The 2nd Circular Packaging Conference

 

The 2nd Circular Packaging Conference took place on September 9th and 10th in Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia. The event was co-organized by the Institute of Pulp and Paper and the Faculty of Polymer Technology (FTPO).

The aim of the conference was to connect different stakeholders from industry, academia design studios, brand owners and all involved in the packaging life cycle. Main goals were to share knowledge, good practices, ideas and to make new connections in the transformation from linear to circular packaging supply chains and business models.

International and local keynote speakers both from the industry and research sectors discussed the main topics:

●        New biobased packaging solutions that can help us in phasing out fossil-based plastics

●        What systems can we develop to ensure circular packaging

●        What business models do we need to tackle circularity

International companies showed their efforts in terms of sustainable and circular packaging manufacturing, recycling and commercialization. The participants of the conference had the opportunity to visit the labs of FTPO and the facilities of the LabelProfi.

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Key takeaways:

  • We need a systemic approach to tackle circularity for the packaging industry and this means an open dialogue between the various stakeholders along the value chain.

  • We need to consider the needs and requirements of each stakeholder from the recycler to the packaging producer and the consumer. More dialogue between recyclers and packaging producers is needed since the first ones are sometimes overlooked or not considered. This is especially true in the case of packaging seasonality and trends.

  • Let’s not forget about plastics and the cities - Cities will be the largest packaging consumer and waste producer.

  • Complex composition packaging as well as black color packaging should be avoided.

  • Biobased solutions are being created and commercialized now, but let’s do it in a systemic way so that we develop new solutions and not new problems.

  • Let’s avoid misinformation, greenwashing and confusion of the consumer with too many concepts

 
Circular Change