Tag: SPC Meetings

The Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) today announced the final agenda for the ninth annual SPC Spring Meeting taking place on March 19-22, which will bring together over 300 packaging and sustainability professionals at the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero Center Hotel in San Francisco, CA. Anthony Watanabe, President and CEO of Innovolve Group, will deliver the keynote address, which will focus on regeneration and how big business is bringing back biodiversity.
The SPC Spring Meeting is the group’s largest annual event and is recognized as the leading educational forum on sustainable packaging solutions.
“This year’s Spring Meeting continues to push the boundaries of the business of sustainability,” said Nina Goodrich, Executive Director of GreenBlue. “In addition to the formal agenda there will be significant opportunities for collaborative conversations on leading edge practices, ideas, and actions.”
Others headlining the agenda are highly respected sustainability, innovation, and technical leaders and icons including Chris Luebkeman, Director of Global Foresight and Innovation at Arup; Laura Thompson, Director of Technical Marketing and Sustainable Development, Sappi Fine Paper North America; April Crow, Global Director, Sustainable Packaging, The Coca Cola Company; Lauren Heine, Co-Director and GreenScreen Director, Clean Production Action; Dagmar Braun, Head of Strategic Business Area–Thin Print Papers, delfortgroup; and Ron Gonen, Deputy Commissioner for Recycling, New York City.
Session highlights include:

• Regeneration: the next frontier beyond sustainability
• Understanding sustainability in the process, product, and package context
• The marriage of design and life cycle thinking
• A collaborative approach to material health
• A case study in lean and clean production
• The economics of forest certification
• A day in the life of a recycling expert.

Luebkeman will lead an interactive workshop that will guide participants through a process designed to define the medium- to long-term drivers that will impact the evolution of more sustainable packaging. Also during the conference, the SPC with partner Éco Enterprises Québec and facilitator PAC Next and will announce the launch of a new interactive web-based set of guidelines for designing more sustainable packaging. James Ewell, Director of GreenBlue’s Sustainable Materials program, will also provide an introduction to the organization’s newest resource, Materials IQ^TM, which is a comprehensive business-to-business online registry that is designed to provide in-depth sustainability information about materials used in a variety of products and industrial sectors.
While the conference is open to the public, it will kick-off on Tuesday, March 19^th with SPC members-only Industry Leadership Committee meetings. The meeting will offer optional tours in the San Francisco area, including a visit to the Davis Street Transfer Station, TCHO New American Chocolate Factory, or the Robert Mondavi Winery. An evening opening reception will follow on Wednesday, March 20^th, and the meeting’s technical program sessions will take place Thursday, March 21^st through 1:00PM PST on Friday, March 22^nd.
For event details and to register, please visit http://www.sustainablepackaging.org/events/details.aspx?eventid=10080.

A few weeks ago, nearly 200 Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) members came together for the annual 2012 SPC Fall Members Meeting. While the Fall Meeting has always been a chance for members to roll up their sleeves and shape SPC project work, this year’s meeting in Pittsburgh also gave members a chance to step back and think about the bigger picture: the future direction of the SPC.
When the SPC was formed in 2004, we had nine members and the sustainability landscape was a wide open frontier. Now in 2012, we have 200 members and counting, but the sustainable packaging landscape is also much more crowded. It was time for our members to look back at our origins in order to move forward. We began as a small group of committed companies who gave their time, effort, and funding to create a space where members could collaborate and learn from each other about leading edge sustainability practices both in packaging and also across the rest of their businesses.
Today, we are a large group of companies, but one thing I have learned over the past four years is that companies who choose membership in the SPC are nothing if not passionate about collaborating on sustainability! That characteristic has remained a key feature distinguishing SPC members from the industry at large–a claim that is confirmed year after year by the results of our annual survey of the packaging industry conducted with Packaging Digest magazine.
At this year’s Fall Meeting, member companies presented case studies demonstrating how their membership in the SPC has helped them collaborate and actually spread sustainable packaging practices up and down their supply chains and deeper within their own companies. They heard the latest about SPC-led projects, shaped by members and designed to benefit the whole industry, such as:

• The How2Recycle label now appearing on packaging on store shelves
• Plans to integrate SPC’s COMPASS life cycle packaging design software with Esko’s design software
• Creation of a Voluntary Packaging Design Guide with Éco-Enterprises Québec coordinated through PAC Next
• SPC Member-Led Working Groups starting to tackle issues such as small package recycling (think lip balms and travel sizes) and the sustainability of inks, adhesives, and coatings that are applied to packaging.

This type of project work, from the germ of a theory all the way to concrete changes in packaging available on store shelves, happens nowhere else but the SPC. This desire for real, meaningful change is truly unique to this passionate group of companies.
So, eight years later, our members continue to be leading edge companies eager to hear the latest advances and unbiased information about sustainable packaging. They don’t shy away from difficult issues and instead get down to work and ask, “Where do we start?” As positive influencers with a common vision who want to spur broad change in the marketplace, SPC members tell us that the SPC is their go-to place to share and solve problems. I speak for the entire SPC staff when I thank our members for all of their hard work over the years and say that I look forward to starting to work together on the next eight years of sustainability in packaging. And we’ll see you all in San Francisco for our 2013 SPC Spring Meeting!

This year’s Sustainable Packaging Coalition Fall Members Meeting kicks off today at the Sheraton Station Square Hotel in Pittsburgh. We are expecting to have over 180 packaging and sustainability professionals in attendance, and we have a very exciting agenda planned for the next two days. The meeting begins today with two exciting tour options: Greenstar Recycling Center, a municipal and commercial single stream processor in the Pittsburgh area, and AgRecycle Industrial Composting Facility, the largest industrial composter in Pennsylvania.
At this week’s meeting, we celebrate eight years of groundbreaking collective work as the SPC, and we are looking to our members to shape the future of the organization. As we continue to work together to advance sustainable packaging, we look forward to a robust discussion on the future of the SPC as we focus on strategic planning for the next five years. Woven throughout the sessions, our meeting’s theme is “Success Through Supply Chain Collaboration.” Look for this theme in sessions that showcase SPC members working together and along their supply chains, as well as the SPC partnering with other organizations. This theme also includes our SPC Member-Led Working Groups, who will be providing updates on each group’s progress. You can find the complete agenda and session descriptions on the meeting website.
As in previous years, we are co-locating our meeting with the Sustainable Packaging Forum, which will be held September 11-13. This year’s Fall Meeting is generously hosted by SPC member companies Dow Chemical Company, PepsiCo, and Solo Cup Company, and we are very grateful for their support and leadership. For those members who are joining us in Pittsburgh, we hope you enjoy the city and the SPC Fall Meeting!

This past April we hosted over 260 packaging and sustainability leaders in Toronto for a cutting-edge conversation on wide-ranging packaging sustainability topics at the Sustainable Packaging Coalition’s annual Spring Meeting. All are invited to join us in San Francisco next March for the packaging event of 2013! Registration will open in November, so stay tuned for more details over the coming months.

One of our biggest activities here at the SPC is our biannual convening of stakeholders in the packaging community for networking and knowledge sharing. We call them the Spring and Fall Meetings, and we like to kick things off at each of them with tours that whet everyone’s appetite for the impending multi-day conversations on sustainable packaging. Sometimes we’ll tour a facility that manufacturers packaging, sometimes we’ll tour a facility that deals with packaging waste (yes, we’re fascinated by garbage, and no, it usually doesn’t smell as bad as you might think). So long as it lives somewhere near the intersection of packaging and sustainability, we’ll tour it so the packaging community can learn more about it.
As much as I love learning about garbage (that’s only partially sarcastic – it’s absolutely worth studying), I hope you can imagine my delight when it was suggested that we look into touring one of Toronto’s many esteemed craft breweries as part of this year’s Spring Meeting, which took place a few weeks back. The search wasn’t long before we found a win-win with Steam Whistle Brewing. Win number one: this company conducts business with sustainability considerations near the forefront. Win number two: they’re located less than a half mile from our event. Actually, make that win-win-win – after all, they do brew beer.
Brewery tours are generally geared towards the beer-inclined, but their staff did a commendable job of appeasing the packaging-inclined. One of the unique parts of their brewery tour is a trip through the offices where the creative department and administrative team work, which was especially great for us because we got to meet Chris Johnston, who oversees all of Steam Whistle’s packaging procurement. I got the impression that the normal routine is for the tour group to pass through the office and simply receive a smile and a wave from the staff, but my tour group subjected Chris to much more. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was later remarked that we asked Chris more questions than he’s ever been asked in his decade of being a stop on the tour.
We talked about the PVC lining on their crown closures. We talked about the considerations of using pry-off caps versus twist-off caps. We talked about paperboard beverage carriers. And we talked about the age-old question of whether to use aluminum cans or glass bottles. Overall, Steam Whistle’s glass bottles took center stage, and for good reason.
Beer bottles in Canada are quite different than the ones we’re used to in the States. It’s common for brewers to use the Canadian Industry Standards Bottle (ISB), which is a refillable container on which a refundable 10-cent deposit is levied. These bottles use a considerably larger amount of glass than the single-use bottles we’re used to, but they can be reused 15-20 times before they fail (we were told that failure occurs most commonly at the finish – that’s the threaded part at the top). The deposit system provides a high rate of return to ensure that they are collected for reuse and eventual recycling.
Steam Whistle, however, chooses to use a bottle of their own design. Their bottle uses 30% more glass than the ISB, but it can be reused up to 35 times. The tradeoff? Whereas brewers using the ISB can take in used bottles put forth by any other brewer, Steam Whistle must take back their own bottles – and they distribute coast-to-coast in Canada. It opened up intriguing questions among our tour group about a number of sustainability tradeoffs, and certainly whet our appetites for an enjoyable couple days of focusing on sustainable packaging. And it also whet our appetites for more beer. Big thanks to the Steam Whistle team, especially Chris!

This year’s Sustainable Packaging Coalition Spring Meeting kicks off today at the Fairmont Royal York in downtown Toronto. The conference, open to all and with over 250 attendees registered to attend, is recognized as the leading educational forum on sustainable packaging. We have an exciting agenda planned for the next three days with nearly 30 leading packaging and sustainability speakers. Session topics range from reducing packaging waste, packaging’s role in corporate sustainability strategies, forest ecosystems and packaging, by-product synergy for packaging materials, and extended producer responsibility. In addition to sessions, we have exciting tours and networking events lined up for the meeting, including tours of Steam Whistle Brewery, home of Canada’s Premium Pilsner and recently named one of Toronto’s greenest buildings; and Peel Integrated Waste Management, the largest facility of its kind in Canada that houses a single stream MRF, a waste transfer station, and an organics composting plant. The meeting is generously hosted by SPC member companies BASF Corporation, Be Green Packaging, MWV (MeadWestvaco), Shanghai Luxin Packing Materials Science & Technology Co., Ltd., and TricorBraun.
Why did we choose Toronto for this year’s Spring Meeting? We always try to locate our meetings in cities that are recognized as environmental leaders, and Toronto is widely recognized as one of the greenest cities in North America, particularly given their extensive waste management and recycling efforts. Toronto is ranked the most sustainable large Canadian city in Corporate Knights magazine annual Sustainable Cities rankings. Toronto also ranks ninth in the US and Canada Green City Index and is the fourth most livable city in the world according to The Economist’s annual ranking of global cities. Toronto was also recently rated the “smartest city” in North America by Fast Company, who cite Smart Commute Toronto, a private sector collaboration working to improve public transportation, as well as the city’s initiative to use natural gas emissions captured from landfills to fuel municipal garbage trucks as major reasons Toronto scores so highly. You can check out Toronto’s Environmental Portal to learn more about the city’s ambitious environmental projects, programs, and policies.
In addition, when we search for SPC meeting locations, we always take into consideration all green initiatives that the conference hotel has implemented. Before choosing a hotel, we outline specific requirements in a “green contract” that the hotel staff must sign to ensure that our sustainable meeting needs are met. Here are some of the of the ambitious green standards that the Fairmont Royal York currently has in place:

• The Fairmont Royal York holds a Four Green Key rating by the Hotel Association of Canada
• 2008 Winner of Gold Level Business Award in Waste Minimization from the Recycling Council of Ontario (3^rd consecutive year)
• Recycling program that includes office paper, newspaper, colored and clear glass, aluminum, tin, plastics, cardboard, and corks
• The hotel uses EcoLab cleaning products – Fairmont’s corporate supplier of environmentally friendly cleaning solutions
• Water-conserving fixtures are in guest rooms, including tap aerators, low-flush toilets, and low-flow showerheads
• In 2005, The Fairmont Royal York installed an ultra-modern commercial water softening system, reducing water usage of 476,000 litres per day
• Low volatile organic compound (VOC) materials are used in guest rooms, such as paints, carpets, wall coverings, etc.
• Energy-efficient lighting is used in guest rooms and meeting rooms
• Occupancy sensors and timers are used to control lighting in guest rooms
• Organic waste from the kitchen is composted
• Emissions from the event will be offset through the purchase of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs or green tags)

For those of you who are joining us in Toronto, we hope you enjoy the city and the SPC Spring Meeting!

In just over two months, GreenBlue’s Sustainable Packaging Coalition will host over 300 sustainability professionals for the packaging event of the year. We’ve just announced this year’s agenda, an exciting lineup of speakers with sessions ranging from envisioning a world without packaging waste to millennials, social media, and packaging. We hope you will consider joining us in Toronto on April 23-25!
Meeting Information and Registration