A packaging symposium held in Melbourne last week brought together some of the industry leading minds to share up-to-the-minute ideas on the most pressing issues for the industry. Lindy Hughson moderated the event and filed this report.
The Packaging Symposium, curated by Victor Barichello of Empauer and Ian Hayes of PackPro Consulting, cast the spotlight on the Australian packaging industry's transition towards national packaging reform, focusing on the need for evidence-based design standards, financial incentives to support a sustainable packaging system, and mechanisms to increase recyclable and recycled content. Topics also included the ACCC's crackdown on greenwashing, the importance of consumer trust in packaging, soft plastics stewardship, AI in packaging, and progress on packaging to prevent food waste. And all this delivered in just two hours – it was a whistle-stop tour of all you need to know in packaging right now.
Held at the iconic Royal Society of Victoria (RSV) premises in Melbourne, the symposium was opened by RSV president Rob Gell, who highlighted the society's program, Inspiring Victoria, and its four strategic pillars: climate change, biodiversity, environmental stewardship, and countering misinformation. Gell said the society aims to engage all sectors of the community in informed conversations about environmental issues, and as such was pleased to host the symposium in its historic building.
Packaging transformation
First up to the podium was Sandra Dal Maso, head of Packaging Transformation at the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO). She delivered a clear-eyed assessment of the current situation and outlined APCO’s proposed path forward – one that calls for stronger regulation, national consistency, and industry-wide collaboration.
Dal Maso discussed the current state of national packaging targets and the challenges in meeting them, and by way of background explained the Australian packaging industry's co-regulatory model and the need for national mandated design standards.
She summarised the consultation paper released by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Wate, which outlines three options for reform: enhanced co-regulation, direct regulation, and a nationally regulated extended producer responsibility (EPR) scheme.
Dal Maso emphasised the importance of national consistency, industry leadership, and clear roles and responsibilities in the EPR scheme. Despite significant efforts by brand owners to improve the recyclability of their packaging, key barriers remain. Among them: gaps in recycling infrastructure, limited end markets for certain materials, and persistent consumer confusion about what is – and isn’t – recyclable.
“There’s growing pressure from consumers, from government, and from regulators,” she said. “Scrutiny on greenwashing is intensifying, and the expectation is that the industry must act.”
Addressing greenwashing
Fittingly, the next speaker was Nick Heys from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, who leads the ACCC’s work on environmental claims, among his other portfolios.
Heys discussed the ACCC's approach to misleading environmental claims and the importance of encouraging more environmental claims in the market. He highlighted the eight principles the ACCC has developed to address misleading environmental claims:
• Make accurate and truthful claims
• Have evidence to back up your claims
• Don’t leave out or hide important information
• Explain any conditions or qualifications on your claims
• Avoid broad and unqualified claims
• Use clear and easy to understand language
• Visual element should not give the wrong impression
• Be direct and open about your sustainability transition
Heys stressed the need for transparency and honesty in sustainability transitions and the role of regulators in addressing free rider issues.
“There are a lot of great initiatives going on, but there isn't the back end infrastructure to actually support the up-front claims, which, more often than not, from our understanding, is often true, something can be recycled, but the facilities to do so aren't there,” he said.
Packaging and brand trust
Weighing in with a brand agency perspective was Richard RalphSmith, co founder and executive director of DPR&Co, who discussed the gap between consumer intentions and actions regarding sustainable packaging choices.
He shared examples of consumer behaviour to highlight the ‘Say-Do’ disconnect between consumer concerns and actual sustainable choices in various categories. Consumers say they want sustainable packaging, but allow percentage actually buy sustainable packaging, and this percentage dips even lower if that packaging is at a premium price point.
RalphSmith emphasised the importance of being authentic and true in sustainability marketing to build consumer trust, and went on to introduce the concept of "new truth" in marketing, which combines novelty and authenticity to create effective campaigns.
“If your advertising is new and fresh and different, but it's not true, it is going to be very quickly dismissed as being inauthentic or insincere, or just downright dishonest… consumers might remember what you said, but they'll forget the brand entirely, and they will dismiss you.”
Sustainable packaging design
Michael Grima, head of qDesign Enterprises and founder of the Pack Collective, discussed the complexities of defining and achieving sustainability in packaging design.
He outlined the three main categories of sustainability: consumer perception, regulatory compliance, and scientific evidence, providing examples of packaging design that balance these factors, such as Mars' one-hand dispensing pack and Nestle's paper-based packaging.
Grima highlighted the challenges of achieving circularity and the importance of a system-wide approach to packaging design.
“It's not about paperisation or paper versus plastic, which is driven by consumer perceptions. We’re really looking for optimised packaging results… to ensure packaging is accessible to the consumer and it has the smallest possible impact on the environment. We're looking to keep structures simple without compromising performance. Because essentially, if you're trying to get a circular outcome, we want to make sure this material and resource is easily broken down and reused back into the system. And the design needs to be relevant to the current rules and regulations.”
Flexible packaging leadership
Amcor’s director of Sustainable Packaging APAC, Richard Smith, shared top line insights into Amcor’s sustainability journey, including its commitment to making all packaging recyclable or reusable by 2030.
Smith discussed the importance of materiality assessments and understanding stakeholder concerns, such as global warming and microplastics. He also highlighted Amcor's work on innovative packaging solutions, such as AmLite and AmPrima.
Commenting on the current state of recycling for flexible packaging, Smith emphasised the need for investment in advanced recycling facilities to support the transition to circular packaging.
“We need to really build demand in this country to be able to make sure that we can get the investment that's needed in this country, to actually be able to do the things we want to do,” Smith said.
Eco-modulation fees
Stepping in for Ian Hayes, Michael Grima also gave an overview of the concept of eco-modulation fees and their role in incentivising sustainable packaging design. He explained the structure of APCO’s proposed eco-modulation system, which includes different categories for recyclability and compostability.
Grima noted the importance of evidence-based design standards and the need for flexibility in the system to accommodate new materials and technologies, and concluded by emphasising the need for industry collaboration and investment to support the transition to a circular economy.
Soft plastics update
Barry Cosier, co-CEO of Soft Plastics Stewardship Australia (SPSA) gave background to the recent formation of SPSA as an independent not-for-profit organisation, and its proposed model for collecting and processing soft plastics, including multiple collection streams and the need to close economic gaps in the supply chain.
Cosier discussed the proposal current lodged with the ACCC an open for industry feedback, which includes the ability to charge a levy to packaging users and issue recycling tenders to the market, with a focus on consumer and industry support.
You can read more about the SPSA’s proposal as reported by PKN here:
AI in Packaging
Empauer’s chief data scientist Matt Kuperholz discussed the role of AI in leveraging supply chains and packaging, emphasising its potential to revolutionise these areas. He highlighted the use of AI to solve traceability problems, structure unstructured data, and complete incomplete data in supply chains.
Kuperholz also covered the application of AI in packaging design, production, and regulatory compliance, including the use of agents to assist in these processes. He left the audience with an understanding of importance of using AI responsibly, with a focus on ethics, governance, and transparency -- and with the quote of the day “the pace of change has never been this rapid, nor will it ever be this slow again.”
Packaging and food waste
No discussion on circularity would be complete without an understanding of the role packaging plays in reducing food waste. This was deftly delivered by Dr Steven Lapidge, CEO of End Food Waste Australia, in what will he said will probably be his last presentation in his role, which he will step down from come end of April.
Lapidge delved into the importance of packaging in reducing food waste, noting that 32% of food waste is generated by households, which can be reduced through good packaging design.
He discussed several successful projects to date which have been achieved during his tenure and which have helped to advance the End Food Waste cause, including the Save Food Packaging Criteria and Framework, developed by the Australian Institute of Packaging, and the joint project run with RMIT and the Australian Packaging and Processing Machinery Association to highlight how food waste can be reduced in the production end of the supply chain.
When asked if Australia’s target of halving food waste by 2030 is achievable, Lapidge said, “Australia is on track to achieve only a third of its 2030 target without additional funding,” reinforcing a theme that ran through all the discussions: shifting to a circular economy model is costly, requires investment, cross-industry collaboration, and government funding support.
Call to action
In the wrap-up, the need for action and leadership to address the challenges discussed was emphasised, with presenters and attendees encouraged to take the information back to their businesses to stimulate conversations.
Attendees left with a clear sense of the urgency of addressing these issues and the potential benefits of doing so.
