MeetingPack, the biennial meeting organised by AIMPLAS and AINIA that brings together the entire packaging value chain, will hold its fifth edition on 20 and 21 April 2022. The event will take place at the Palacio de Congresos de Valencia under a meticulous protocol for safe events. Under the title Barrier Packaging Solutions: A challenge for the circular economy MeetingPack 2022 will once again address the challenges and opportunities that the circular economy poses to the food barrier packaging sector.
The last edition of MeetingPack, held in 2019, marked its consolidation as a benchmark event thanks to the attendance of more than 350 national and international professionals. Its fifth edition, initially planned for 2021, had to be postponed as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic and will take place next April after the celebration of MeetingPack Virtual last May.
Meetingpack Virtual 2021 offered companies a strategic overview of trends in the barrier packaging sector to gain a business perspective and share the common challenges that the sector will face in the coming years. Meetingpack 2022 will offer a more technical extended approach and showcase the solutions and success stories that companies are bringing to market.
More than 30 presentations by international specialists
The programme, divided into two days, will consist of seven thematic blocks and will include the participation of more than 30 specialists in the field who will present the innovations being developed by the industry.
Those attending MeetingPack 2022 will be able to discuss the environmental sustainability of food packaging and the need to combine it with the high barrier functionality that the market demands of these products. The dialogue will be possible thanks to the spaces and breaks dedicated to networking as well as the usual question and answer sessions after each of the blocks. In addition, during the afternoon of the 19th, a welcome ceremony is planned, as well as a visit to the AIMPLAS and AINIA facilities. The congress dinner will be another of these spaces for dialogue and the framework in which RAORSA will present its SIR awards and, as a novelty, the MP2022 awards.
As in previous editions, there will be an exhibition area for innovative products and a press corner for media partners. Sponsors will also have exhibitors on hand to showcase their latest products and meet the public.
The event will begin with a keynote speech by Plastics Europe to provide an overview of European legislation affecting the sector. This will be followed by two sessions addressing the challenge of sustainability from a materials innovation approach. High-barrier solutions in the form of coatings or sealing, the use of biopolymers or the recycling of materials such as nylon will be some of the topics to be addressed by companies such as RSM, Lyondellbasell, UBE, Lubrizol, Sunchemical, Venvirotech, FKUR and Novamont.
During the afternoon, two sessions dedicated to films, sheets and trays will address challenges such as recyclability and reduction in the use of materials through presentations by professionals from companies such as Enplater Group, Leygatech, TIPA, Faerchplast, Sealed Air, Constantia Flexibles and Grupalia 4.0.
On the second day, there will be a presentation on ISBM and EBM injected packaging in which the use of industrial waste as raw material or the obtaining of sustainable PET with new functionalities will be on the table. This will be followed by a presentation on key aspects for achieving true packaging circularity, such as eco-design, recyclability and certification, including chemical recycling, the manufacture of flexible packaging with post-consumer PET and technologies such as digital watermarks for the intelligent recycling of packaging. All of this will be presented by companies such as Raorsa, ITC, Plastipak, Total Corbion, TPL, AIM European Brands Association and Veolia. The meeting will conclude with a session on success stories in which KM Zero, Calidad Pascual, Vytal and Interal will present their experiences.
Barrier packaging: a challenge for the circular economy
The wide variety of food packaging currently on the market is the result of innovation carried out by the sector to respond to the different conservation needs of each type of food, combining food safety, durability, but also functionalities adapted to consumer demands. More recently, a new factor has entered the game with great force: environmental sustainability. The result is an increasingly challenging new context for the industry, which has to bring to the market packaging that extends the shelf life of food, guarantees its safety for people, as well as new features to facilitate its consumption inside and outside the home, while having the least possible impact on the environment.
The challenges posed by this scenario to the sector have made it the central focus of the next edition of MeetingPack.
MeetingPack 2022 has the support of sponsoring companies such as RAORSA, ENPLATER GROUP, LEYGATECH, UBE, RSM and TPL. Also, with the collaboration of entities such as AVEP (Valencian Association of Plastics Entrepreneurs), Aldelís, ANAIP (Spanish Association of Plastics Industrialists), KMZERO, PlasticsEurope, FIPA, EFE (Association of Flexible Packaging Converters), Packnet (Spanish Technological Platform for Packaging), ASOBIOCOM (Spanish Association of Compostable Biodegradable Plastics), Snacks Association, Grupo Bimbo, Clúster Alimentario de Galicia, Flexible Packaging Europe, FEDACOVA (Federación Empresarial de Agroalimentación de la CV), Plataforma Tecnológica Food For Life Spain, Grupo Nueva Pescanova, Palacios, SWP and VISCOFAN. In addition to the support of specialised media such as CÁRNICA, DULCES NOTICIAS, EPPM, EUROCARNE, FUTURENVIRO, IDE, IAMBIENTE, INTERPLAST, PACKAGING EUROPE, PLAST21, PLÁSTICOS UNIVERSALES, RETEMA, TECNOALIMEN, TECNOPACK, PLASTICS IN PACKAGING, REVISTA PLÁSTICOS MODERNOS, SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING NEWS and TECNIFOOD.
The media impact, the sponsors’ stands, the exhibition and networking area as well as the visibility that a venue such as the Palacio de Congresos provides to this fifth edition of MeetingPack are some of the main advantages that the entities that support the event will enjoy and to which new organisations can still join.
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