Opie started his collection on 8 September 1963. He picked up a Munchies wrapper and decided that as no official record was being made of consumerism. From this point onwards he decided he would collect discarded packaging.
In the half-century since then, he has amassed a collection of half-a-million items, 12,000 of which are on display at the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising in Notting Hill, London. The collection includes sweet wrappers, cereal boxes, coffee jars, yoghurt cartons and detergent boxes.
By 1975 Robert's collection contained enough material to hold a major exhibit at the V&A Museum, 'The Pack Age: a century of wrapping it up'.
Following that success, Opie opened Britain's first museum devoted to the history of advertising and packaging in Gloucester in 1984. Now known as the Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising, it moved to its current Notting Hill location in 2005 and is now voted in London's top ten Museums on Trip Advisor.
The museum is marking the anniversary with a new exhibition, a talk and the release of a DVD charting the history of brands. 'Throwaway History' is a feature-length film that took three years to produce and takes a nostalgic look at how branded products lie at the heart of the UK's consumer society.
In 2009, Opie won a UK Packaging Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Industry. He has compiled over twenty books, including the scrapbook series covering each decade from the Victorians to the 1970s. Countless articles have been written on his work and he has shared his tireless enthusiasm for the subject in nearly 400 television appearances and over 1000 radio interviews.
Opie will be in the Museum on 7 and 8 September to talk to visitors and answer questions on his monumental fifty years of collecting. The museum is also hosting a 'Throwaway History' talk by Robert on 25 September.
