A determined chief exec, Mr Turner knows what he wants for an organisation which few outside the inner circle of packaging had ever heard of a few years ago – securing premises in London’s Piccadilly was only achieved when the case was cogently made to prospective landlords that this was an organisation that just had to exist because it was a creature of legislation.
But, Mr Turner (pictured below) was certainly no stranger to the requirements of the market his new organisation was operating in. A chartered engineer with a strong background in manufacturing in the packaging sector he was previously a non-executive board director of Coca-Cola and Schweppes Beverages where he had served as both purchasing director and manufacturing director.
Experience in the sector gave him a sharp awareness of the need to be competitive, especially as Valpak suddenly faced competition from other compliance schemes, at a time when many of its founders had expected it to be the sole organisation of its type. 
On his appointment he noted: “The size of our membership gives us a major influence in this new market and we are ready to respond to that opportunity.”
Valpak was the first compliance scheme set up to ensure its members achieved their obligations under the packaging waste regulations. Its membership list remains undisclosed but includes household names such as Bass plc, Nestle, J Sainsbury, Gallahers, Procter & Gamble, Tesco and Mars.
Mr Turner says that Valpak’s role is clear: “There is a job to be done.” On his own style, he plays down his strong leadership and emphasises that Valpak is very much a company where everyone plays their part: “I have a fantastic team and they don’t need a lot of pushing and shoving. I can definitely say this is the best team I ever had.”
And, Mr Turner says he is very proud of Valpak as an organisation and in what it has achieved. “When you look back at how things started off, we got blamed as a government organisation and as the inventor of the PRN. Our founders, VWrag were just a group of people trying to fight a common cause. Then there was a single scheme plan and so Valpak were first in the market.”
Low cost
The work of Valpak, says Mr Turner, has contributed to the successful low cost achievement of the regulations’ aims in the UK. And, this can be seen in the number of businesses that have joined up and the fact that it has a 60% share of the market. “We are gaining members all the time and are 500 up on last year and only half were in the 2-5 million turnover bracket. Our membership stands at 3,250 now.”
“It is important to realise that we [the UK] have done very well, from recovering 3 million tonnes to start up with, up to 3.9 million now.” And surprisingly, he considers that the situation with plastics – a material which many see as facing the toughest challenge in meeting recycling targets – isn’t too bad.
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