• Edward Kosior will speak at this year's conference.
    Edward Kosior will speak at this year's conference.
Close×

Edward Kosior, managing director of Nextek Ltd, will be a keynote speaker at this year’s Plastics and the Circular Economy Conference, run by the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) ANZ, to be held from 9-12 October.

The conference, to be held at Rydges Melbourne, with in-person sessions on 10 and 11 October, will explore practical paths to shift Australia from poor circularity to a sustainable, viable future. Sessions will explore pending and potential laws and regulations, economic incentives, investments and infrastructure and trade trends that impact design, production, sales, recycling, imports and exports.

Edward Kosior will present on technological advancements over the 21st century.
Edward Kosior will present on technological advancements over the 21st century.

Kosior will present via live video on Wednesday 11 from 09:10-10:10 on the topic of Technical and investment advances in the 21st century.

Kosior’s expertise is based on 23 years as an academic and 24 years working in the recycling industry. He founded Nextek in 2004, providing consultant services and fostering the development of strategic approaches to sustainable packaging, waste reduction, minimal life cycle impact, circular economies and more recently the NextLooPP project, a multi-client project on food-grade PP. He has been instrumental in designing numerous modern recycling plants and has achieved a number of patented recycling breakthroughs.

Hear more from Ed Kosior on the NextLooPP project on the PKN Podcast Episode 62. 

Until 1997, Kosior was associate professor of polymer engineering and the director of the Polymer Technology Centre at RMIT University in Melbourne, he then joined Visy Industries at its post-consumer plastics recycling operations.

After leaving Visy he developed novel processes and designed plants for recycling post-consumer PET, HDPE, PP and LDPE bags in Europe and gained approval from the US FDA for several processes used in food contact applications. He is an Honorary Professor at the Wolfson Materials Processing Centre at Brunel University, London.

Kosior is a Fellow of the Society of Plastics Engineers, a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (FMMM), and Fellow of Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (FRSA). His most recent award was the Prince Philip Medal for “Polymers in the service of Man”. He also provides support to organisations such as the Earth Champions Foundation, Plastics Oceans and PEW Foundation Trust.

Register to attend here.

Food & Drink Business

The Victorian government has granted approval to potato produce manufacturer, Farm Frites, to build its first Australian production facility in Dooen, in Victoria’s Wimmera district. Farm Frites announced its plans in March this year.

As the US contends with its government threatening to deny food stamps to its most vulnerable, the latest Foodbank Hunger Report shows little is being done in Australia on a political level to actively address and reduce food insecurity faced by one in three – 3.5 million – households.

Itinerant Spirits has opened expressions of interest for its upcoming equity raise through OnMarket. Since launching in October 2023, the company has sold over 40,000 bottles of its vodka and gin, and is planning to release its first whiskey soon.