Epron Industries Ltd was founded in 1987 by Gerald Griffin to continue his pioneering work on biodegradable plastics when he retired from Brunel University where he was Director of the Ecological Materials Research Institute.  The company continues to research into the biodegradability of plastics and manufactures degradable plastic masterbatches as well as fragrant plastic masterbatches.  Epron Industries was awarded a Stage 1 SMART Award (Small Firms Merit Award) for Research and Technology in 1994 for its work on re-cycling waste plastic bags.

The company also carries out consultancy work and Dr Pat Dawson joined us in 1993 from Loughborough University where she carried out research into morphological order in PVC and the behaviour of polymers under high strain rate compression.  Before a career break to have a family she researched the thermal and morphological behaviour of a wide range of polymers which were being developed by ICI Plastics Division, where she worked in the Physics Department.  She determined the original unit cell data for PEEK.