Gain more indepth knowledge at the pre-conference workshops

Add value to your experience by joining your industry colleagues on Monday, March 12 for an additional full-day of learning and networking before the conference. Register early as it is likely that the workshops could sell out prior to Sustainability in Packaging 2012!

End your day at a pre-conference networking reception open to all attendees.

The price for each workshop is $499. Please note that workshops run concurrently so it is not possible to attend all four workshops.

Workshop #1 Four things green marketing gets wrong (and how to do it right): 8:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Suzanne Shelton, President and CEO, Shelton Group

The number one way a consumer decides if a product is green is by reading the package. Yet consumers consistently report that they don't understand much of the jargon and green buzz words written on packages. Consumers also consistently complain about over-packaging...yet they're actually irritated by innovations intended to address that complaint, like less plastic in water bottles (makes them too squishy/hard to hold), take apart packages (not durable enough) and compostable bags (too loud).

So what works? How do you green your packaging in a way that ingratiates your product to the consumer? And where does this fit in your overall marketing strategy?

Suzanne Shelton, President and CEO of Shelton Group, will share data and insights from her firm's quarterly polling of Americans on sustainability to reveal the do's and don'ts of green marketing and packaging. This session will also include a deep-dive on Shelton's proprietary consumer data from its research that includes insights on very specific action items on how to market to each consumer type as well as a primer of the principals of behavior change and key takeaways to enhance your marketing and packaging efforts.

Outline:

• The Don'ts, with data from our studies and focus group clips
• The Do's at a high level, general drivers, messaging that works, packaging innovations that matter, understanding by category
• The principals of behavior change and how those apply to green marketing and packaging
• Understanding the consumer segments -- the four categories
• Understanding world views -- which colors how each segment views messaging and packaging innovations
• Successfully moving forward -- bringing all the learnings together into action items by segment and category
  

Workshop #2- Understanding and implementing sustainable packaging concepts - Using biobased carbon content and designing for end-of-life options: 8:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Dr. Ramani Narayan, University Distinguished Professor, Michigan State University

WORKSHOP FOCUS
There is increasing awareness and need for companies to implement sustainable packaging concepts. Most packaging is carbon based whether it is plastics or paper or in most cases hybrid constructs of the two. The issue of carbon footprint and management as it relates to global warming climate change issues are front and center burning issues of the day and packaging products are right in the middle of it. The end-of-life of packaging products - what happens after use when it is disposed is increasingly becoming an important design consideration. Re-use, recycling, biodegradability-compostability, anaerobic digestion, waste-to-energy options are design criteria that needs to be factored in as is the waste management system to re-cover the product in some usable value added form. The beginning of life for a packaging product - the origins of the carbon feedstock are important but complex. The use of bio/renewable carbon as opposed to petroleum/fossil carbon allows us to have a reduced material carbon footprint in harmony with the rate and time scales of biological carbon cycling. However, what about land-use issues and the debate of using food crops? How to incorporate and report on the process carbon footprint and other environmental impacts of converting the feedstock to product?

Biodegradability in single use short lived packaging and consumer goods allows one to ensure that these become food for microorganisms present in the disposal environment like composting thereby entering the food chain of the microbial system and completing the cycle - as opposed to nondegradable or partially degradable plastics which creates a negative environmental footprint and many times toxic to the ecosystem. However, confusing, misleading product claims abound in the marketplace. It is important to understand the basic scientific principles in quantifying biodegradability/microbial assimilation that form the basis for the ASTM, EN, and ISO standards. This learning would allow you to ask the right questions, seek the appropriate data and make a sound scientific judgement.

Workshop #3 - Packaging your Sustainability Strategy: 1:30 pm - 5:00 pm
Nina Goodrich, Program Director for PAC NEXT (A world without packaging waste), Senior Associate at The Innovolve Group and Principal in Sustainnovation Solutions

In this new age of sustainable packaging, where we have so many exciting options for sustainable design, how do we go about making the right decisions: for the environment, for our consumers, and our brands?

How can we experiment with approaches that take into consideration not just the technological possibilities for sustainable packaging, but also the broader organizational, brand and market context that they operate in?

When does recovery trump carbon footprint? What about material safety? What's the relative importance of recovery vs. responsible sourcing vs. carbon footprint?

How can we link the package to the product and the process?

How can we link sustainable packaging efforts to broader sustainability strategies or objectives of your organization?

These are some of the questions we will explore in the workshop. The workshop will be highly interactive. The goal is to help participants develop a framework for understanding the choices that need to be discussed in creating a sustainability strategy that meets the needs of the their brands, their organizations, the environment and consumers.

Workshop #4- End of Life options and challenges: 1:30 pm - 5:00 pm
Debra Darby, Darby Marketing and Craig Cookson, Director of Sustainability and Recycling for the Plastics Division, American Chemistry Council

Zero Waste = 100% Resource Utilization

• Zero waste to landfill is not really the goal; extracting the maximum environmental and economic value of resources is
• New technologies and solutions becoming available each day that need to scale rapidly to build markets for undervalued materials; examples from biofuels, to bioplastics to innovative new building materials, recycling, upcycling and waste to energy solutions.
• Key hurdles that companies face in accessing these new markets and maximizing the value of all materials at end of life
  Debra Darby, Darby Marketing

Plastics - Sustainability from Use through End-of-Life

• Plastics packaging offers sustainability attributes that are critical to a safe, efficient and affordable supply chain.
• Consumer access to plastics recycling is at an all-time high and growing rapidly
• Still, ACC and other organizations are working to grow plastics recycling and expand collection beyond bottles.
• For non-recycled plastics, energy recovery offers an abundant source of alternative energy.
  Craig Cookson, Director of Sustainability and Recycling for the Plastics Division, American Chemistry Council