Since the last edition of the Bulletin, I am pleased to say that we have made several major strides in our mission to identify the needs of Welsh based ‘materials-related' industries and to help them become more profitable. The Steering Group has been active in ensuring that our Business Plan outlined in the last Newsletter is being carried out.

Activities have included the production of our ‘Materials Directory' (contact our Secretary if you have not had a copy), a growing series of seminars and meetings attended by over 200 delegates so far and an interactive Web page which you can use to send us your materials queries or keep up to date with what is new.

By receiving this Newsletter you are probably one of the 500 or so ‘Materials' people on our mailing list, but get in touch if you acquired your copy by some other means or if you know others who would like to join.

You will see brief reports on some of the activities we have arranged around Wales recently - the best way of benefiting is by trying to attend some of the future events listed in this Newsletter. We are consulting widely in putting our programme together, but if you feel we are not addressing your particular requirements or you have any general ideas on how we can best service the community, please get in touch.

TONY MOSES
School of Engineering
Cardiff University

How to Re-cycle Packaging

Tempted by the coffee and croissants on offer or more probably by the importance of the subject, forty delegates came to the Valleys Innovation Centre, Navigation Park, Abercynon on Tuesday 19th May to attend a morning seminar entitled "How to re-cycle packaging". The session started with some introductory remarks on the general topic of packaging by Mr Richard Edwards of Scott Manning Associates. Mr Edwards chaired the subsequent proceedings which continued with a presentation by Mr Jan Czerski of the Institute of Materials on Plastics - the Packaging regulations and re-cycling. Mr Czerski described how the volume of material to be re-cycled can be minimised by paying attention to packaging design and by selecting the most appropriate materials. He illustrated his talk with examples drawn from his work with companies participating in the ENVIRONET project presently running in the North West. Next, Mr John May of the British Steel Re-cycling Unit at Ebbw Vale spoke on Metals - How the Packaging Regulations affect users of metals, describing the activities of British Steel’s Packaging Re-cycling Unit (see article on page 2) and outlining the UK Recycling Development Plan. He highlighted the important role played by the steel industry in Wales in helping to achieve national recycling targets. Mr May then explained British Steel’s advocacy of compliance schemes as a means by which packaging chain members can meet their legal obligations and simultaneously generate the funds to pay for achieving the government’s 50% re-cycling target.

The final session of the seminar consisted of an open discussion during which the speakers were joined by Ms Karin Black of the Environment Agency. Debate focused mainly on interpretation of the way that Packaging Recovery Notes (PRNs) are to be used to meet the obligation to re-cycle packaging materials, but not surprisingly, since the underlying issue is who pays for re-cycling, there was no unanimity of view. Nevertheless, the seminar provided an opportunity to alert delegates to their responsibilities to re-cycle packaging materials and hopefully has encouraged some of them to consider how to reduce the volume they generate.

Working with Wood
a fabricators’ information seminar

Around ninety people attended an inaugural seminar on wood held in the Celtica Centre, Machynlleth on 21 April, 1998. Chaired by Veronica Hollis, Member of the Development Board for Rural Wales, delegates listened to presentations on environmental legislation and environmental improvements by Alun Watkins, TRADA Technology Ltd, drying and preserving timber by Martin Breese and Mike Hale of the Department of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, Welsh hardwoods - sourcing, certification and marketing by David Jenkins, Coed Cymru and manufacturing processes and automation techniques by Rob Alcock and Alun Jennings of the Manufacturing Engineering Centre in Cardiff University. Gavin Cawood then explained how the Welsh Design Advisory Service can help wood users employed in general carpentry, furniture manufacture, giftware and construction. Finally, the meeting concluded with an open discussion during which the topics raised ranged from the adverse effects of imports on indigenous growers and sawmillers to the application, to wood, of cutting and shaping technologies used with other materials.

The interest shown in expanding the range of manufacturing processing technologies used by woodworkers has led the organisers, the Materials Technology Forum in Wales, to plan a follow-up seminar for Tuesday 8 September, again in the Celtica Centre, Machynlleth. This time, to avoid overcrowding, the seminar will be run in the morning and repeated in the afternoon and delegates will be asked to pre-register and to choose which session is most suitable to them. The best way of responding to a request for help with marketing voiced during open discussion in April is still being considered and is likely to feature in a later seminar. Meantime, delegates wanting to attend on September 8 who have not already been contacted are invited to ring Sue Wolfe (01686 626965) or Robert Walker (02920 828631) for further details.