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RPC bpi recycled products takes on a unique recycling sponsorship challenge for the Volvo Ocean Race
Europe’s biggest recycler of polythene is sponsoring the Cardiff stopover for the world-famous Volvo Ocean Race and will use the elite yachting event to highlight the creative and business potential of recycling plastic.
As a host city sponsor of the round-the-world yacht race, RPC bpi recycled products will work with Cardiff Council during a free two-week festival of fun in celebration of a race that has never before stopped in the capital city of Wales in its illustrious history of over 40 years. Thousands of people are expected to visit the dedicated site, called the Race Village, between 27 May and 10 June 2018.
Last October, the intrepid Volvo Ocean Race fleet set off from Alicante, Spain, on a race around the world, visiting 12 cities on six continents. To mark its debut docking at Cardiff later this May, race organisers are hosting the fortnight of music and other entertainments. It is over 40 years since the first crews competed in the 40,000-nautical-mile contest.
RPC bpi recycled products’ sponsorship involves collecting all the recovered plastic film at the event and recycling it by re-manufacturing products such as refuse and recycling sacks and plastic furniture, as part of the Plaswood product range. Not only is this a historic first for Cardiff, but this will be the first time recovered plastic film has been collected and recycled at the Volvo Ocean Race, anywhere in the world.
RPC bpi recycled products is the largest recycler of polythene in Europe, recycling over 70,000 tonnes each year. Recovered plastic film from the event will be collected and taken to RPC bpi recycled products local factory in Rhymney, Wales, where it will be sorted, washed, made into plastic pellets ready for re-manufacture into second-life products.
“The Volvo Ocean Race is world famous and for four decades has brought out some of the finest examples of human endurance the sporting world has ever seen,” says Mike Baxter, External Affairs Director at RPC bpi recycled products. “RPC bpi recycled products is proud to help Cardiff celebrate this magnificent race and pay tribute to all of those taking part.”
Mike adds: “We thought it fitting, and highly relevant, to support such a world-renowned sailing event to highlight how we can help solve one of the world’s most pressing problems – plastic in our oceans. Few of us who have seen the Blue Planet II TV documentary can fail to be moved by those images of the damage caused to our oceans by plastic pollution.
“But it does not have to be this way, and RPC bpi recycled products is at the forefront of efforts to recycle and remanufacture plastic to keep it out of the waste stream – and our oceans. Just as this year’s race competitors are pioneers in their own sporting field, we are pioneers in our professional field of plastics recycling and are forever striving to close this major loop to the circular economy.”
Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure, Cllr Peter Bradbury said: “In today’s culture it is all too easy to throw things away and buy new which is why it is essential we highlight the importance of recycling correctly.
“The issue of marine plastic pollution is of huge concern and it is commendable that Volvo Ocean Race is using the event’s international platform to highlight the scale of the problem. Cardiff together with RPC bpi recycled products is committed to raising the profile of correct recycling methods, ensuring that plastic is disposed of properly, without negative impact on our waters.”
RPC bpi recycled products is a participant in the New Plastics Economy initiative run by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation which works to inspire a generation to re-think, re-design and build a positive future circular economy. It has also signed up to Operation Clean Sweep®, an international initiative to keep plastic litter out of the marine environment, and set up by the plastics industry led in the UK by the British Plastics Federation.
