conference – user's Blog!

SustPack 2016 explores how business can be made sustainable

For two and a half days, professionals from across the sustainable packaging value chain, as well as academia, and government officials met at SustPack 2016 to discuss the most pressing sustainable packaging issues. SustPack 2016 hosted over 430 delegates, a significant increase from last year’s conference, which was the first collaboration between the Sustainable Packaging Coalition and Smithers Pira.
Browse through our SustPack 2016 photo gallery
20160412_082118 SustPack was held at McCormick Place, Chicago from April 11-13th. Chicago was the perfect setting for a conference that acknowledges the challenges of the present, but looks to a brighter future through collaboration and innovation. SustPack brings together many key players across the packaging value chain, from manufacturers to brands and MRFs to discuss the details of their businesses and how to create a more sustainable future.
This year’s agenda was the biggest to date. Over 50 presenters spoke about some of the issues at the forefront of sustainable packaging. The focus on ‘Business Made Sustainable’ led to a lot of interesting discussions on how different brands integrated sustainability into the core of their business. Representatives from leading brands such as Target, SC Johnson, Mars, Ikea, Wegmans, Mars, Nestle USA, Keurig Green Mountain and many more were in attendance.
A few of the major themes that came out of this year’s conference were recycling, exciting design innovations, how to promote composting, flexible packaging, and the circular economy. Attendees can browse through what others were saying in Chicago by using #SustPack16 on Twitter.
In addition to the presentations, networking and breakout sessions, SustPack 2016 offered attendees interactive workshops focused on building your brand’s sustainable promise and strengthening brand trust with consumers; disruptive design method for sustainable innovation and social change; and our popular Essentials of Sustainable Packaging Course. Attendees also were given exclusive behind-the-scenes tours at some of Chicago’s most sustainable businesses, such as the Method Soap Factory, Goose Island Brewery, and more.
We would like to thank everybody who attended SustPack and helped make this the most successful conference yet! We look forward to seeing SPC members at SPC Advance in Portland, Oregon on September 19-21 and we look forward to seeing everyone at SustPack 2017!

Things I learned at SPC Advance

GreenBlue staff record their takeaways from the recent SPC Advance.
ADAM GENDELL

Sustainable packaging enhances the connection between brands and consumers: this isn’t news to us at the SPC, but it was encouraging to hear so many success stories and lessons. We heard how General Mills uses our How2Recycle label to link their consumers to industry recycling efforts, how McDonald’s leverages certified fiber to build measurable brand trust, and we heard Sealed Air’s thoughts on consumer perceptions of food waste and the opportunity it creates for packaging.

Using sustainability as a differentiator could soon be a thing of the past: John Linc Stine, commissioner of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, shared a fascinating collection of perspectives from modern consumers that would be considered part of the LOHAS market. The takeaway: they don’t want to buy the “sustainable option”. Instead, they want the best option, and they want it to be responsibly designed. It suggests that qualities of sustainability are transitioning from a market differentiator to a requirement of doing business.

Minneapolis should be proud of its businesses and efforts: I knew that Minneapolis was a hotspot for business, but I didn’t know that it was a cradle for such impressive sustainability initiatives. We heard the city’s director of solid waste speak about their outlook on recycling, toured the MRF that handles the recyclables, heard from local companies like Target, 3M, and General Mills, toured the nearby Aveda headquarters. Throw in the impressive local beers that were sampled on the pub crawl, and it’s clear that Minneapolis has a lot going on.