This came barely a week after national leaders from the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) gathered in Singapore to celebrate its 40th anniversary with the signing of the ASEAN Charter and an Environmental Sustainability initiative to tackle environmental challenges.

Taking the theme ‘Packaging: Sustaining the Asian Environment’, the conference saw representatives of the 19 APF member Packaging Institutes, Associations and Councils from the association’s 14 member countries - who have a combined membership of more than 35,000 companies - as well as other packaging industry players from the region and beyond participating in this event, which was organized by the Packaging Council of Singapore and the Asian Packaging Federation, and managed by PackwebAsia.com, with the support of SPRING Singapore, IE Singapore, National Environment Agency and Singapore Manufacturer’s Federation (SMa).

During the two-day conference, delegates gathered to listen to expert speakers from organizations such as Nestle, Tetra Pak, EUROPEN, and Kasetsart University, Thailand, share their views on sustainability and discuss how the packaging industry in Asia can be viable business entities while responsible guardians of the environment through sustainable practices.

Sustainability is the term used to describe packaging which maximizes the use of renewable or recycled materials, designed to optimize and reduce materials, meets market criteria for performance and cost and is safe and beneficial in a ‘cradle-to-cradle’ lifecycle.

Opening the conference, Albert Lim, President of the Packaging Council of Singapore and the Asian Packaging Federation, urged delegates to “take with you thoughts, ideas and plans on how sustainability can be implemented in your own country, factory, and home.

“Even this building is a recycled 19th Century Church,” he said, referring to CHIJMES Hall - a national heritage site in the heart of Singapore – where the conference was held.

In his presentation, Carl Olsmats, Secretary General, World Packaging Organisation, commented, “For sustainable packaging, we have to continuously improve and adjust the balance between the main functional dimensions of packaging… to solely focus on the environment does neither bring general or packaging sustainability.”

Julian Carroll, Managing Director of the European Organization for Packaging and the Environment (EUROPEN)

And so the speakers at the conference explained how the fine line between operating businesses and being environmentally responsible could be balanced. Akira Shirakura, Executive Advisor, Japan Packaging Institute (JPI), spoke on corporate social responsibility in packaging, while Julian Carroll, Managing Director of the European Organization for Packaging and the Environment (EUROPEN) asked delegates whether Asia will follow the European example in his presentation ‘Producer Responsibility for Packaging’.

Besides national speakers from China National Export Commodities Packaging Research Institute (CEPI), Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) and JPI relating their countries’ own initiatives in tackling packaging environmental issues such as the Singapore Packaging Agreement, brand owners such as Nestle also took to the stage and highlighted to their suppliers, the conference delegates, that reduction in packaging is now something they cannot avoid if the export-oriented Asian region wishes to  continue to prosper.

The recently retired Global Head of Packaging at Unilever, Paul Clegg, now an independent consultant, reiterated the brand owner message when he reminded delegates that environmental issues will assume increasing importance.

In his presentation, Clegg urged his audience, “Use Asia’s enduring advantages well. Corporate social responsibility, especially in relation to the environment, is a real and increasingly important issue to brand owners and so you (as packaging suppliers) should learn to meet your customers’ requirements in order to gain that business advantage.”

“Use Asia’s enduring advantages well. Corporate social responsibility, especially in relation to the environment, is a real and increasingly important issue to brand owners and so you (as packaging suppliers) should learn to meet your customers’ requirements in order to gain that business advantage.”

Geoff Giddens, Regional Packaging Manager, PepsiCo International, moderated the concluding summary forum at the end of each day’s session, and facilitated the debate between speakers and delegates, who wanted to better understand how they could implement all they had learnt at the conference.

The event ended with a bang with the SingStar and AsiaStar Awards Presentation Gala Dinner on 29th November, also at CHIJMES Hall. 

“Sustainability is also a viable corporate social responsibility, and as the largest market in the world with a value of US$156.54 billion, the Asian packaging industry is in a good position to make a strong impact, practice and spread the sustainability message.

“Hopefully when the APF meets for its annual congress again next year, its members will have good news to report on its countries’ and companies’ sustainability progress.”