New initiatives and current themes

The Empack packaging expo from 10-12 April is all about innovation, interaction and development. At the Jaarbeurs Utrecht, the organisation will be introducing three new elements to the 16th edition: Recycle Street, live packaging tests, and a machine demo tour. 

The four main themes of the 2018 edition are Food & Health Safety, Recycling, Materials, and Agile Manufacturing. “The developments in the packaging industry are appearing in increasingly rapid succession. That is a challenge for us as an organisation when it comes to addressing the most important aspects from the packaging industry,” says Michelle van Helvoirt on behalf of Empack. “We provide an efficient platform for doing business and presenting the latest innovations and trends. By placing particular emphasis on these four themes in 2018, we anticipate that we’ll be responding to the current issues in the market.”

Recycling

One of the current themes is recycling. That is why hall 2 will contain the very first Recycle Street. It will showcase exposition participants who contribute to the recycling process. Business such as Peute Recycling, Tomra Systems, Bramidan De Jong Systems and Knapzak have already confirmed their participation. In order to provide specific information on the topic, there will also be a knowledge theatre. The Kennisinstituut Duurzaam Verpakken (KIDV - Research institute for sustainable packaging) and other organisations will be organising a panel discussion on recycling here. 

Thematic innovation routes

In order to bring additional attention to the main topics, visitors can participate in thematic innovation routes: the Food Safety Route, Recycling Route and the Agile Manufacturing Route. Expo participants who do so will receive another platform to present their latest innovations. In turn, visitors will be exposed to the most significant developments in a single route and benefit from an efficient visit to the expo.
Furthermore, a guided demo tour throughout the entire chain will be given for the first time, allowing visitors to get a clear picture of the full packaging industry: from processing to dosing as well as from tray sealing, cardboard boxing, and labelling to inspection and pallet loading. In order to make the supply chain circular, sorting will be discussed at the end, too. The major players will be demonstrating their packaging machines during the tour. 

Live packaging tests 

There is even more to experience at Empack. For instance, visitors interested in export can see up close what a package has to go through as it travels to a foreign country. There will be more packaging tests, including the repeated rotational drop tester, into which small packages will be dropped throughout the day. Until the present day, lorry simulation tests have been conducted with a unidirectional shaker. The expectation is that, within five years, tests will be conducted with “6-DOF shaker technology.” This unique technology is still fairly unfamiliar in the world of testing. All of it will be on display this spring at Empack! 

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Each day, the average Dutch person opens seven packages. That generates a lot of rubbish: 20% of our waste consists of packages. Van Helvoirt: “This waste does not necessarily have to be bad: it can sometimes even be good for the environment. Want to know how that works? In order to answer that, we are setting up a Recycle Street and Recycling Route, and we are organising a panel discussion on day three of the expo. From a variety of perspectives, we will be highlighting the current and most intriguing theories in the field of recycling. During this discussion, a designer, collector, recycler, and packager will look into the best possible solutions for making a contribution to the circularity of the packaging process.”

VMT Food Safety Innovation Route

Consumers need to be confident in the fact that they can trust their food and its packaging to be 100% safe. Food contact materials, packaging, and packaging processes, including inspection, must meet all the legal and sometimes even extralegal food safety requirements. Food producers partly depend on their suppliers for this. In collaboration with the VMT journal, Empack will be providing information on the most recent circumstances and innovations in this field with the VMT Food Safety Innovation Route. 

Practical information

Empack will take place at Jaarbeurs Utrecht from 10-12 April 2018, at the same time as Packaging Innovations, the marketing and design event for packaging and display.