SINGAPORE – With environmental concerns in the headlines every day the issues raised by product packaging will come under scrutiny as more than 140 leaders of the Packaging Industry from 14 Asian countries will meet in Singapore on 28 and 29th November at the 40th Annual Congress of the Asian Packaging Federation (APF).

The gathering in Singapore will involve 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.

The Asian Packaging Summit entitled “Packaging: Sustaining the Asian Environment” is being organized by the Packaging Council of Singapore with the support of SPRING Singapore, IE Singapore, National Environment Agency and SMa (Singapore Manufacturer’s Association).

According to Albert Lim, current President of the APF and the Packaging Council of Singapore, “Sustainability is single most important issue facing the planet, and though it may appear that sustainability is a recent phenomenon the packaging industry has been aware of it for decades.”

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.

“Preserving the environment is everybody’s business and the packaging chain is probably one of the industry sectors best prepared and with the most experience in meeting today’s sustainability challenges. Sustainable practices of waste reduction have become part of every packaging company’s operations.”

However, packaging in both Europe and North America is highly regulated and has become a hotly debated topic since most of the post consumer packaging waste presents problems in collection and disposal.

“The purpose of this conference is to understand the mounting pressure from the West, because unless we can comply with these regulations we may find ourselves unable to export.”  

Over the past 10 years there has been mounting pressure within the EU to follow sustainable packaging practices, with the introduction of legislation like the Packaging Waste Directive, which regulates how and what forms of packaging are acceptable in Europe.

However, with growing consumer concerns of global warming multi national brand owners and even supermarkets are imposing their own restrictions on packaging

Industry Need

Driven by the need Asian industry need to understand the sustainability drivers, the organisers of the two-day Congress have lined up a thought-provoking array of top-level speakers:

• Carl Olsmats, Secretary General of the World Packaging Organisation will introduce the topic of Sustainability from a global perspective
• Dr Paul Singh, board member of International Association of Packaging Research Institutes (IAPRI) will travel from Michigan State University and will co-present a paper entitled ‘Use of Life  Cycle Assessment and Sustainability Initiatives by Major US Retailers”
• Dr Vanee Chonhenchob - Head of Department of Packaging Technology, Kasetsart University, Bangkok, will be his co-presenter and will address the impact in Asia of US Sustainability Initiatives
• Julian Carroll, Julian Carroll, Managing Director, EUROPEN (the European Packaging Environmental Association) flies in from Brussels to give a paper entitled “Producer Responsibility for Packaging: Will Asia follow the European example?”
• Arriving from Tokyo, Dr Akira Shirakura, Executive Advisor of Patent Firm I'LL and Technical Advisor to the Japan Packaging Institute will address the need for Corporate Social Responsibility in Packaging, while Dr Kunio Sawamura, Director, Japan Packaging Research Institute, Tokyo will discuss the practical aspects in “What is Sustainability - The Japanese Experience”.
• Tomas Svenson, Sustainability Director, Tetra Pak China will discuss Renewability, Carbon Footprint and Recycling in Asia.

Asia regional focus

• Rajiv Dhar, Director Indian Institute of Packaging will come from Mumbai to introduce the current sustainable initiatives in India
• Prof Li Jianhua, President China National Export Commodities Packaging Research Institute in Beijing will present “Compliance, The Chinese Perspective

Brand Owner Driven

However, if the issue of appropriate packaging and sustainability is to take root in Asia the brand owner will be the crucial driver, with this in mind:

• Bruce Funnel - Group Manager, Packaging and Innovations Network (OAC), Nestle R&D Centre, Singapore, will discuss Reduction of Packaging environmental impact, Nestle’s integrated waste management, Source reduction, Bioplastics - myths and claims, Renewable materials drivers, Requirements for Packaging (food safety, barrier, functionality, etc.), Limitations and opportunities and Challenges in the waste chain
• Paul Clegg, former Global Head of Packaging Division, Unilever, will fly in from the UK to present his findings after 40 years of MNC packaging “Cheap is no longer Enough! Brand Owner Strategies for Package Reduction”

The APF Congress (28-29th November) is being organised by the Packaging Council of Singapore, and is open to non APF members.

A 2-day Delegate Pass costs US$680 - inclusive of lunch, Welcome Cocktail Networking Reception hosted by Interpack (Messe Düsseldorf Asia) and a reservation at the Gala AsiaStar Awards Presentation Dinner (29th evening).

The Day After workshop session costs an additional US$80 and is only available to Conference Delegates.

Packaging Council of Australia members are entitled to 25% discount.  

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Or: http://apfcongress.packwebasia.com

About the APF

The formation of an Federation of Asian Packaging organisations and associations was first proposed in Tokyo at the International Conference on the 7th September 1996 held in conjunction with the first ever Tokyo Pack, this was also the first international packaging conference held in Asia.

More than 135 people from 16 countries attended the conference and as a result it was decided that two packaging organizations be formed: A global organisation and an Asian regional grouping - these later became World Packaging Organisation and Asian Packaging Federation (APF).

The Inaugural General Meeting of the Asian Packaging Federation was held, appropriately, in Kyoto in July, 1997 and has been a force to unite the packaging interests of all trade and industries in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond, under one co-operative umbrella with the objective to enhance cross-country co-operation among all packaging-related bodies, covering a gamut of subjects like training & education, package development, environmental aspects, law and regulations.