Since its launch in US in 2006, our sustainability in packaging conference has gone from strength to strength and has been successfully launched in Europe.

• As the packaging industry faces growing consumer and regulatory pressure to find sustainable packaging options that ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’, companies across the value chain are looking to sustainability to differentiate from their competitors and win new business. Brands have ambitious sustainability goals to hit, converters want to champion the sustainable credentials for their materials and raw materials companies are innovating to solve performance and end of life issues.
• The challenge is that the things that make packaging (especially plastics packaging) effective at its job (its cheap and durable) also hinder its sustainability – it lasts a long time and is uneconomical to recycle
• Asia is becoming a key arena for sustainability discussions because the consumer base is growing quickly and with it demand for packaging but the recycling infrastructure and waste management is less developed. China’s recent‘National Sword’policy has curtailed European and US plastic waste going to China to be recycled and created heightened awareness of sustainability in both China and surrounding countries.

As global brands look to Asia to drive their growth, Asia provides many opportunities and challenges for creating a growing need for sustainable packaging solutions in the region and these will create the key themes for this new event.