EDITORIAL |
“T
he evil in the world comes almost always from ignorance, and goodwill can cause as much damage as ill-will if it is not enlightened.” – Albert Camus, The Plague I find reading these words from the French-Algerian philosopher, author, and journalist very fitting in the current climate. I’ve heard that during times of trauma (such as 9/11) people in society come together to offer support, whereas during a pandemic, people revert to selfish tendencies (stockpiling, fraudulent behaviour) to protect themselves. However, in my “working from home bubble” as I self-isolate in the UK, within the packaging sector all I hear is of the industry working together at this critical time. And this culture has been true over the past few years, when it comes to finding a more sustainable future, or solving critical global issues. I implore the reader to continue searching for knowledge and to share findings and experience across their industry sectors to enable a better future once we emerge from this crisis. Indeed, without enlightened progression, we find ourselves trying to solve problems with flash solutions (green packaging campaigns spring to mind such as switching from one material to another with no long-term thought process involved). Hopefully, when it comes to solving the coronavirus crisis, and the challenges it breeds within the packaging sector, the industry can work together rather than cause further economic and societal damage with short-sighted solutions. Within this edition we explore the initial issues, challenges and trends emerging from the start of this crisis and ponder the possible long-term effects on the industry. On the same wavelength, I sat down with Michael Nieuwesteeg, MD of the Netherlands Packaging Centre, who has spearheaded the PUMA project, exploring long-term solutions to the environmental issues the packaging industry is mired in. In both cases, the end result will be achieved by shared knowledge, rather than a scrabble in the dark. And in a similar vein, we are still anticipating the Sustainable Packaging Summit and Awards hosted by Packaging Europe in the European Green Capital, Lisbon, expected to be held 15-16 October 2020. We hope to see you there once we have emerged from this crisis to explore once again the big sustainability debate, as the state of our shared planet becomes ever more pressing in our mindsets.
Libby Munford Editor Working from home
Within this edition, we also explore the big questions still prevalent in the packaging industry, such as what would life without packaging look like? Elisabeth Skoda speaks with Sophie Kieselbach, senior consultant at Thinkstep in lieu of her planned address on lifecycle assessment and sustainability at the now postponed interpack. She also explores the current state of progression within chemical recycling, an area with great potential and innovation, but with many roadblocks still ahead. And we also ask an important question, how can we tackle the food waste challenge with science? An exploration supported by research from leading institutions and Universities. Victoria Hattersley discovers how black plastics fit into the circular economy and the misrepresentations in this field. Plastic waste is explored further with an in-depth article with the Green Alliance who recently published a report, ‘Plastic promises: what the grocery sector is really doing about packaging’. Don’t miss special interviews with Exxon, and Saperatec, a start-up with secured investment from adhesives giant Henkel. And last but not least, Fin Slater explores how to “be bold” within the colours and inks sector with Siegwerk. With the big packaging events on hold until 2021, I’ll leave on the note that although we may not see each other in person in the next few months, we look forward to continuing collaborations and conversations on a virtual note. We are supporting the packaging community during the challenges of the pandemic with our Lockdown Log, a new weekly newsletter, the continuation of our successful webinars, and with live broadcasts in the pipeline we are eager to share with you. And as the industry still has lots of innovations and launches to announce, we’ll be filling the interpack gap by hosting a week-long digital event between 6th and 13th May 2020. We’ll be letting the value chain know what would have been highlighted at interpack and give a foretaste of what it might expect next February. n Stay safe!
Libby Munford Libby Munford lw@packagingeurope.com @PackEuropeLibby
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