Last month Senior Project Manager Minal Mistry and I spent ten days in Hong Kong launching the Asian premiere of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition’s popular training course, The Essentials of Sustainable Packaging. SPC members had suggested bringing the course to China as part of the SPC’s International Education and Outreach initiative, and it brought the total number of countries in which the course has been offered to … More
I recently attended the Store Brands Decisions Innovation and Marketing Summit in Chicago, IL, through which I gained a greater appreciation for private label brands, also called store brands or own brands. The Summit brought together a really interesting group of speakers, that included a number of retailers with successful store brands including Walmart, Family Dollar, and Office Max. The first misconception the speakers shattered … More
Over the past few years of presenting on sustainability in packaging at conferences across the US, I’ve seen a marked increase in the general knowledge about sustainability. Audiences are engaged in more nuanced dialogue, yet the focus remains US-based, or at times expanding to include European activities. If other parts of the world—particularly the set of countries designated as developing—enter the conversation, the reaction tends … More