Forward moves

Last week I had the pleasure of being invited to the Aluminium Federation (ALFED)‘s House of Lords Lunch, which saw the launch of the UK Aluminium Alliance (UKAA). The Alliance aligns directly with the government’s new Industrial Strategy, which you’ll be able to read more about in next week’s blog from our editorial assistant, Lily Blackmore.

ALFED also launched its new partnership with the Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade at the lunch. This collaboration is aimed at further supporting UK aluminium businesses engaged in international trade, with joint efforts focused on training, advocacy and policy engagement, according to the company.

Other big news this week is that the base fees for the UK’s EPR have been published by PackUK and Defra. While the aluminium and steel fees have greatly reduced (£266 and £259 per tonne respectively) compared to the December 2024 illustrative fees (which were £435 and £305 per tonne respectively), it perhaps is a cause for cautious celebration. The Metal Packaging Manufacturers Association (MPMA) certainly believes that there is still further work to do to truly highlight the circularity of metal and both the Association and Alupro have said they hope to work on further policy refinement with PackUK and Defra. We’ll be watching the developments of this closely.

In news ‘closer to home’, Sarah Hills and I have had our first media pack meeting this week, and are working on some exciting content and advertising options for the 2026 calendar. Even though it feels early to say that, it’s not in the grand scheme of things – there’s always time to look ahead! Feel free to contact us if you’d like any information ahead of time and we’ll do our best to accommodate.

As I said, Lily will be covering the blog next week, so I’ll thank her in advance for that!

• Alex Rivers (she/her), CanTech International editor
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