Mapping out a successful future
Patrick Heskins addresses the 2025 audience. Image: Alex R/Bell Publishing
Having just arrived back from a wonderful eight days in the Lake District, yesterday (23 April) it was time to head straight back out on the train to Leeds for the British Aerosol Manufacturers Association (BAMA) 2025 Innovation Day.
Mid-morning saw head of The Retail Institute, Olga Munroe, ask the audience to choose a word to define what the future looks like currently. The two words chosen were “chaos” and “uncertain,” which Munroe agreed with. The Retail Institute recently undertook an initiative along with BAMA, other trade associations, brand owners and corporations in the packaging sector to map potential future problems associated with sustainable packaging. Key takeaways from the companies involved in the collaborative project included the need for greater supply chain harmonisation, eliminating/avoiding greenwashing in communication, providing continuous learning to upskill employees, and collaboration between companies to help tackle sorting and waste issues.
Dr Henry Irving, senior lecturer in public history at Leeds Beckett University (home of The Retail Institute), began his presentation on waste reduction by stating “We are in a really important moment in history,” noting all the pending packaging reforms including DRS and EPR. Since we were located in the Leeds Royal Armouries Museum, and Irving’s specialist interest is in the Second World War, he used two war-related lessons from history centring around aluminium to illustrate some of the challenges involved in reducing waste. He also showed us records from a diary by someone in Wiltshire in 1942 who worked in waste collection, petitioning the government to help with the overfill his place of work was experiencing. It took the government almost five months to take action (which had some of us in the audience asking the question, have things changed that much since then?)! “A simple mechanism for waste sorting and collection is the most necessary first step to success,” Irving concluded.
Elsewhere during the Innovation Day, technical presentations came from Alloway‘s Dr Michael McCullough, who explored his company’s latest developments in aerosol inspection solutions, and from DH Industries managing director, Paul Sullivan, who explored the role of CO₂ as a gas propellant, noting important considerations in the handling and filling process.
BAMA’s technical manager, Peter Watmough, then ended the day with news from the Association that its training has now been upgraded to include additional levels of learning, with each level requiring the user to pass an assessment via a series of questions about the four units provided (regulations, flammability, transportation and labelling of aerosols). Our featured news from BAMA this week also includes the latest aerosol filling figures, which is well worth the read.
Look out for my full review of the Innovation Day in the June edition of the magazine. Thank you to Sally Tilbury and the rest of the BAMA team for another great day.
- Alex Rivers (she/her), CanTech International editor
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