Page 35 - Packaging News Magazine Nov-Dec2020

November–December 2020 | www.packagingnews.com.au AUSTRALASIAN PACKAGING CONFERENCE 2020
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The final speaker was Yoav Lotan, HP Indigo labels business manager for the Asia Pacific region. He said that 2020, a year like no other, had exacerbated trends, including that for online shopping, which opened up opportunities for labels and packag- ing printers. He also said the label mid-range was increasing in volume, with runs between 1500 metres and 15,000 metres becoming the norm.
Lotan said that the transformation of the market had guided HP Indigo when it came to developing its latest portfolio of products, with applica- tion range, colour automation, work- flow automation and sustainability as its guiding concepts.
LOOKING TO CLOSE THE LOOP
In another virtual room during the conference, a group of packaging pro- fessionals gathered to thrash out the
We need to consider that soft plastics are a very large portion of the plastics we use in Australia now, which is similar to other economies.”
— Richard Smith, Amcor Flexibles
problems and hurdles that stand in the way of realising a closed loop, circular economy for packaging materials.
The conversation covered many aspects of the circular economy, from design and materials to economics and consumer awareness.
Amcor Flexibles director, safety, quality, and sustainability Richard Smith zeroed in on soft plastics. His presentation was titled No Time to Waste, “because that’s exactly where
we are right now; we have no time to waste”, he said.
“Soft plastics have been extraordi- narily successful over the past 20-odd years, and they’ve also got significant environmental benefits. Flexible packaging offers the ability to sub- stantially reduce the amount of plas- tics we use,” he said.
“That efficiency is one of the para- doxes in flexible packaging. It’s light- weight, has good barrier qualities, it is