The British Plastics Federation said the plastics industry had flourished in the fight against the coronavirus, with many companies sparing no effort to meet the sudden surge in demand for key products. In terms of turnover, BPF accounts for 85% of the UK plastics industry.

Companies such as Cromwell polyne are providing day-to-day but critical products such as garbage bags and recycling bags to key industries, as well as medical waste bags, gloves and aprons. Some manufacturers have moved to production 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and are using innovative technologies such as the InTouch I4 cloud to facilitate this, as it allows them to operate completely unmanned machines on weekends, ensuring staff safety while improving production.

At the same time, the demand for medical packaging as well as for hand sanitizer bottles and lids is also growing significantly. Ineos announced at the end of March that it will build a hand sanitizer factory in just 10 days, which can produce 1 million bottles of hand sanitizer per month.

During the period of coronavirus infection, non-medical plastic packaging also continued to play an important role in helping to keep food fresh. Because most people work from home, panic buying and the shift in consumer behavior pose persistent challenges that the packaging industry has been tirelessly overcoming.

At the same time, polar plastics said it would donate ￡ 5 (US $6) to the NHS for every ton of pcwflex new material sold in 2020.