Packaging

Save the Date for the SPC Spring Meeting 2012!

Next year’s SPC Spring Meeting will take place in Toronto April 23-25, and everyone is invited to join us! We already have an exciting agenda shaping up. Bob Willard, founder of Sustainability Advantage and internationally recognized speaker and advisor on corporate aspects of sustainability, will keynote the event. Other confirmed speakers include leaders from the Canadian Boreal Forestry Agreement, as well as Erin Schrode, co-founder of Teens Turning Green and New York University undergraduate, who will speak on the influence the millennial generation has on corporate sustainability brands, of which packaging is an essential element. The agenda will also including sessions on EPR and Canadian Product Stewardship, trans-national shipping and pallet regulation, and alternative end-of-life options for plastic recovery. Stay tuned for more meeting updates as we announce the complete agenda. Registration will open in early December. We hope to see you this spring for the packaging event of the year!

Forest Products

Upcoming GreenBlue Forest Products Events

The new Forest Products Working Group, which officially launched last month, includes cross-industry representation of leading companies committed to addressing unmet needs in the forest products sector. The next in-person meeting for founding members is scheduled for December 14 in Boston. The group will begin seeking additional members in early 2012, but please feel free to contact us for more information.

In addition, this year’s second Corporate Forum for Paper and the Environment will take place December 6 in New York. The Forum, which is held in collaboration with the Forest Products Association of Canada, brings together paper and pulp buyers and sellers to establish a dialogue on the current challenges and opportunities in the paper industry.

Packaging

Essentials of Sustainable Packaging: First Mexico and China Sessions This Month

The inaugural sessions of the SPC’s newly updated Essentials of Sustainable Packaging (ESP) course debut this month! The new course is a one-day version of the ESP course that has been offered in the United States and Canada since 2008 and introduces the key sustainability considerations that relate to packaging. The course was held in Mexico City earlier this week in association with the Asociación Mexicana de Envase y Embalaje (the Mexican Packaging Association). In addition, the first public sessions in Hong Kong will take place November 29 and December 1 and will be promoted via the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC). For more information on the Hong Kong courses, download the course brochure or visit the HKPC website and search for course code: 41050748 or "The Essentials of Sustainable Packaging" to register.

Tailored sessions of the course will be available in both English/Spanish and English/Mandarin starting January 2012. Any organizations interested in a customized session or those interested in being a host to a public session in any Spanish and/or Mandarin speaking regions can contact Minal Mistry directly to discuss details.