Pro Carton at Packaging Innovations Zürich, April 2019

Fairs like Packaging Innovations in Zurich are always a great opportunity to connect with decision makers in the industry. It was a pleasure to be able to display all the winners of the European Carton Excellence Awards and the Pro Carton Young Designers Award 2018 on the Pro Carton stand this year. Visitors were especially impressed by the cartons that look to reduce oil-based plastics in food packaging, for example the category winners: „Pop Up Cup“ /Fast/Convenience Foods, “MA Food Tray” /Innovative Material, “Zoe & Zazu Goat Cheese Packaging” /Frozen & Chilled Foods and” Flatskin” /Save the Planet. Link: https://www.procarton.com/awards/carton-excellence-award/2018/ Our publications were very popular, so much so that we had to control the number given out to make sure they weren’t all gone in the first day! We handed out the Pro Carton Magazine, the Award brochure and our latest Consumer Attitude study with both German and English versions being available. Highlight was the keynote speech from Pro Carton General Manager Tony Hitchin, (specially invited as a guest by the organisers) to talk about the benefits of fibre based packaging. Key take-aways of his presentation were:

• Recyclability is not the same as sustainability
• Fossil fuel plastics can't be truly sustainable
• We need to embrace the principles of the circular economy
• Customers want cartonboard packaging and are willing to pay for it
• Consumers say that Brands and Retailers are not doing enough to introduce more environmentally friendly packaging
• Cartonboard is renewable, recyclable and biodegradable