Known as the ACP, the Committee is made up of representatives from different sectors affected by the Packaging Waste Regulations and advises Defra on the development of the Regulations and packaging recycling from an industry perspective. It has no budget and all members other than the Chairman, participate on a voluntary basis.
In September 2014, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) advertised for new committee members and a chair to replace incumbent Bob Lisney. And, in December 2014, it named consultant Phil Conran as the new chair (see letsrecycle.com story). Since his appointment, Mr Conran has been helping Defra to fill the remaining posts.
Notable new appointments to the committee include Jonathan Short, founder of ECO Plastics, which was recently bought out of administration by investor Aurelius (see letsrecycle.com story). Mr Short replaces previous ACP plastics specialist Raj Iqbal and is understood to have been selected due to his knowledge of both the UK plastics reprocessor and export market.
Local authorities
In addition, the chair of LARAC, Andrew Bird, joins the committee in a move which is hoped may give a stronger voice to local authorities on packaging related matters. Mr Bird joins fellow local authority member alongside Roger Walton, director of environment & corporate assets at Dover district council.
Meanwhile, compliance and recycling company Valpak’s policy director Adrian Hawkes joins the committee’s ranks following the departure of Valpak chief executive Steve Gough, who has carried out the maximum ACP term. Smaller compliance schemes will meanwhile be represented on the Committee by Simon Stringer, managing director of the Nipak and Scotpak schemes.
The only member to sit on both the new and old Committee is Andrew Speck, formerly commercial and environmental packaging manager at M&S and currently senior procurement manager at packaging consultancy HAVI Global Solutions.
For the full list of members see table below.
PRNs
The Committee will be tasked with determining whether the current PRN system is sustainable for the long term as well as look at more pressing issues such as increasing plastics recycling rates and ensuring the system is fit for purpose. It meets quarterly, with the first meeting scheduled to take place later this month.
Mr Conran said: “I am delighted that we have been able to appoint excellent members with a wealth of experience across the key sectors and I am greatly looking forward to working with them over the next three years of this appointment. Our first meeting will be on the 28th January when we will have the opportunity to consider with Defra, the Agencies and the Devolved Administrations, the key priorities for the next year.’
Two positions remain open on the committee. Mr Conran explained: “We are still seeking applications from the retail and packer/filler sectors to take it up to 12”.
The ten appointments to the ACP are:
Commenting on his appointment, Adrian Hawkes said: “I am very pleased to be appointed to the ACP as a compliance scheme representative. I am also pleased that the Government has decided to continue to support the work of this important committee which shows how much they value the input of industry expertise to the development of future policy. With new proposals currently under review in Europe as well as uncertainties within the UK system there is much important work for the committee to look at and I am keen to get started.”
Subscribe for free