Insight: Barry Turner, chief executive, Packaging and Films Association (Pafa)

What does your new role entail?
It’s a chance to bring together member businesses with a single authoritative voice. The objective is to ensure we get a fair hearing in the face of misinformation and regulations affecting flexibles and plastic packaging materials. We need to reinforce the fact that our products save resources, not waste them.

How much effort is involved?
It’s tough and means plenty of travelling: meeting ministers and officials in Westminster, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Europe. We’re constantly responding to consultation documents from government departments and bodies, such as Wrap. Then there’s meeting and supporting Pafa members and affiliated trade associations, and working on steering committees.

What are the main challenges faced by Pafa?
One of the big challenges is that the role of packaging is still not widely understood beyond experts in the packer-filler industry or retail supply chain. Many consumers and politicians still see packaging as something that can be dispensed with because they don’t understand the role it plays in preventing spoilage and extending food life.

Where do you see the industry going in the future?
I see plastics as part of the solution, not the problem. I expect to see further growth, albeit with fewer players and a changing pattern of ownership. As an industry we will continue to deliver innovative lightweight packaging as design and production increasingly focus on resource efficiency.

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