Page 28 - Packaging News Magazine Nov-Dec2020

28 AUSTRALASIAN PACKAGING CONFERENCE 2020 www.packagingnews.com.au | November–December 2020
Virtual doors open on future of
A first for our industry, the AIP’s Australasian Packaging Conference 2020 took place on an all-new live platform in October. What emerged was evidence of an industry united in its collective purpose: to step up to the challenge of creating more sustainable packaging and meeting the 2025 National Packaging Targets. The PKN team reports.
president of the World Packaging Organisation, who gave a global per- spective on packaging that is fit for the future.
“Plastic has its place in our world, and that’s not in our waterways, our environment,” he said.
He reminded the audience that pack- aging is necessary for food safety and quality, for protecting food, extending its shelf life, and reducing food waste.
“But we need to develop solutions that reduce packaging volumes and impact without compromising on pro- tection,” he said.
“The WPO sees a future without waste by increasing plastic recycling and identifying alternative materials to plastic.”
Pienaar gave an overview of what the WPO working on, including global projects to reduce food waste and packaging waste, and to increase packaging education.
“We target unnecessary packag- ing, we encourage phasing out mate- rials that are not recyclable, and focus on the development of mono- material packaging.”
The WPO’s approach to reducing packaging in the environment is three-pronged: increasing recycling rates, improving collection rates, and increasing the recyclability of materi- als used in packaging. Citing EU fig- ures to make the point, Pienaar said plastics are the material that present the biggest challenges specifically in the areas of recyclability and circular design, recycling infrastructure, and availability of recyclates.
He spoke also of government
THE highly anticipated 2020 confer- ence was opened by AIP president Jason Fields, who welcomed the audience – which had tuned in via the livestream or Zoom platforms on the AIP website – with some sobering statistics on the impact of Covid-19 on the world, and on the
packaging industry and those it serves. He noted that during this very challenging year, while the spotlight may not be on sustainable packaging and the pursuit of a circular econ- omy, the work in sustainable packag- ing design and design for material
recovery must continue, because “the spotlight will return and we need to be ready”.
For packaging professionals, the four-day conference would prove a rich resource on the latest develop- ments across all aspects of the indus- try, from material and technology innovation to progress made on important initiatives like the 2025 National Packaging Targets, Save Food Packaging and Food Waste, and the Circular Economy.
These were all topics touched on by keynote speaker Pierre Pienaar,
The virtual platform enabled robust, interactive discussion on wide-ranging topics.
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