Packaging Mega Trends 2009

The theme for the two-day event will be Packaging MEGA Trends and will focus on key trends within the packaging industry.

With over 300 people expected to attend over the two days the forums are a must-attend on the 2009 calendar.

Packaging Magazine has collaborated with the Australian Institute of Packaging to identify the Packaging Mega Trends of 2009.

Some of these include:

1. Sustainability
2. Bioplastics versus traditional plastics
3. In store Merchanidising
4. Openability
5. Private Label
6. Surefresh Carton technology
7. Contract Packaging

Over the next six weeks, www.packagingmag.com.au presents a special focus on each individually.

Sustainability

Packaging sustainability is a complex, many-faceted subject where a well-meaning single-issue focus could do more harm than good. Director of the product stewardship consultancy MS2 Russ Martin maintains over-emphasis­ing recycling rates or energy in isolation could cause other opportunities to be overlooked.

“Australia’s National Packaging Covenant already encom­passes broader sustainability concerns across the full life cycle of packaging; however, these concerns have generally been overlooked due to attention on the 65 per cent recycling target for 2010,” he says.

“Most stakeholders support an extension to the Covenant while reflect­ing broader sustainability concerns such as energy, greenhouse and water.”

“The market has decided that carbon risk is an essential issue and is moving forward strongly to reduce risk through properly pricing and reducing carbon exposure,” Martin says.

“Carbon risk is affecting not only input costs (particu­larly for aluminium and plastic), but also credit quality, asset valuation, exposure to overseas policies, trade practices and exchange fluctuations.”

As with recycling rates and carbon footprint, Martin believes ‘food miles’ can be used to paint a negative view of packaging industry practices when pro­vided without the full context.

“Basing procurement decisions on minimum food miles could be counter-productive,” he says. “It may well be better to ship in foodstuffs from faraway countries where the climate is better suited to them than to create the right conditions artificially.”

“Globally, retailers such as Wal-Mart and Tesco have been driving significant changes in packaging along the supply chain. However, there is a risk that retailer requirements are conflicting about preferred options and might be more difficult for suppliers to cope with than legislation would have been.”

According to Martin, ‘Choice editing’ is being heard in Europe, with legisla­tors expecting retailers to stop selling items deemed to be bad for the environ­ment.

“If choice editing comes about, the probability is high that it will be based more on public opinion (as formed by media comment and NGO pressure) than by any objective assessment of pack­aging’s environmental impact,” he warns.

"Real sustainability requires innova­tion to develop comprehensive solutions across the supply chain that address social, economic and environmental com­ponents,” Martin says.

“For example, reprocessing glass fines from recovery facilities can help to ensure recycling of the 50-60 per cent of collected glass that would otherwise be lost because it’s too small for bottles."

"Similarly, reprocessing glass fines for localised secondary mar­kets could provide significant life cycle benefits and reduced costs compared to collecting and shipping heavy materials halfway across the country in the name of ‘closed loop’ recycling.”

Dr Karli Verghese, Manager Sustain­able Products and Packaging Centre for Design RMIT University believes Com­panies will increasingly need to demon­strate the environmental impact of their packaging designs and formats and how these have been reduced.

“This can be achieved using life cycle assessment,” she says. ”The Packaging Impact Quick Evaluation Tool (PIQET) developed by the Sustainable Packaging Alliance (SPA) in Melbourne is increasingly being used by brand owner companies and retailers as well as packaging manufacturers and suppliers."

"I believe that it will become an industry standard for the sector and provide an avenue for life cycle thinking to be embedded within the packaging development process.”

Dr Verghese says achieving sustain­ability requires a holistic approach. “You can’t undertake one aspect, such as recy­cling, in isolation from the others because they are too interlinked."

"Sustainability must be the overarching principle to work towards. There must also be policy direction and systems put in place that provide the tools for decisions to be made effectively at design concept stage.”