Crumlin Road Gaol was the venue for the NIPA Breakfast Seminar on Recycling and The Circular Economy held on the 27th April. Although an infamous venue in historical times, the Gaol is now a unique venue for hosting networking seminars. This was the first breakfast seminar since the outbreak of Covid 19 and a welcome return to in-person networking and presentations. The ever increasing importance of the circular economy formed the basis for a packed agenda with new NIPA Chairperson, John Irwin of Denroy welcoming attendees to the event.

Philip Law, Director General of the British Plastics Federation then gave the keynote address where he outlined the BPFs work and vision for a circular economy in polymers.

Philip was followed by Tim Walker, CEO of Arc 21 who delivered a passionate overview of the local recycling infrastructure and how political promises fell very short of what is needed to achieve good levels of circularity.

Gerry McNally of NIPA then delivered a presentation on the use of mixed polymer waste in various streams; a collaborative programme that is being delivered by NIPA.

Gillian Shields of NI Food & Drink Association Packaging Forum gave a welcome overview of the forum’s activities and encourage members of both organisations to look at future areas of collaboration

Deirdre McBride at the Dept for the Economy presented on how NI falls behind the European average in ‘circularity gap’ and how the Circularity Gap Report will aim to outline strategic areas for addressing the shortfall.

The next breakfast seminar will be organised for the summer of 22