How-to lessons show sustainable packaging design solutions

Life-cycle analysis, extended producer responsibility and optimization for recovery are among the tools packaging professionals can use to improve their designs.

You can learn how to best use these sustainability practices to your advantage at the workshop-based packaging design conference at WestPack (Feb. 10-12; Anaheim, CA). The one-day PAC Ultimate Packaging Optimization Course takes place on Wed., Feb. 11, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Anaheim Convention Center.

Sustainable packaging mavens from PAC NEXT—executive director Alan Blake and program manager Rachel Morier—will run the four sessions:

1. Why packaging optimization? Explore the need for optimization at each step in the supply chain, including e-commerce models.

2. Taking a life-cycle approach. This session will describe how you can best leverage the Global Packaging Protocol for Sustainability. It also will give an overview of available life-cycle analysis tools.

3. Design for recovery, recycling and waste reduction. Garbage in, garbage out? That might apply to research data but not to packaging design. Learn how to make packages more recyclable to begin with.

4. The complete life cycle—Putting it all together. Now armed with the information and tools you need, you be given the key (a toolkit) to setting up and maintaining a successful and sustainable packaging optimization strategy.

The intensive learning sessions are expertly taught by instructors who have been there and done that. Before joining PAC NEXT as executive director in 2012, Blake led Procter & Gamble’s global sustainability program during his 30-year career there. Morier holds a masters degree in environmental studies from York University and has a graduate diploma in business and the environment from the Schulich School of Business. Her thesis research focused on the dynamic interplay of sustainable packaging and consumer behavior.

Register for the PAC Ultimate Packaging Optimization Course at pdlinks.com/PACWestPack.