Role players and decision makers in the South African plastics industry made use of the recent opportunity to air their views on matters relating to the growth of the industry, sustainability and recycling during the first-ever, industry specific conference held at the Nasrec Expo Centre in Johannesburg mid-March. The one-day conference entitled, “Plastics: The Future for Growth” was hosted by Plastics|SA, the umbrella body for the local plastics industry and attracted more than 300 delegates.
Audience representation According to Plastics|SA Executive Director, Anton Hanekom, the event drew participants from various sectors making up the local plastics industry. “Although the majority (36 %) of the audience were involved in the supply of raw materials, we had good representation from plastics converters (22%), recyclers (10 %), machine suppliers (2 %) andother interested sectors such as government, themedia and the general public who were eager to learn more and participate in the discussions,”Hanekom says. Delivering the keynote address was Dr WilfriedHaensel, Executive Director of Plastics Europe. His speech, “Plastics and the world we live in: lessons learnt”, focused on the plastics industry from a European perspective, although he pointed out that “plastics is a global affair and there are sure to be similarities in the different regions”. Debating the issues at hand The rest of the day’s discussions were focused around three topical debates which were moderated by celebrity, investigative journalists Freek Robinson, Jeremy Maggs and RudaLandman. “These journalists excelled in guiding the discussions and ensuring that everybody’s point of view washeard”.According to Hanekom, the panelists who were invited to participate in the debates were
considered experts in their respective fields and who didn’t necessarily share the same point of view on topics relating to exports and imports, marketing the industry, sustainability and recycling, training and skills development. “We tried to take a brutal look at the issues that mostly affect our industry and the direction we are heading in by encouraging audience members to comment and vote in real-time on the issues that were being debated by the panel members on stage,” Hanekom says. More information on the event and the topics discussed will be available in the next edition of RéSource.
