Editorial | Victoria Hattersley

EDITORIAL | Victoria Hattersley Senior Writer

…And so we reach our final issue of this long, exhausting year. But while I don’t think any of us will be looking back with fond eyes on 2020, we can at least say that the packaging industry has not forgotten its pressing environmental concerns, even as it has adapted to face the Covid-19 crisis. As I write this, our virtual Sustainable Packaging Summit is underway. It’s not been what we expected – nothing this year has been what we expected – but it’s certainly given us a chance to broaden the conversation around sustainable packaging in ways we might not have done during a two-day live event. The virtual summit is just getting started, and you are welcome to join our forthcoming live sessions, as well as catching up on the ones that have already taken place. Just visit packagingsummit.earth/join to register.

As the opening event of the Summit, on 15 October our Sustainability Awards 2020 ceremony was held, for the first time as a virtual event, with a very formally-attired Tim Sykes doing the honours. The 275 entries we received gave an exciting – and reassuring – insight into the breadth of innovation that continues across the entire supply chain.

Among other things, they have shown us how circularity in single-use packaging continues to drive R&D, how e-commerce is changing the landscape, and how reusable packaging has well and truly entered the mainstream. This issue, we take the opportunity to have a closer look at the winning entries and the environmental challenges they address.

Elsewhere, Libby Munford speaks with MULTIVAC’s Christian Traumann ahead of interpack 2021, to find out some of the trends he expects to see manifested across the show floor. Fin Slater catches up with Bostik’s Richard Lelievre to discuss the role of adhesives in packaging sustainability and performance, and Elisabeth Skoda takes a dive into serialization and track and trace applications in the food and beverage industries.

Our ‘industry’ perspectives on sustainability for this issue come courtesy of Tetra Pak, Taghleef Industries and Trinseo. Finally, our regular ‘On Seconds Thoughts...’ column sees the welcome return of SYSTEMIQ’s Yoni Shiran, who questions whether a focus on removing plastics already in the ocean comes at the expense of ignoring the root causes of the continued plastic pollution problem.

We’ll see you again in the New Year when we can, hopefully, be looking forward to the postponed interpack in February. Stay safe in the meantime, and thank you all for your support this year. n Victoria Hattersley

Victoria Hattersley

vh@packagingeurope.com @PackEuropeVicky