Sustainable packaging: protecting products and the planet
On 2 July 2021, the Royal Society will host a free half-day online scientific conference on the opportunities and challenges for businesses and consumers to reduce, recycle and reuse product packaging.
Packaging is big business and is expected to exceed one trillion dollars globally this year according to a report by US company, Smithers, but it also produces a huge amount of waste. Though governments and well-known brands have committed to increase recycling, a high proportion of packaging still ends up in landfills, incinerators or the sea.
Presentations will examine the technological, economic and political interventions needed to turn the packaging industry into a circular economy and explore how to encourage mass take-up and correct use of sustainable packaging by consumers.
This will include insights from UCL Professor of Materials & Society Mark Miodownik on the impact and limitations of compostable bioplastics developed to replace single-use plastics in coffee cups, packaging and other materials in recent years.
The event also showcases emerging disruptive technologies from across the world and hears from the innovators behind them, including:
- David Christian, Founder and CEO of Evo & Co an Indonesian company that provides edible food packaging made from seaweed.
- Rhea Mazumdar Singhal, Founder & CEO of Ecoware, India’s first and largest sustainable food packaging company, which has developed compostable packaging.
- Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez, UK based CoCEO and Founder of Notpla, a biogradable packaging material made from plants.
- Dr Sebastian Kernbaum, Founder & CTO of Saperatec, based in Germany, which has developed technology to separate and recycle high-value composite materials back into raw materials such as aluminium.
- Solveiga Pakštaitė, Founder & Director of UK company Mimica, who is hoping to cut waste and do away with ‘use by dates’ with a label that changes texture when food has expired.
The conference talks are scheduled from 13:45 – 17:00. Register for free access on the Royal Society website.
This event is part of the Royal Society’s ‘Transforming our Future’ series of events supported by AstraZeneca, which address the scientific challenges of the next decade.
For further information about the speakers and to request interviews, please contact the Royal Society press office at Lucia.Hadjiconstanti@royalsociety.org or for urgent out-office hours enquires call 07931 423 323
