PKN Packaging News: The Podcast

In this episode, Lindy Hughson, managing editor & publisher of PKN Packaging News, talks with Brian Lowe, the CEO of Orora, about their recently posted results for the first half of the financial year.

We start the episode with a snapshot of Orora's successful first half results and the key contributing factors, despite the challenge of a reduction in wine bottle production due to tariffs on Australian wine imposed by China. This leads to a discussion of Orora's moves into new sectors of glass bottle production, the strong demand for cans and the performance of their North American business.

Continuing to look at external factors, Brian describes Orora's approach to operating during COVID, including their focus on health and safety along with the use of wearable technology. We also look at the increased costs of raw materials, supply chain disruption and how the company is managing these issues.

We wrap the episode reviewing Orora's sustainability goals and initiatives, their sustainability framework, reduction of emissions and use of recycled content, including their involvement in Container Deposit Schemes. Brian also tells us about their culture of innovation and the ability for all employees to contribute ideas for improvement.

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The PKN Podcast is produced by Southern Skies Media on behalf of PKN Packaging News, owned and published by Yaffa Media.

The views of the people featured on this podcast do not necessarily represent the views of PKN Packaging News, Yaffa Media, or the guest’s employer. The contents are copyright by Yaffa Media.

If you wish to use any of this podcast’s audio, please contact PKN Packaging News via their website www.packagingnews.com.au or send an email to [email protected].

MC: Grant McHerron

Host: Lindy Hughson

Producer: Steve Visscher

PKN Packaging News - © 2022

In this episode, Lindy Hughson, managing editor & publisher of PKN Packaging News, talks with Richie Vandenberg, CEO of The Hidden Sea, about the wine company and its partnership with ReSea to fund ocean clean-up based on their sales volume.

We start with Richie telling us how he transitioned from being the captain of the Hawthorn AFL team to running a sustainable wine company and supporting plastic-free oceans. We then move on to The Hidden Sea's partnership with ReSea, the funding arrangement and how the process of plastic removal is verified. Richie also describes The Hidden Sea's goal to remove the equivalent of 1 billion plastic bottles by 2030 and their progress to date.

The discussion then moves on to the story of The Hidden Sea, the wines they produce, the design of their packaging and the significance of the whale depicted in their packaging design. We also review the company's sustainability goals and how they're reducing the environmental impact of their packaging.

We wrap the episode by looking at The Hidden Sea's future growth plans within Australia and globally, along with the importance of brands demonstrating leadership in sustainability and engaging with their customers.

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The PKN Podcast is produced by Southern Skies Media on behalf of PKN Packaging News, owned and published by Yaffa Media.

The views of the people featured on this podcast do not necessarily represent the views of PKN Packaging News, Yaffa Media, or the guest’s employer. The contents are copyright by Yaffa Media.

If you wish to use any of this podcast’s audio, please contact PKN Packaging News via their website www.packagingnews.com.au or send an email to [email protected].

MC: Grant McHerron

Host: Lindy Hughson

Producer: Steve Visscher

PKN Packaging News - © 2022

In this episode, Lindy Hughson, managing editor & publisher of PKN Packaging News, talks with Nerida Kelton, executive director of the Australian Institute of Packaging (AIP), about recognising ANZ packaging innovation & design through the prestigious Australasian Packaging Innovation and Design (PIDA) Awards.

The episode starts with a brief history of the awards and their value as a gateway to the global WorldStar Packaging Awards coordinated by the World Packaging Organisation. Nerida highlights the success ANZ companies have enjoyed on the global stage, noting the ANZ region is punching above its weight.

We cover this year's awards categories for entrants, the special awards, the "Outside the Box" category and, of course, the most coveted awards and scholarships on offer.

The discussion moves on to cover the importance of accessibility and inclusive design criteria, how the awards help drive action to achieve the 2025 National Packaging Targets and the importance of design in reducing food waste. We then move on to education and training that can be achieved through design, how the awards encourage small and medium businesses to improve their packaging designs and what's new in this year's awards.

The episode wraps with a look at who should enter, the special awards on offer, and the major market trends reflected in the range of winning entries.

You can enter the 2022 PIDA awards via the AIP's website: aipack.com.au/2022-pida-awards/

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The PKN Podcast is produced by Southern Skies Media on behalf of PKN Packaging News, owned and published by Yaffa Media.

The views of the people featured on this podcast do not necessarily represent the views of PKN Packaging News, Yaffa Media, or the guest’s employer. The contents are copyright by Yaffa Media.

If you wish to use any of this podcast’s audio, please contact PKN Packaging News via their website www.packagingnews.com.au or send an email to [email protected].

MC: Grant McHerron

Host: Lindy Hughson

Editor: Chris Visscher

Producer: Steve Visscher

PKN Packaging News - © 2022

In this episode, Lindy Hughson, managing editor & publisher of PKN Packaging News, talks with Joe Foster, CEO of the newly listed Close the Loop Group on circular integration, take back programs and the group's many engagements and initiatives.

We open the episode by discussing the merger of Close the Loop & OF Packaging, leading to the listing on the ASX of the new entity called Close The Loop Group. Joe reviews the group's use of funds from the listing to buy other companies that contribute to the group's circular integration goals.

The topics covered include specialised take back programs around flexible intermediate bulk containers, working with REDcycle and the group's engagement with print cartridge manufacturers along with their investment in equipment to assist with eWaste recycling in North America, Europe and Australia. Joe also discusses the difference between pre-consumer and post-consumer waste and their ability to recycle contaminated post-consumer waste into new packaging.

We wrap the episode with a look at the group's engagement with Roll 'n' Recycle and Zero Co, along with the importance of working with the entrepreneurs driving new recycling opportunities, the importance of consumer education and a look at what's next for Close The Loop Group.

Close the Loop plant tour: www.packagingnews.com.au/sustainability/close-the-loop-shows-circular-economy-in-action

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The PKN Podcast is produced by Southern Skies Media on behalf of PKN Packaging News, owned and published by Yaffa Media.

The views of the people featured on this podcast do not necessarily represent the views of PKN Packaging News, Yaffa Media, or the guest’s employer. The contents are copyright by Yaffa Media.

If you wish to use any of this podcast’s audio, please contact PKN Packaging News via their website www.packagingnews.com.au or send an email to [email protected].

MC: Grant McHerron

Host: Lindy Hughson

Editor: Chris Visscher

Producer: Steve Visscher

PKN Packaging News - © 2022

In this episode, Lindy Hughson, managing editor & publisher of PKN Packaging News, talks with Brooke Donnelly, chief executive officer of the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO), and sustainability consultant Dr Helen Lewis, about Australia's progress towards the 2025 national packaging targets.

We start the episode with a review of the Collective Impact study and its recently released report on Australia's progress towards the 2025 targets. This includes the economic impact of sending potentially recyclable/reusable products to landfill and a breakdown of materials sent to landfill to identify areas where new efforts are required.

Brooke and Helen discuss the current progress towards each target and differences in reductions achieved by material, along with the impacts from increased consumption, areas for improvement and a breakdown of the main challenges to consider for each target. This leads to a review of the efforts required to meet the targets, including driving packaging product design, increased education and new or improved industrial mechanisms for processing materials.

We then move on to the response to the report from industry and various interest groups, the benefits achieved to date from the benchmarking and statistics gathered to date, the need for alternative systems to drive recycling and possible methods for incentivising the use of recycled content over virgin materials.

The episode wraps with acknowledgements of the progress made to date, the willingness to change from consumers and industry along with the hope this provides that we will meet the targets in 2025.

The Collective Impact report document can be found at: documents.packagingcovenant.org.au/public-documents/APCO%20Collective%20Impact%20Report

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The PKN Podcast is produced by Southern Skies Media on behalf of PKN Packaging News, owned and published by Yaffa Media.

The views of the people featured on this podcast do not necessarily represent the views of PKN Packaging News, Yaffa Media, or the guest’s employer. The contents are copyright by Yaffa Media.

If you wish to use any of this podcast’s audio, please contact PKN Packaging News via their website www.packagingnews.com.au or send an email to [email protected].

MC: Grant McHerron

Host: Lindy Hughson

Editor: Domenic Pernasilici

Producer: Steve Visscher

PKN Packaging News - © 2021

Episode Title:

How soft plastics can come full circle, with REDcycle’s Liz Kasell.

Show Notes:

In this episode, Lindy Hughson, managing editor & publisher of PKN Packaging News, talks with Liz Kasell, the CEO and founder of REDcycle, a Melbourne-based consulting and recycling organisation that has over the last ten years developed and implemented recovery initiatives for post-consumer soft plastic across Australia with over 1900 collection points, mostly in Coles and Woolworths supermarkets.

At the time of recording, REDcycle has just announced its merger with advanced recycling pioneer iQ Renew, and here Liz outlines the terms of the merger and how this will add impetus to both companies’ efforts to help industry achieve Australia’s 2025 National Packaging Target for soft plastics recycling. Through this powerful collaboration, REDcycle hopes to accelerate and leverage the key competencies of both organisations to achieve better outcomes than what is possible in isolation.

Liz talks about the need for robust and resilient pull-through of recycled content products throughout the value chain to create a successful circular economy. She urges all stakeholders to play their part by going out of their way to search for and buy recycled content products, so driving end-market demand. Liz also talks about how this switch in industry behaviour would be beneficial to the overall Australian economy as more jobs are created and more manufacturing is stimulated with less dependence on exported materials.

We wrap the episode up with Liz’s plans for REDcycle and her expectations for the company in the next ten years. Liz hopes to expand her collaboration with organisations to include more Australian citizens who could become a crucial part of the end market journey by making material circularity a reality.

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The PKN Podcast is produced by Southern Skies Media on behalf of PKN Packaging News, owned and published by Yaffa Media.

The views of the people featured on this podcast do not necessarily represent the views of PKN Packaging News, Yaffa Media, or the guest’s employer. The contents are copyright by Yaffa Media.

If you wish to use any of this podcast’s audio, please contact PKN Packaging News via their website www.packagingnews.com.au or send an email to [email protected].

MC: Grant McHerron

Host: Lindy Hughson

Producer: Steve Visscher

PKN Packaging News - © 2021

In this episode, Lindy Hughson, managing editor & publisher of PKN Packaging News, talks with Andrew Manly, Communications Director of the Active & Intelligent Packaging Industry Association (AIPIA) on the digitisation of packaging

We commence with Andrew providing an overview of AIPIA's formation and history before discussing the multiple formats of intelligent, or smart, packaging, including RFID, NFC, printed antennas and digital devices plus even improved QR codes. Andrew highlights the various sophisticated and ubiquitous technologies along with the emergence of consortia and collaboration amongst companies providing the many components required to implement and support smart packaging.

The conversation covers the reductions in pricing and increases in capabilities being experienced as the smart packaging technologies develop and the improvement in consumer engagement they provide. Andrew notes the need for a strategic focus on delivering smart packaging and the adoption of a holistic approach to identify opportunities for consumer education about the benefits being offered.

We review a number of examples of smart packaging campaigns, the advanced level of Australian projects, the need to further reduce the price of smart packaging and how digitisation of packaging is facilitating the use of QR codes. The episode wraps with a discussion of the AIPIA congress being held on-line on 16th November and Andrew's views on integrating smart packaging within production lines and sustainable smart packaging.

You can access the AIPIA website via: www.aipia.info and the Program Smart Packaging Online Congress agenda via: www.aipia.info/congress-exhibition-program.php

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The PKN Podcast is produced by Southern Skies Media on behalf of PKN Packaging News, owned and published by Yaffa Media.

The views of the people featured on this podcast do not necessarily represent the views of PKN Packaging News, Yaffa Media, or the guest’s employer. The contents are copyright by Yaffa Media.

If you wish to use any of this podcast’s audio, please contact PKN Packaging News via their website www.packagingnews.com.au or send an email to [email protected].

MC: Grant McHerron

Host: Lindy Hughson

Editor: Chris Visscher

Producer: Steve Visscher

PKN Packaging News - © 2021

In this episode, Lindy Hughson, managing editor & publisher of PKN Packaging News, talks with Dr Kim Borg from the Monash Sustainable Development Institute’s research enterprise Behaviour Works Australia, about the recent research into the impact of tailored messaging on consumers' approach to single-use plastics.

The research study was led by Dr Borg, along with colleagues Professor Jo Lindsay and Dr Jim Curtis and was conducted among 1,001 Victorian adults to determine how media content about plastic could influence perceptions, intentions and behaviours of two groups — ‘plastic users’ and ‘plastic avoiders’.

This in-depth interview not only aims at finding out the why and how behind the research but also discusses the intriguing results. Dr Borg explains the process of ensuring the results would be conclusive, including deducing different types of consumers and assessing various communication tactics on them.

The conversation turns to considering the effect that COVID-19 has had in reversing the trend to reusable packaging, due to the increased use of single-use plastic products for takeaway products driven by the hygiene-first ideology.

We wrap the episode with recommendations for environmental communicators on messaging against unnecessary and problematic (difficult to recycle) single-use plastics and introducing positive change for society.

The research findings have been published in the paper Targeted Change: Using Behavioral Segmentation to Identify and Understand Plastic Consumers and How They Respond to Media Communications in the journal Environmental Communication which can be found at: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17524032.2021.1956558

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The PKN Podcast is produced by Southern Skies Media on behalf of PKN Packaging News, owned and published by Yaffa Media.

The views of the people featured on this podcast do not necessarily represent the views of PKN Packaging News, Yaffa Media, or the guest’s employer. The contents are copyright by Yaffa Media.

If you wish to use any of this podcast’s audio, please contact PKN Packaging News via their website www.packagingnews.com.au or send an email to [email protected].

MC: Grant McHerron

Host: Lindy Hughson

Editor: Chris Visscher

Producer: Steve Visscher

PKN Packaging News - © 2021

In this episode, Lindy Hughson, managing editor & publisher of PKN Packaging News, talks with Sam Aloschi, managing director Asia Pacific at Ravenwood Packaging, and Michael Dossor, group general manager at Result Group, about the expanding role of linerless labels in reducing packaging waste.

We start the episode with some background on both companies, their partnership and the variety of labels available to Australian packaging companies to suit a broad range of products and conditions. The discussion then moves on to Ravenwood's solid footprint in the protein sector and vacuum sealed packaging along with its next big growth areas, like fresh food packaging.

Sam and Michael talk about opportunities for growth of linerless labels including new sectors and formats along with increased use on fibre and boards, not just with plastic packaging. This leads to benefits such as capital savings and increased flexibility, along with the dramatic increase in sustainability through reduction of waste.

Sam also talks about Ravenwood's Circle of Linerless approach which provides a one-stop shop for customers from evaluation through to purchase, installation, use of sustainable materials and their performance guarantee. The discussion acknowledges that linerless labels are not the solution for every need but is continuously expanding the sectors it can support.

We wrap the episode by looking at the barriers to conversion, the versatility of linerless systems and that this is a tried and tested technology offering improved sustainability and risk-free implementation.

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The PKN Podcast is produced by Southern Skies Media on behalf of PKN Packaging News, owned and published by Yaffa Media.

The views of the people featured on this podcast do not necessarily represent the views of PKN Packaging News, Yaffa Media, or the guest’s employer. The contents are copyright by Yaffa Media.

If you wish to use any of this podcast’s audio, please contact PKN Packaging News via their website www.packagingnews.com.au or send an email to [email protected].

MC: Grant McHerron

Host: Lindy Hughson

Producer: Steve Visscher

PKN Packaging News - © 2021

In this episode, Lindy Hughson, managing editor & publisher of PKN Packaging News, talks with Arnaud Gay, head of marketing and systems solutions at Thomas Warburton, and Praveen Kannan, market project manager at SICK Australia, about Industry 4.0, RFID technology the benefits they can bring to the packaging supply chain.

We start the episode with an overview of the two companies and the establishment of their partnership to bring smart factory technology to the packaging supply chain. Their new Inventory Management System uses Industry 4.0 and RFID technologies to automate and secure the Kanban lean manufacturing process.

The conversation covers the improvements offered through improved tracking of assets, easier inventory management and increased efficiencies. These improvements, in turn, increase an organisation's agility and its ability to meet ever changing customer demands.

Arnaud and Praveen note that the companies investing in Industry 4.0 technologies are better positioned to adapt to supply chain disruptions and that, with over a decade of these technologies being deployed, Industry 4.0 represents a proven and sustainable way forward.

We wrap the episode with the observation that an investment in these technologies by manufacturing companies will far outweigh the costs they will incur if they cannot evolve with the changing business environment.

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The PKN Podcast is produced by Southern Skies Media on behalf of PKN Packaging News, owned and published by Yaffa Media.

The views of the people featured on this podcast do not necessarily represent the views of PKN Packaging News, Yaffa Media, or the guest’s employer. The contents are copyright by Yaffa Media.

If you wish to use any of this podcast’s audio, please contact PKN Packaging News via their website www.packagingnews.com.au or send an email to [email protected].

MC: Grant McHerron

Host: Lindy Hughson

Editor: Chris Visscher

Producer: Steve Visscher

PKN Packaging News - © 2021