By Heather Hobbs
BRINGING YOU THE LATEST NEWS & EVENTS FROM THE SCIENCE INDUSTRY Task Force seeks to improve sustainability of PLF’s
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Dow, Northumbrian Water and United Utilities are the latest household names to join a task force convened by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) to deliver a ‘step change in innovation’ to improve the sustainability of a class of polymers worth $125 billion every year.
The RSC’s Sustainable Polymers in Liquid Formulation (PLFs) Task Force, which also includes Unilever, BASF, Croda, Crown Paints, Scott Bader and Afton Chemical, aims to spearhead a collaborative strategy that will drive innovation throughout the value chain and across sectors incorporating PLF’s in products for a huge variety of uses, including in the cosmetics, water treatments, lubricants and agricultural products industries.
The group was established after an RSC report estimated 36 million tonnes of PLFs are made and sold each year and as such, can be considered to have common challenges and solutions - the report particularly highlighted the importance of matters such as collecting waste streams, recycling them or making them using more sustainable methods, as they are currently made mostly from fossil fuels.
Professor Tom Welton, President of the Royal Society of Chemistry, said: “Our report last year proved to be a real
landmark moment. It identified common sustainability challenges facing polymer ingredients used in most households and workplaces - and said that we must address this without delay. Identifying how we can start to provide solutions and giving these chemicals a collective name, Polymers in Liquid Formulations, has allowed us to engage with some of the biggest companies in the world to spearhead action through our task force.
“The seriousness and enthusiasm with which the chemical industry has approached this from several sectors and parts of the supply chain drives home the colossal impact that can be achieved through ambition and collaboration. I welcome our new members who bring a wide range of perspectives from the whole value chain, which will be key to delivering a joined-up strategy.”
Professor Roy Sandbach OBE FRSC, independent Chair of the Sustainable Polymers Task Force said: “Polymers are important building-blocks for a myriad of everyday products, but unlike plastics they’re hidden from ‘sustainability view’. We need to change this. We need a concerted multi-sector and supply chain effort to look for technical innovation that reduces polymer impact and we need to drive a clear strategy to action. Now.”
Tom Welton, President, Royal Society of Chemistry
More information online:
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Join the Laboratory Community to Celebrate Ten Years of Lab Innovations Registrations are open for Lab Innovations 2022
The UK’s largest trade exhibition for the laboratory industry, Lab Innovations, is celebrating its ten-year anniversary on 2-3 November 2022, at the NEC in Birmingham. To mark the occasion, Lab Innovations will host new show highlights that include the launch of the Product Testing & Quality Control zone in partnership with Advanced Engineering, new Sustainability Trail tours and a networking party after the Lab Awards.
Lab Innovations’ launch in 2012 attracted 770 visitors and 59 exhibitors. The success of the show has increased exponentially since its conception - nine years later, in 2021, Lab Innovations welcomed 3,117 visitors and showcased 161 exhibitors from across the entire lab industry. In the nine shows that have run so far, there have been a total of 19,310 visitors and 1,054 exhibitors grace the exhibition halls, all sharing, innovating and networking year-on-year
Since 2012, Lab Innovations has continually expanded its offering. For example, in 2014 the show added two conference theatres. The Campden BRI theatre included talks and demonstrations on food analysis and testing sessions, while the Royal Society of Chemistry theatre included research-driven sessions and case-studies.
In 2015, Lab Innovations continued to build on its show by introducing Lab Live, a live laboratory demonstration area where technical specialists from leading exhibitors give practical application presentations to visitors. The new additions proved popular among visitors and exhibitors alike - in 2017, 97% of exhibitors were either satisfied or extremely satisfied with the show according to the post- show survey.
Lab Innovations keeps growing and innovating. At the event in 2021, there were over a thousand products available on the show floor. It was also the first year that the show was co-located with Advanced Engineering, the UK’s leading annual gathering of engineering and manufacturing supply chain professionals. Lab Innovations also hosted four content theatres and provided more than 40 hours of free CPD accredited education sessions, determined to showcase the resilience of the lab industry during the COVID-19 pandemic.
For 2022 the event’s Sustainability Laboratory showcase promises to be bigger than ever; with a focus on carbon and carbon equivalent emissions, visitors can learn from case studies and audits from a series of leading UK laboratories and service providers.
In 2021 there were over a thousand products available on the show floor.
“Lab Innovations is a great opportunity for end users to see how their equipment works in a real laboratory environment and how the data we’ve collected can be replicated in their own labs to helpthem to be more sustainable,” explained Andy Evans, director at Green Light Labs and host of Laboratoy Innovations’ Sustainable Laboratory.
This year, to commemorate its ten-year anniversary, Lab Innovations will be hosting a celebratory party after the Lab Awards. The award ceremony, which is hosted in partnership with scientific publication Laboratory News, will be held on the first day of Lab Innovations, 2 November, at 3pm in the Insights & Innovations Theatre. The Awards ceremony and networking party alike will celebrate the key achievements of the laboratory Industry - and are a great excuse to raise a glass in the evening!
Visitor registration is now open on the Lab Innovations website. To visit Lab Innovations 2022 and celebrate its 10 year anniversary, sign up now:
ilmt.co/PL/6lk3
In 2021 Lab Innovations welcomed 3,117 visitors and showcased 161 exhibitors.
More information online:
ilmt.co/PL/9xPn 58470pr@reply-direct.com
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