On 11 September Valpak members welcomed the return of the annual Valpak member Conference. Held at the Park Plaza Riverbank Hotel in central London, 200 delegates attended the event which reflected on the significant areas of development Valpak have pursued in 2008. The morning session was aimed more at Valpak's WEEE members, whilst the afternoon session targeted subjects more relevant to our packaging members. The main focus however was strongly directed at the new challenges ahead for the business and its members, with the forthcoming batteries regulations and the pressing carbon agenda that is proving a hot topic in the current climate.

Morning Session - WEEE focus

Valpak Chairman, the Rt Hon John Gummer MP, welcomed delegates to the conference with an insightful speech that reported the successes of the year and the achievements Valpak has made. He commented on the new WEEE regulations and his concerns over the non resolution of the issue over evidence which occurred this year. He praised the consulting business on their success in the field of carbon and the work they have done supporting agencies, Government and others across the UK. Finally he complemented the staff and Board at Valpak for their commitment and their willingness to rise to new challenges. Mr Gummer then introduced the morning's keynote address which was provided by Peter Ainsworth MP, Shadow Secretary for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Mr Ainsworth's speech acknowledged the steps business is taking towards meeting the environmental challenges that face us all. He said that he would like to see more done by the private sector but not through lots of new legislation but through the use of cooperative agreements. The next few years see even more challenging times as the business community must reconcile the balance of tough financial environment with a need to also meet the climate agenda.

Valpak's James Skidmore, Business Development Manager, proceeded to present members with an update on the Distributor Take Back Scheme (DTS), which covered the evolvement of the scheme, and acknowledged prospective changes in 2010 through work with BERR.

Steve Gough, CEO at Valpak, followed this with an update for members on how Valpak has tackled the challenges of the WEEE regulations. He discussed how the WEEE system works and detailed how Valpak had achieved full compliance. He explained how Valpak had supported the success of the regulations from the collection network, to the collection and reprocessing systems, and in providing support and advice to Government, customers, end markets and consumers. Steve's presentation ended with a short video clip that showed how WEEE was recycled at a state-of-the-art WEEE reprocessing plant. This gave members an insight into the type of reprocessor that Valpak contracts with to recycle WEEE, and what happens to WEEE during the recycling process.

The final presentation of the morning came from Adrian Harding, Policy Advisor at the Environment Agency, who gave an interesting speech that covered producer responsibility obligations under the WEEE directive and forthcoming batteries regulations.

Afternoon Session - Packaging Focus

The afternoon was opened again by the Rt Hon John Gummer MP, who reflected upon the morning's presentations and introduced the speakers for the afternoon.

The afternoon's keynote address was provided by Thomas Lingard, Deputy Director at Green Alliance. Thomas spoke about the importance of getting future packaging policies right.

Valpak's Director of Policy, Adrian Hawkes continued the packaging-orientated theme and presented members with an update on Valpak's position in relation to the Packaging Waste Regulations, and the development of policy initiatives.

After a break for refreshments, Valpak's Andrew McCaffrey presented a successful project summary that Valpak Consulting had worked on with Danone Waters Ltd. The project looked at reducing Danone's carbon footprint through analysing the Lifecycle Assessments of their plastic water bottles. James Skidmore delivered his second presentation of the day which covered the forthcoming new Carbon service offering from Valpak, due to be launched at the end of October 2008. The last presentation came from Valpak's Policy Advisor, Stephanie Haines, who informed members of the latest news regarding batteries legislation, and how Valpak's Batteries Pre Compliance service is adapting to respond to this.

The day closed after a networking session which allowed delegates to visit information points where they could seek advice from specialist Valpak staff. Information points were available for

To download the presentations, or to view the video of Valpak Recycling North West, please click on the relevant links.

If you weren't able to attend the Valpak Conference this year, plans will soon be underway for the Valpak Conference 2009. Announcements will appear soon.