The British Plastics Federation (BPF) is the main trade body for the

plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...

s industry in the UK.

History

It was incorporated on 21 December 1933; the first Chairman was Charles Waghorne of Insulators Limited. It is the longest-established plastics federation in the world. It was the 1930s that was the decade in which many common plastics were discovered, some in the UK. On 27 March 1933 Reginald Gibson and Eric Fawcett (with

Francis Arthur Freeth Francis Arthur Freeth (2 January 1884 – 15 July 1970) was a British industrial chemist. He spent much of his career at Brunner Mond and its successor Imperial Chemical Industries, as chief chemist, research manager and in a recruiting capaci ...

FRS and Sir

Michael Perrin Sir Michael Willcox Perrin, CBE, FRSC (13 September 1905 – 18 August 1988) was a scientist who created the first practical polythene, directed the first British atomic bomb programme, and participated in the Allied intelligence of the Nazi a ...

) discovered

polyethylene Polyethylene or polythene (abbreviated PE; IUPAC name polyethene or poly(methylene)) is the most commonly produced plastic. It is a polymer, primarily used for packaging ( plastic bags, plastic films, geomembranes and containers including bo ...

(polythene) at ICI's Winnington Research Laboratory at

Winnington Winnington is a small, mainly residential area of the town of Northwich in Cheshire, England. Industry Winnington is the home to Brunner Mond UK chemical works, where soda ash is created. Polythene, the material used in many plastic items (e.g ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

; John Crawford, at the Explosives group of ICI at

Ardeer, North Ayrshire Ardeer was a small town now officially incorporated into Stevenston on the Ardeer peninsula, in the parish of Stevenston, North Ayrshire, originally an island and later its extensive sand dune system became the site of Nobel Explosives, a do ...

near

Stevenston Stevenston ( sco, Steenstoun, gd, Baile Steaphain) is a town and parish in North Ayrshire, Scotland. Along with Ardrossan and Saltcoats it is one of the "Three Towns", all of similar size, on the Firth of Clyde coast; the easternmost parts of ...

, produced a commercial synthesis of

poly(methyl methacrylate) Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) belongs to a group of materials called engineering plastics. It is a transparent thermoplastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and brands Crylux, Plexiglas, Acrylite, ...

, also known as Perspex with production beginning in 1934. Polythene is the world's most widespread polymer, and was first produced by ICI from 1939; many plastic bottles are made from

LDPE Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) is a thermoplastic made from the monomer ethylene. It was the first grade of polyethylene, produced in 1933 by Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) using a high pressure process via free radical polymerization. Its ...

Polystyrene Polystyrene (PS) is a synthetic polymer made from monomers of the aromatic hydrocarbon styrene. Polystyrene can be solid or foamed. General-purpose polystyrene is clear, hard, and brittle. It is an inexpensive resin per unit weight. It is a ...

was invented in Germany in 1937.

PTFE Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is a synthetic fluoropolymer of tetrafluoroethylene that has numerous applications. It is one of the best-known and widely applied PFAS. The commonly known brand name of PTFE-based composition is Teflon by Chemour ...

was discovered in America (New Jersey) in 1938 by

Roy J. Plunkett Roy J. Plunkett (June 26, 1910 – May 12, 1994) was an American chemist. He discovered polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), better known as Teflon, in 1938. Personal life and education Plunkett was born in New Carlisle, Ohio and attended Newton Hig ...

when at

DuPont DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...

PET A pet, or companion animal, is an animal kept primarily for a person's company or entertainment rather than as a working animal, livestock, or a laboratory animal. Popular pets are often considered to have attractive appearances, intelligence, ...

beverage bottles were introduced from 1973.

PEEK Polyether ether ketone (PEEK) is a colourless organic thermoplastic polymer in the polyaryletherketone (PAEK) family, used in engineering applications. The polymer was first developed in November 1978, later being introduced to the market by Vic ...

was developed by ICI in 1977.

HDPE High-density polyethylene (HDPE) or polyethylene high-density (PEHD) is a thermoplastic polymer produced from the monomer ethylene. It is sometimes called "alkathene" or "polythene" when used for HDPE pipes. With a high strength-to-density ratio, ...

water pipes were introduced from 1980. In 1988, a number code for recycling plastics was introduced.

Structure

It is headquartered in central London. It houses the UK office of the PlasticsEurope Europe-wide organisation.

Membership

Companies in the BPF include: *

BASF BASF Societas Europaea, SE () is a German multinational corporation, multinational chemical company and the List of largest chemical producers, largest chemical producer in the world. Its headquarters is located in Ludwigshafen, Germany. The ...

Polypipe Genuit Group, formerly Polypipe, is a manufacturer of plastic piping systems, for use in the residential, commercial, civils and infrastructure sectors. The piping systems are used for a variety of applications including drainage, plumbing, wate ...

Rehau Group The REHAU Group is a family-owned polymer business, which develops, manufactures and markets products for the automotive, construction, furniture, materials, medical and industrial sectors. Rehau employs more than 20,000 people in over 190 ...

RPC Group RPC Group plc () is based in the United Kingdom, and is one of Europe's largest supplier of plastic packaging. Its headquarters are in Rushden in Northamptonshire. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by Berry Globa ...

Function

It represents the UK plastics industry. It runs its Plastipedia, a resource on plastics.Plastipedia
/ref> In 2009 it launched the

Plastics 2020 Challenge The Plastics 2020 Challenge is a campaign to reduce the quantity of plastic waste sent to landfill. In 2009, the plastics industry, PlasticsEurope, the Packaging and Films Association (PAFA) and the British Plastics Federation (BPF), launched ...

Plastipedia

Plastipedia is an online

encyclopedia An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...

about

s, starting from their birth in 1862 with the invention of

Parkesine Celluloids are a class of materials produced by mixing nitrocellulose and camphor, often with added dyes and other agents. Once much more common for its use as photographic film before the advent of safer methods, celluloid's common contemporar ...

; it is hosted and maintained by the BPF. It has a comprehensive list of

manufacturing process Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a ran ...

es, and lists the 25 main processing technologies, including detailed animations. It also deals with energy management in the plastic industry and offers a guide to the main standards associated with the plastic industry.

References

External links

Official WebsiteExpanded Polystyrene Group
{{Authority control Plastics industry organizations 1933 establishments in the United Kingdom Trade associations based in the United Kingdom