After almost two years at the helm of Packaging Today, I will be leaving for ‘pastures new’ as the saying goes. I have met some great people on my journey in this industry; learned a lot about packaging and its many facets, and I’ve had a lot of fun along the way.
Packaging is a fascinating industry: it touches everybody on a daily basis; but I don’t suppose for a moment that consumers know how much technology and expertise goes into the materials and machinery that is used to produce their baked bean cans, biscuit wrappers or cosmetics bottles.
Not only that, but the design skills and psychology behind the pack designs is endlessly creative: after all, it is the look of the pack that is likely to make a consumer pick up a product in the first place.
The industry, of course, did suffer in the recession, but not perhaps as much as other sectors. Even if goods are bargainbasement ranges, they still have to be packaged!
However, the variety of packaging materials, shapes, sizes, openings and designs continues to grow and become more sophisticated, and there will always be surprises from the ingenious minds that abound in the packaging industry.
Of course, sustainability – particularly waste management and energy efficiency – is on everyone’s lips, and will continue to be, as landfill sites fill up and energy supply and prices continue to be unstable. One particular area that needs to be addressed, especially in the UK, is the issue of recycling – more particularly of putting the infrastructure in place to sort the various materials ready for whatever method of disposal is most effective.
Personally, I believe that safe incineration is the way forward, although it is understandable that consumers don’t want these plants ‘in their back yards’.
I have faith in science to find safe and efficient ways to dispose of waste; and to produce renewable energy for the future. Often it is government that holds it back – or at the very least is not very encouraging.
Mainland Europe has a much better track record than the UK, but the government has just issued a Waste Review in an attempt to improve the recycling rates of mixed plastics. It is a start, but industry bodies have given it a lukewarm response in general (see our News pages).
So, I will say my farewell to all I have worked with. Thank you for your support of the magazine. And please keep in touch, as I am likely to still be around in the packaging arena in the future.
Maureen Byrne,
Editor
Maureen Byrne
