London Packaging Week, Interplas and PPMA 2023

Hannah Lord reports on London Packaging Week, Interplas and PPMA 2023.

Recently I attended the 2023 London Packaging Week, Interplas and PPMA (Processing & Packaging Machinery Association) shows all taking place in September. The underlying theme of these events was sustainability, specifically how to reduce waste within the plastic and packaging industries. 

London Packaging Week 2023 took place on 21-22 September highlighting sustainable innovation where DS Smith emphasised the need to design circularity into products. Eviosys spoke about sustainable packaging solutions, and Abel & Cole with Dizzie promoted a reusable packaging service for retailers. Defra discussed opportunities to work with the government to shape future resources and waste policy, and a panel with On-Pack Recycling Label (OPRL), The Waste and Resources Action Program (WRAP) and Plastic Bank questioned what the packaging goal is and how the industry might get there.

Interplas 2023 and PPMA Show 2023 took place between 26-28 September. I attended talks similarly focused on topics such as circularity and sustainability, including on how the plastic processing industry can help to reduce emissions and achieve net-zero. Plastic Bank spoke at Interplas as well as London Packaging Week and included some important statistics.

One of these was 150m tonnes of plastic waste is currently in our oceans with an additional 12m tonnes entering every year; and humans ingest 5 grams of microplastics every week, the equivalent of the weight of a credit card. Advances in physical and chemical plastics recycling were presented, and it was determined that multiple recycling processes are necessary. Plastics Europe chaired a panel on how lifecycle analysis is useful for choosing the most responsible plastics to use. PPMA focused on technology, business and sales focussed talks, however sustainability was still the fundamental topic.

Attending each show was very beneficial with many varying stalls, reinforcing the need for a more efficient Materials Cycle. Other common theme included how industries, different sized businesses, and individual people can improve their practices to help reduce waste and lower emissions.

Hannah Lord, IOM3