Page 38 - Packaging News Magazine Nov-Dec2020

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AUSTRALASIAN PACKAGING CONFERENCE 2020 www.packagingnews.com.au | November–December 2020
said can be obtained through reduc- ing the thickness of the materials and other methods.
“We have also developed our next-generation equipment to reduce water and energy usage,” he said. “I sometimes visit plants with old equipment and the steam tun- nels look like Niagara Falls. Ours look like a Swedish sauna, with almost dry steam.”
BARRIERS AND ENABLERS
OF CIRCULARITY
During the keynote session for the third day, two experts gave an in- depth presentation on the nitty gritty of how to foster a circular economy for packaging materials.
Australian Food & Grocery Council (AFGC) director of sustain- ability Barry Cosier started with a
detailed analysis of the present and future of the Australian recycling system. He pointed to the iconic Aussie spread Vegemite as a good example of circular economy think- ing. It takes brewers yeast – a waste product – and transforms it into a new product.
Cosier said, in building a circular economy, there needs to be some unity among stakeholders.
“Without a consistent plan across all stakeholders moving in the same direction at the same time, there is a big risk of people making ill-informed decisions,” he said.
Cosier said to help improve the recycling rates of materials, espe- cially plastics, material quality stan- dards must be implemented, and they should be designed in reverse supply-chain order, starting with the
resin companies that are receiving and processing the recycled mate- rial. From there, he said, the waste sector can know what infrastructure and equipment is needed to sort and process the materials. And from that, kerbside recycling standards can be developed to ensure a reliable and clean feedstock.
“And one final step is very critical: implementing traceability so brand owners are confident the material is recycled,” Cosier said.
Also in the session, Pact Group executive general manager, sales, marketing and innovation Siobhan McCrory spoke about the company’s sustainability journey.
She said 10 years ago very few of Pact Group’s customers had an inter- est in the environmental impact of their packaging.
HIGH BARRIER FILMS
Get in touch with us:
Taghleef Industries Pty Ltd.
11 Moloney Drive Wodonga Victoria 3690
RECYCLED POLYPROPYLENE SOLUTIONS
Phone: +61 2 60 220 220 staff.aus@ti-films.com
ti-films.com
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