MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

‘The climate emergency is driving a new agenda as society demands action towards decarbonisation and sustainability. The UK Government has responded by introducing the Climate Change Act 2008, a legal framework which has committed the UK to achieve Net Zero Carbon by 2050.  The impact of new legislation is having far reaching consequences, bringing about significant change in how businesses across the whole economy think and act.

The MHEA is a trade association of specialist businesses who work in the field of handling bulk raw materials, and as such we have a crucial role to play. Our members work with manufacturing companies across a range of industries which are critical to the success of efforts to drive carbon out of manufacturing processes. The technologies that our members supply are at the heart of the process. We use our ingenuity and expertise to help companies optimise production processes to minimise their environmental impact.

Our Membership play a key role in the supply chain of companies producing products which form the foundation of our society, including steel production, cement manufacture, power generation, handling mineral products, foundries, bricks or glass. Although essential to our way of life, many of these industries produce highly carbon intensive products, which is why improvement in these sectors will have such a significant impact on the UK’s overall journey to net zero.  

Our members offer equipment and services which deliver the efficient handling of raw materials used to produce these essential products, so we are on the front line of efforts to reduce carbon and help industry to operate in ever more sustainable ways. We, at the MHEA, are keen to play our part. Operating in isolation, companies can only make a limited impact. But working together, means we can achieve so much more, quickly. That’s at the heart of our ethos as an association, encouraging collaboration and teamwork. It’s why we exist, to bring together like-minded companies. We want to use that collaborative mindset for the greater good.

We are in an ideal position to contribute and that’s why our well respected BulkEx technical conference in October will feature sustainability at its heart, with high calibre speakers sharing their expertise and hard-fought experience. We are using our conference platform to demonstrate how we as an industry association can make a difference. We encourage our members to share best practice and bring novel technologies to market to help accelerate the path to net zero. As a sign of our commitment to increase awareness of the most innovative ideas, we are introducing a new Sustainability Award to recognise those projects which have made the most difference’.

James Bullock

MHEA President