of light and oxygen.

The National Non-Food Crops Centre (NNFCC) has been working to raise awareness of the negative impact of the oxo bags and encourage more environmentally-friendly alternatives for a number of years.

NNFCC'S science & technology writer, Dr Matthew Aylott, said the Centre worked in partnership with Defra and WRAP on the research and is continuing to work with the Government to drive sustainability through legislation. It is also working to promote the recycling of plastic bags and the use of bio-plastics.

Aylott said: "We have been trying to encourage people to look at the whole lifecycle of the carrier bag. It has proved quite controversial as the company that put the addictive into the oxo bag has been very vocal about its benefits. However, these bags do more harm than good asthey don't tend to break down in landfill."

NNFCC's head of materials, Dr John Williams, added: "Plastics are excellent materials, highly functional and energy efficient. Promoting sensible and certified routes to reuse, recycle and dispose of plastics, will improve sustainablility. Artificially accelerating the degradation of an oil-based plastic is neither economically or environmentally sensible."

A spokesman for Tesco said: "We took the decision to remove the biodegradable additive because we believed it contributed towards bags becoming weaker and to help better promote their reuse and recycling at end-of-life."

"This decision was underpinned by a detailed review of the science to help usunderstand the full life-cycle environmental impacts of our carrier b ags."

New Tesco bags are not biodegradable but instead contain 15% recycled material, in comparison Sainsbury's bags contain 50% recycled material.

To View the full article please click here

August 2011 - Waste Minimisation Fund open for applications

Environment Minister Nick Smith today (3rd August) invited businesses, organisations and individuals with innovative waste minimisation ideas to apply to the Waste Minimisation Fund.

“Last year the Waste Minimisation Fundbacked 27 projects totalling $7.5 million. This waste levy is helping support smart new recycling initiatives all over the country including anti-freeze recycling in Dunedin, turning disposable nappies into compost in Canterbury, converting sewage into plastics in Rotorua and tyres into biofuels in Auckland. The Government gave $2 million of that funding to the Love NZ recycling initiative for the Rugby World Cup,” Dr Smith said.

“This year more than $12 million will be available and I invite people with ideas and projects that promote or achieve waste minimisation to apply. I particularly want to encourage people with initiatives that will help in Canterbury’s earthquake recovery, to consider making an application.”

Dr Smith said the $10 per tonne levy charged on all waste sent to landfills that supports waste minimisation projects, will not increase this year following a review by the Environment Ministry.

“As the levy has only been in place for two years, the Ministry’s analysis has concluded that we don’t have enough information to see if the levy is significantly changing people’s behaviour – a point noted by the Waste Advisory Board,” Dr Smith said.
“We need to be cautious about increasing costs in challenging economic times because the levy flows through to households and businesses. We also need to be confident the benefits of raising the levy would outweigh the costs, which cannot be established at this time.”

For information on the Waste Minimisation Fund go to: http://www.mfe.govt.nz/wmf

Plastics Industry 2010 Biennial Design Awards Winners Announced - Friday 8th October 2010

This year’s winners of the 2010 Plastics Industry Biennial Design Awards were announced at a Gala Dinner held at the Ellerslie Convention Centre in Auckland on Friday (8th October). Peter Chrisp, the new CEO of New Zealand Trade & Enterprise (NZTE) was in attendance to present this year’s awards, with Phil Gifford – a well known journalist, television personality as MC.

The 2010 awards attracted 37 entries, reflecting the industry’s reputation as one of New Zealand’s most innovative sectors. In total, Awards were presented on the night - 13 Bronze, 11 Silver, 9 Gold, and the Overall Supreme Award.

This years Supreme Award was won by Axiam Plastics Ltd with their Back Skin Development for the “Be” Chair, which also took out two Gold’s in the Industrial and Conventional Injection Moulding Categories. This product has undergone a classic product development process which has genuinely extended established plastics injection moulding boundaries. Not only did the product require a complex mould and processing technology, it used a sophisticated engineering plastics material in an innovative way to achieve enhanced material properties and a novel product. This was considered by the Judges to be leading edge plastics technology of international significance

Product Category Gold Award winners on the night included Alto Packaging Ltd for their Top Seal Barrier Foam Tray in the Food & Beverages Category, Millennium Plastics Ltd for their Fonterra Milk Sample Vial in the Primary Category, Talbot Technologies Ltd for their Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Icon Sleep Apnoea Device in the Consumer Products Category. Silver was the highest award in the Building category which was presented to RX Plastics Ltd for their Airtech 9000 Waste Water Treatment System.

Process Category Gold Award winners on the night included Axiam Plastics Ltd for their Recline Transom Development for the “Be” Chair. Silver was the highest award given to LinkPlas Ltd for their Sistema Twist ‘N’ Pop Wave Bottle in the Blow Moulding Category, along with a Silver to Talbot technologies for their Fisher & Paykel Icon IMD Label & GT40 IMD Label Tool in the Thermoforming Category.
Bronze was the highest award given in the Rotational Moulding Category to RX Plastics Ltd for their Airtech 9000 Waste Water Treatment System, along with Bronze in the Foams Category presented to Axiam Plastics Ltd for their Bodyfurn Cushion.

Other Category Gold Award winners on the night included Comspec Ltd for their Milk Bottle Wash Plant in the Environmental Achievement Category. Gold was awarded to EveredgeIP for their Crushpak in the Export Category, along with a Silver to Gallagher Group Ltd for their Smartfence T4100 and a Bronze to Blowmoulders Ltd for their Wire Rope Socket. Talbot Technologies Ltd were awarded Gold for their Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Icon Airbox in the Toolmaking Category.

Many of this year’s winners are for world-first products developed with leading-edge technology, despite the recent tough economic conditions.

“These Awards recognise those members who are transforming the way in which Plastics are perceived in the market”, Plastics New Zealand CEO Robin Martin said. “We congratulate all of the entrants and the winners in the 2010 Design Awards on their superb entries and look to them as drivers of this transformation, through their product and process innovation, design technology and entrepreneurial spirit that is leading the way forward”.

For further information please contact:

Robin Martin, CEO, Plastics New Zealand, phones: (09) 255 5662 extn. 102 (office), 021 655 098 (mobile), fax: (09) 255 5663, email: robin@plastics.org.nz

( Image: From Left to Right: Kevin Jones, Axiam Plastics Business Development Manager & Peter Chrisp, CEO of NZTE)

Other Images will shortly be available for viewing