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Conceptual Packaging - A Creative Type Company

NEWS

Packaging Industry Coalition Seeks "Sustainable"Approach

GreenBlue, represented at the retreat by James Ewell (standing at left), maintains that principles found in the productive systems of nature should guide the design of human-made products and packaging.

Last November, a group of two dozen packaging professionals met at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business Administration to form an ongoing working group dedicated to sustainable packaging. The attendees, representing the packaging value chain from paper and resin manufacturers to consumer product companies, ended their two-day retreat by announcing the formation of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, an initiative that has the participation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The Coalition said that its twofold mission would be to advocate and communicate a positive, robust environmental vision for packaging; and to leverage innovative, functional packaging materials and systems that support economic and environmental health. One of the group’s first goals will be to define “sustainable packaging,” its benefits, and the steps to achieve it. Subcommittees are developing a strategy and an organizational structure for the Coalition’s next meeting, which is scheduled to take place this spring.

The retreat was a follow-up to a workshop on cradle-to-cradle packaging design held last July. The cradle-to-cradle approach to design proposes that the concept of waste can be eliminated by designing products and packaging to become nutrients after use, either feeding ecological systems or becoming raw materials for other, equally high-quality products. It also proposes that designing for environmental sustainability can be profitable.

Both meetings were organized and conducted by GreenBlue, a not-for-profit organization that promotes the adoption and implementation of cradle-to-cradle design in industry. Companies and organizations represented at the November retreat included alcoa; Cargill Dow LLC; Coca-Cola Co.; Darden School of Business Administration; Dow Chemical Co.; DuPont; Estee Lauder/Aveda; EvCo Research LLC; Exopack LLC; Masterfoods; MeadWestvaco; Nike; PepsiCo Inc.; PMMI; Priority Metrics Group; Rocky Mountain Institute; Starbucks Coffee Co.; Unilever; and the EPA.

More information about the Coalition is available at www.sustainablepackaging.org. The mission of GreenBlue (www.greenblue.org) is to provide the theoretical, technical, and information tools needed to transform industry into an economically profitable, ecologically regenerative, and socially empowering activity through intelligent design.

Donation of Software to ISU Benefits Receiver and Giver
Esko-Graphics has donated ArtiosCAD software to the Department of Industrial and Mechanical Technology at Indiana State University (ISU) for research projects and instruction in structural packaging design. According to Esko-Graphics, ISU will conduct research to update and add to ArtiosCAD’s parametric design library.

The Department of Industrial and Mechanical Technology offers baccalaureate degree programs in Mechanical Design Technology, Automotive Technology Management, Packaging Technology, and Industrial Technology. Minors are offered in Packaging, Computer Aided Design (CAD), and Automotive Technology. The Department also co-administers an M.S. in Industrial Technology program that provides advanced study for the technical manager.

ArtiosCAD provides structural designers a tool for conceptual design, product development, and live prototypes. The application includes a library of blank layouts that can be used for box designs and other packaging and folding board concepts.

Students enrolled in the Packaging Technology and Masters of Industrial Technology programs will conduct a comprehensive review of ArtiosCAD including analysis and development of parametric designs. Parametric designs consist of background information that can accelerate the design process and prevent manual errors. Esko-Graphics says that when ArtiosCAD is aware of the machine on which a package will be produced, it can alert the designer to the machine’s constraints or automatically design around the parameters of the constraints. Machine-specific sets of parametric designs developed by ISU will be added to the ArtiosCAD Parametric Design library.

Esko-Graphics has add five seats (authorized copies) of ArtiosCAD to the one seat already owned by ISU, enabling multiple students to work with the application at the same time.

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DESIGN DIRECTIONS for SUSTAINABILITY

SETTING THE BEST COURSE REQUIRES AN ACCURATE COMPASS

DECEMBER 4, 2008
1:00 PM EASTERN

This special 90-minute webinar will feature up-to-date insights into the market forces affecting package design and sustainability. Registration is FREE for the first 100 participants. An $89.99 fee applies for all subsequent registrants. Attendees will receive a copy of Packaging Sustainability: Tools, Systems and Strategies for Innovative Package Design (a $49.95 value) by Wendy Jedlicka.

Keynote Address by:
MINAL MISTRY
Project Manager, Sustainable Packaging Coalition/GreenBlue

COMPASS is an online software tool for packaging designers and engineers to compare the environmental impacts of their package designs.

DESIGN DIRECTIONS for SUSTAINABILITY

SETTING THE BEST COURSE REQUIRES AN ACCURATE COMPASS