Sustainable Packaging Summit Utretch Netherlands November 10-12 , 2025

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Transcript

0:10

Welcome to Sustainable Packaging with Cory Connors. Today's guest is my friend and return, guest. Tim Sykes, the brand director of Packaging Europe. Welcome, sir. Hi, Cory. How you doing? So good. It's great to see you. We, we do, we get to do this every year and we get to talk about your great event and you, and what the team at Packaging Europe is doing. I talk about this often, how the team in that you work with are leading the way, telling us about the great, the newest innovations and, in sustainable packaging and more. And, can't wait to talk about this event, but let's talk about what is. Packaging Europe. And what is your role there? So Packaging Europe is the leading packaging information and education platform in Europe. and we have a mission to, to try to be a partner for the whole value chain. Everyone who's involved in packaging to educate them on. The huge strategic demands that the packaging as an industry has to face and provide answers to, and to bring together expertise, to, to equip the whole value chain to, to come up faster with. More effective, solutions to those problems. and over the years, as it would be no surprise to you, Corey, sustainability has become more and more essential to that. Although, at the same time as being, of low environmental impact packaging still has to fulfill all of the other things that it was invented for in the first place. So, as as well as I do, it's a never ending, conversation between all of these different, challenges. And, it's never boring in the world of packaging, is it? No. It's always something new, always something exciting. Sometimes things that are scary, like, extended producer responsibility, and, they're confusing and daunting, overwhelming, these things. but what your team does is they set up an event that. That makes it so, people get real value and real knowledge. I think it's the highest amount of true information and data and, new info at really, I think, well, it's certainly one of the top, but. This year we're doing it in a different city, not Amsterdam, this year, somewhere near Amsterdam called Utretch , November 10th through 12th. this is a move. why the new location? Let's talk about that. Yeah. So first of all, it's not a very big move. Retis, even by European standards and everything's closer together in Europe, ure is pretty close to Amsterdam. And in fact, from Amsterdam, Schipol Airport, it's basically the same distance as, the train from there to Amsterdam Central. Oh. so, if you're concerned about how to get there, it's very easy. and that will take, not much time at all. That's good. It's, Ure. Utretch is a really beautiful city. it's a smaller city and a miniature Amsterdam. It's also got a nice canal running through it and all of the old architecture, and, nice place to, to hang out for a few days. But the reason that we, we made the move is really primarily because the event is growing. So in the three editions we've had. So far of the Sustainable Packaging Summit, it's gone from about 250 people, to growing three times. So it was 750 or so last year. And we're Congratulations. Anticipating, thank you. Yeah. And we're anticipating that it will continue to grow like that. So we basically need more space to accommodate that. another thing that we were thinking about, and we're a. We're, packaging information company rather than a events organizer. So we've been on a, a learning arc, as we've started to create the Sustainable Packaging Summit, and it's always a work in progress. One of the things that we've really come to appreciate more and more through listening to our attendees is how important the networking aspect of it is. So I think maybe the first time we put on the summit, all of our focus was on. Curating really, valuable conversations on stage. And then, we let people go and have coffee. But actually the, the balance between those two things is much more equal. yes. And so we, this year we're trying to create more time for networking, but also to, to create a more friendly, exciting platform for that. And in the. Form of more social events, maybe a bit of partying. And the, venue that we've chosen has got a lot more capabilities for those kinds of things. It all, it even has a, underlit dance floor, which, I'm still lobbying the operations team for us to, to include that in some form in the, social events. Maybe that's where we can have our new innovation stage. That sounds wonderful. You'll have to dance up onto the show, to onto the stage. we could have a dance off, couldn't we? Between, competing, competing startups or something. Yeah. I love it. I'm in, let's do it. So, that's, I think you answered my next question already. What are some new, exciting things we can expect? I think that's, really cool, really innovative, and I agree. it's top-notch education and, networking as well with some of the top minds in the world for packaging. As we know in America, we are all often looking towards Europe for, Lessons, lessons learned in things like PPWR and EPR We're way further ahead in, in a lot of that aspect. So we're looking towards, Europe for, maybe advice on what to do and what not to do. as you've tried a lot more things than we have. Alright? Yeah. and sometimes there are lessons learned from mistakes made, aren't there? Like the first adopter of something is going to, To experience some of the pitfalls and say, don't do that. we've already failed there. Yeah. I'd say that, overall, if you're asking about, what's new this year? First of all, the basic principles and mission of the event are more or less the same. We want to bring together the whole value chain, the leading stakeholders across, materials, packaging users, and also the key stakeholders from outside packaging that. That need to be part of that conversation or impacting what we can deliver, like, regulators and recyclers and EPR, and very much bringing together with a focus on very open discussion, being frank about, what's not working, what we can do better, what we could do, what adjustments we could make to get where we're going faster. And yeah, really focusing on impact and taking both the big picture, the strategic topics of, where we're going. And looking at some of the more concrete challenges and the more, material focused or innovation focused things in terms of. Things that may be slightly change of focus from previous years. I'd say we are leaning more and more into global perspectives as we, curate this event. And I think we've always been conscious that sustainability is, global problem with global impacts and where people from all over the world need to come together to find solutions. And I think that's even more important. In 2025 when we've got a year of quite a lot of global volatility and fragmentation, and, Yeah, a certain amount of losing momentum in some of our, sustainability challenges. So, making sure that we keep in touch and continue to have those kind of conversations, I think is really important. so yeah, we have, a partnership with the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, who, obviously you, you and your North American listeners will know, an incredible organization doing. huge work, in, in driving collaboration and gaining knowledge, practical knowledge in how to drive sustainability. so they will be a partner and curating, several sessions and bringing their experts and that net their network, to, Our European and global audience we're also, in a partnership with, Chinese counterparts where, we think that China is, increasingly important player, with its own sustainability journey underway with very different experience, but also huge, manufacturing and, innovation capabilities. So we will have, Chinese voices at the event and we'll be looking to learn from each other and, we'll have. Participants from Africa, Latin America, India, Australia, even. so it's gonna be very, international, not just a European event. in terms of specific topics that you can look forward to, I'm very interested in some of the big picture panels that we have. So in, in Europe at the moment, a lot of stakeholders are really preoccupied with PPWR, as you already mentioned, and 2030 targets, which are quite. Challenging to meet, but I think there's a danger that we become so preoccupied with the immediate demands that we start to forget about where we're trying to go eventually. And that those 20, 2030 targets. Aren't the end point of this journey. So we have one panel where we're talking about where should we be in 20 years and what should the sustainable packaging landscape look like in 2045? and what decisions should we be making at the moment to make sure that we get to that point, which is really, more important than the That's great. First step to 2030. we have another panel where, because of this, you know, global volatility. Tariffs, et cetera. That we are looking at, where we're thinking about beyond the packaging regulation landscape and packaging business, what does the global geopolitical trade, macroeconomic landscape look like? and we'll have some business leadership who maybe aren't, the packaging. Experts, but talking about that broader, picture. And we also have the Europeans, commission, the European Union's Commissioner, for the environment. Jessika . Roswall will be Oh, wow. Speaking from, quite a high level political point of view, on that. that's very important. And we'll have, yeah, I think so. I think so. because ultimately these big forces that are. Above the pay grade of those of us who are thinking about more narrowly about packaging, are often gonna be, shaping what's possible and giving, There's nothing we need to understand, that sort of broader world that we're living in, to, to think about, the realistic decisions that we can make. yeah. And as much as we think we can do it all ourselves, we need to involve the government and we need to work with them to make this actually really successful. Yeah. and we need to know what's realistically possible, in business at the moment, and where the friction is coming from, where the barriers are. But it's not all big picture. So we will also be talk, talking about, Key issues around packaging materials and Dissecting the implications of things like paper, what we've learned in Europe about driving secular economy and plastics and what's still difficult to solve. and learning lessons from reuse case studies that hopefully can be emulated, and then digging even more. Deeply into detail. we will have breakout sessions where we have things like round tables that are exploring much more concrete and narrow topics. and to give one example, we'll have a, a session where we are looking at the wide range of solutions in paper bottles and understanding, the different kinds of technologies, that you have in that format. And, what the outlook for that market niche might look like. there's so much content available that if, I would recommend that companies send at least two people to your event because you need to be in two places at once. There's so much to learn, and you need to divide and conquer to really absorb it all and, and then come back together and take share notes because, it's what you put together is, incredible and worth, it's a must attend. Thank you. Thank you, Corey. In fact, one, one thing that we have changed is that we have a lot more content in plenary session now. So, as I said, it's always a work in progress. We're always listening to, feedback from our audience, and one of the adjustments we've made is that some people who didn't send two colleagues basically felt frustrated that they were always missing half of the content. Sure. So. This time it will be three quarters of it will be plenary session. And then we'll have, each day we'll have one breakout session where you have a choice of three different, streams to go into. So if you can't send, if you can't send your colleague as well, then you shouldn't be missing out on quite so much as you used to. That's nice. That's good news. And I think it, it's worth it. So big focus this year on new innovations. I think this is, something different this year. I'm going to be on stage interviewing new startup companies and new, service and material innovators. Can you speak to that and tell the world what's happening there? Yeah, certainly. And innovation's always been a key part of the event. we have our award ceremony for the sustainability awards as part of the events where we, reveal the winners across a range of categories. and Corey, you've supported that as a judge for several years along with difficult this year. Difficult. Yeah. lots of diversity there. and that's also something that's become more and more global. And I think that's a really good sign that we're seeing, we've seen this year finalists from China, Ethiopia, as well as so many great innovation North America. So, yeah, that's clearly a big trend. But, In addition to, to, to that. And in addition to, the innovation focus we have on the plenary stage, we will also be, greatly expanding our exhibition space this year. And I guess I, when I think about exhibition halls, I think about trade fairs and that's one thing where I think we see ourselves as. Doing something slightly different. It's not really primarily about a place where you go and look at a load of booths, but it's a broad platform where there's a lot of opportunities to, gain knowledge, exchange knowledge, and really learn about cutting edge innovation. so for example, we will have the section where we have, some academic research posters. there will be a startup zone there. We'll have, a sort of small exhibit showing some of the leading Chinese innovators. We will have curated networking sessions, on this, exhibition space. And as you alluded to, we're going to be launching a new stage there, which we're calling the emerging tech zone. Where we will have a series of talks throughout the, the lunch and networking breaks, from, really exciting startups and, Innovators. and, it's my understanding that is going to be hosted by, a world renowned packaging sustainability expert who's also a major podcaster and TikTok celebrity. That guy's awesome. Yeah. No, yeah, I've heard great things about him. I think he's called. Cory Connors. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, Corey, it would be great to have you back, at the event and contributing to the content that we have there. Thank you, sir. And I'm also, have plans to exploit your. Facility for never saying no to anything, to maybe get you to curate some other content as well, but we'll talk about that offline. I'm honored to, I'm honored to be asked and so excited to be there. I think what you, what you've been talking about is exactly right. it's one of the premier events in the world for sustainable packaging. It's a must attend. It's a, and to be at the forefront. Of the stage, the emerging tech zone. I couldn't be happier because that's exactly where I want to be. I wanna learn about all these things, but right as they come out and, be able to tell the world what's really happening. But I wanted to ask you, who should go to your event and how do they sign up? Yeah, so I guess one of the USPS of our event is that we tend to get higher seniority of attendees. And speakers. So it's a really great place to speak with real decision makers. but also it's, a great place where you have access to those kinds of senior people, right? if you want to collaborate with them or, pitch to them or whatever else. And I think it's also really important that we are open to new voices and younger perspectives, who can give us, a different angle on this big conversation we're all involved in. And who will, grow up to be. The next leaders of, right. the packaging industry. So I think it's, it's a great place for senior people to come to. but it's also somewhere where we hope to have quite a diverse audience in terms of age and, their job profile and things like that. I agree. it's also for the whole value chain. So I think it's really important and part the DNA of the events that the whole value chain comes together to. Learn from each other, and to come away understanding each other's perspectives and capabilities and limitations and the kinds of headaches that, that they have, which are different from each other's. if we're going to ultimately make decisions that benefit our businesses as well as meeting our environmental obligations. So, so yeah, we tend to have quite a cross section of the value chain with, from the Dow chemicals. To the packaging producers and the machinery companies and a lot of brand owners and retailers coming along as well. and yeah, for me, everyone at the Sustainable Packaging Summit is an active participant. It's not a place where you have your speakers and then you have people just passively listening to them and learning from them. Right. There's so much that we all have to learn from each other, whether that's technical expertise different experience, background in different sort of systemic contexts or the different kinds of insights you get from different geographies. we all need to under, learn from each other. We've all got stuff to learn from everyone else, and we've all got things that no one else knows. And for me, the most satisfying thing about the summit and the thing that makes me most proud is when I'm actually not talking, not on stage, but when I'm seeing the people talking to each other and Really witnessing what I find quite an exciting phenomenon of. Seeing a kind of community growing around that, that ethos of the event and buying into that idea of mutual learning and Breaking down the barriers. So, yeah. In short, everyone should attend. Yeah. And, please make sure if you do go, Use your time. well, to, to engage with everyone else around you. I agree. and you also asked how to sign up. yeah, so you can do that through the events website, which is www dot packaging Summit earth slash 2025. Or you can find, packaging Europe or the Sustainable Packaging Summit on LinkedIn, and there'll be lots of links to it there. And finally, I was going to mention that exclusive to listeners, to the World's Finest Packaging Sustainability, podcast. There's a discount. A discount. Oh, discount. So, listeners to Corey's podcast can get a 20% discount on any kind of ticket, which can be redeemed through the discount code Cory C 20. So that's C-O-R-Y-C 2 zero. Wow. That's amazing. Very generous of you, sir. Thank you. And I did wanna mention, Tim, that you do an awesome job on stage. but you do such a great job, as an mc and it's so fun and you're so educated, and it's just, I've learned a lot from you how to, moderate how to run a panel and how to lead. So well done. Well. That's very kind of you. I think as I said, we learned from our mistakes and so I've, it certainly didn't, come that easily to me. I'm not a natural, person who enjoys the limelight, but you do it enough times, you start to get used to, to that environment. Yeah. You've gotten great at it. Well, thank you sir. Great having you on, and I look forward to seeing you. It's a pleasure, tret. yeah, see you in November, Corey. And yeah. Thank you. Take care. Bye.