In the 1980s, pop singer Sheena Easton ("Morning Train," "For Your Eyes Only") did a radio commercial for some diet program where she lamented how hard it was to lose those last two pounds (and how the program could help, of course). At the time, she wore maybe a size 2 in clothes, and I remember thinking, "Yeah. It's those last two pounds I worry about, Sheena. Not the first 20, 'cause those come off so easily."
This came to my mind recently when I was trying to describe how the environment for sustainable packaging has changed in the last year or two. Companies are still committed to eco initiatives and have achieved some pretty significant milestones. But reaching the next incremental goal is getting harder. (As we know, sustainable packaging is a journey so you'll never really be done.)
To help you out, Packaging Digest has two upcoming events that will serve up a satiating diet of sustainable strategies:
• The 8th annual Sustainability in Packaging conference and exhibition (www.sustainability-in-packaging.com)—organized by Smithers Pira in partnership with Packaging Digest—will offer solutions to some of the hottest issues, including trends around flexible packaging for better end of life scenarios; success stories and developments in fiber packaging; sustainable packaging sourcing security; developments in extended producer responsibility; and much more. This year's program also includes a number of new features, including an investor's forum (Shark Tank) to find the next great idea in sustainable packaging. Hope to see you there: Mar. 5-7, 2014 at the Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld in Orlando, FL.
• Our webcast in early December will showcase example after example of successful sustainable packaging projects from your peers to help give you more ideas of what your next goals should be and how to reach them. Packaging executives from Wal-Mart private brands, The Hartz Mountain Co. and New Belgium Brewing will describe what they did, how they did it and, most importantly, why. They'll also share the results and why those results were significant to their business.
You'll also hear from one of the leaders in the business. Nina Goodrich from the Sustainable Packaging Coalition will review major accomplishments so far this year and will give you a preview of what SPC will focus on in 2014. She's really on top of trends and new developments. Check out her article on the bioplastic revolution on p.16 in this issue.
And, lastly, I will present a teaser of the results of our exclusive 2013 Sustainable Packaging Study. We added some new questions this year around life-cycle assessments (LCAs) and innovation that will prove interesting. Attend the webcast and you'll get the full results of this critical research, not just the teaser in the webcast or the highlights that will be published in an article in our December issue.
Please join us on Dec. 3 at 2:00 p.m. eastern time for this 75-minute webcast. It's free, thanks to our sponsors Bway (www.bwaycorp.com) and xpedx (www.xpedx.com). [NOTE: Delkor Systems was added as a sponsor after this article was published.] We'll even have time for live Q&A at the end so you can pose your questions to any or all of our expert speakers.
