In a major coup, it’s been announced that the easyFairs® Packaging & Print Portfolio 2012 (taking place February 29 to March 1 at the NEC, Birmingham) will include Nick Brown, Associate Director Recycling, Great Britain for Coca-Cola, lifting the lid on how the global brand is tackling sustainability and transforming recycling.

Nick Brown’s talk reflects how the 46 free-to-attend mini learnShops taking place at the easyFairs Packaging & Print Portfolio of Shows will feature some of the world’s foremost authorities and address packaging’s hottest issues and trends.

Nick comments: “Coca-Cola Enterprises is committed to setting the standard for sustainable packaging and transforming recycling in Great Britain - there are an exciting range of projects which will deliver against this commitment, several are already in place and others will be unlocked by groups along the packaging and recycling value chain working together in partnership to their mutual benefit. I look forward to sharing Coca-Cola Enterprises' work at the show and looking at innovations which will drive forward sustainable packaging and recycling."

As another show first, beauty industry expert, Stirling Murray, whose 30 year career in the sector included turning round the Bourjois brand in the UK and heading up the business across six countries in Europe, is delivering a session. His learnShop ‘Beauty Packaging – The Glamour and the Glory’ will explore how packaging can massively accelerate success in the sector. 

Stirling Murray, CEO at The Red Tree comments: “One of the biggest differentiators in the beauty world is packaging. I’ve seen it make or break successful brands. Yet so many marketers and brand managers fail to keep pace with the possibilities. It will be great to have the opportunity to remedy this on the UK’s biggest packaging stage, and lift the lid on what works, and why.”

Packaging innovation increasingly lies at the heart of sustainability and Richard Coles, Sustainability Advisor, Independent Packaging Consultant and Trainer will explore this in his learnShop.

Richard comments: “Packaging continues to be very much in the forefront of the sustainability agenda particularly for f.m.c.g. companies which are subject to intense cost pressures, growing resource issues and environmental legislation. Generally, packaging contributes only a relatively small proportion of the total sustainability footprint involved in the product supply system, use and waste disposal.”

“Changing attitudes and behaviours of today’s increasingly eco-aware consumers means that the sustainability credentials of a brand are important. Packaging plays a vital strategic role, as it often represents the primary interface with consumers. The presentation will briefly examine the concept of ‘sustainable packaging’. It will also provide insights into trends with examples of innovations in packaging for enhanced sustainability.”

Not an event to duck contentious issues, Dick SearIe from the Packaging Federation will be discussing whether extended producer responsibility is a responsible concept. Dick comments: “Producer responsibility is a policy concept designed to extend the manufacturer’s responsibility beyond the sale and use of their products to include disposal of packaging.”

“But without buyers you would have no sellers, without consumers, you would have no consumption and no producers. It is now surely time to include consumers in the whole picture and stop treating them as passive bystanders. It is also time for consumers to assert themselves and stop seeing themselves as victims without responsibility. Packaging – delivery systems for society’s products – is not the problem.”

These independent seminars and case studies are selected to provide inspiration and practical guidance on packaging issues. To see the full learnShop line-up please visit Easyfairs website and click on “Free learnShops seminars” within the menu bar. Visitors can also register to attend for free at the website.