Sustainable Packaging Innovation Forum USA
This two-day business conference will bring together key industry players to discuss sustainable packaging solutions that work for consumers, the environment and business reality. We’ll assess what progress has been made towards sustainable packaging targets and highlight leading business practices, product innovations and emerging technologies.


Sustainable packaging targets

How to align actors and approaches to ensure a realistic route to packaging targets in the short, medium and long term

Circular packaging systems

How business can adopt circular design principles, integrate reuse and refill concepts, and incorporate circularity into new and existing business models

Regulation, legislation and incentives

What EPR, The Global Plastics Treaty and evolving materials risk will mean for business

Innovation and technology

An in-depth look at the material innovations, emerging technologies and solutions that can scale

Consumer engagement

How business can engage consumers in sustainable packaging and drive real behaviour change

2024 Speakers

Jun Wang

Colgate-Palmolive

Director, Global Packaging Innovation

Kathy Cacciola

Google

Global Sustainability Lead, Food Program

Tom Szaky

TerraCycle

CEO

Alexandra Lanphier

Ulta Beauty

Senior Manager, Conscious Beauty

Dacie Meng

Ellen MacArthur Foundation

Policy Director, North America

Andrew Beck

Hu Kitchen

Director of Procurement

David Lickstein

Kenvue

Global Head, Packaging Innovation, Sustainability, and Experience

Heidi Graham

Opella

Packaging Innovation Lead, North America

View all speakers

Agenda highlights

  • Drivers for action: What does public pressure mean for sustainable packaging?
  • Regulation and incentives: What does current and evolving packaging legislation mean for business?
  • Packaging targets: How leading brands are defining their sustainable packaging strategy
  • Circular packaging innovation: Beyond pilots, how can we ensure profitability and scalability?
  • Advanced recycling: The potential, the limitations and the role of chemical recycling in a net-zero world
  • Innovation and technology: How can technology drive traceability and transparency in the market for recycled materials?
  • Climate action: How business can integrate carbon into packaging decisions
  • Reuse and refill: What can we learn from what's working, and what isn't?
  • A blueprint for innovation: How to prioritize sustainability in R&D and packaging design
  • Waste recovery: Who pays for recycling infrastructure?
  • Creating win wins: How business can incentivize and engage internal teams in sustainable packaging strategy
  • Closing the loop: How can business effectively engage consumers to drive real behaviour change?
  • Looking forward: What is needed to deliver packaging targets by 2030?
  • Material choices: How to measure and manage the full impact of packaging decisions
View full agenda

Why attend?

Discover best practices from industry leaders and get in-depth guidance on how to effectively implement policies

Meet & network with an influential audience of key stakeholders, including NGOs, business, government and supply chain actors

Benchmark company performance amongst a room of your peers and discover where you should be focusing efforts

What to expect:

Solutions, solutions, solutions
Throughout the agenda we’ll place a major focus on the successful partnerships and the solutions that exist. Get best practice from leading brands and understand what is really driving sustainable packaging.


Roundtables
These roundtable discussions are focused workshops where industry leaders come together to craft practical solutions. The sessions aim to drive innovation and collaborative problem-solving within the packaging sector, addressing a range of sustainability challenges head-on.
No scripts, no PowerPoints, no media
At our conferences, we don't use PowerPoints, videos, or scripts. And they aren’t simply a PR platform. Instead, we focus on the debate taking place in the room. We operate behind-closed-doors to ensure open and honest discussion about what is working and what isn’t.

More networking, more connections
With increased schmoosing time, more side events and better networking options, we’re ensuring there’s the opportunity to make the connections that matter and build the partnerships that can really make a difference.
Excellent event! I really liked the way the event was organized around discussion panels. It was a good opportunity to learn about current challenges in the space of packaging and plastics, but more importantly getting to know what lays ahead of us in the evolving legislation landscape.
Jose Espinoza-Rubin / Senior global category manager packaging at Givaudan
I truly loved every aspect of it. It was completely different to other conferences I have attended with an unprecedented level of interaction and participation. I very much enjoyed both the panel discussions and the roundtables, which were very interactive and informative. Having such a diverse group of attendees with sometimes wildly different viewpoints and agendas, it is with this group of people we must find the plastic packaging and plastic waste solutions of the future.
Dr Jarno Weemers / Senior application development scientist at Synthomer
Really good discussions with concrete examples, best practices, and ways for companies to take this important work forward. Thanks for another excellent event!
Christine Goulay / Founder of Sustainabelle Advisory Services
I got more out of this event than any other packaging conference I've attended. The format was engaging (great discussion and diversity of opinion), the participants were passionate and articulate and from all corners of industry, including: Policy makers, NGOs, material suppliers, converters, retailers, brands and investors. Made some great connections across the spectrum of packaging. 
Heidi Graham / Packaging innovation lead, North America, Opella
I had a great time discussing the impacts of upcoming and developing legislation of plastic and packaging and probably could’ve gone on forever, thanks to the brilliant panellists I had the pleasure to join.
Laura Schacht / Head of sustainability and external affairs EECM-Benelux at Suntory Beverage & Food Europe
Lots of fruitful discussions and so many engaged professionals working to shape a sustainable future for packaging
Martin Clemesha / Technical advocacy lead at Braskem

What’s different about this forum?

Innovation Forum is:
  • Candid: Entirely off-the-record discussion that enables open and honest disclosure from speakers and genuine participation from the audience.
  • Practical: A clear focus on the practical and actionable guidance that can drive change throughout industries and supply chains.
  • Focused: We provide enough time, resources and expertise to the issues that really matter. We don’t skate the surface, but get to the crux of the issues to provide in-depth, constructive discussion.
Innovation Forum is NOT:
  • A PR platform: Enthusiastic speakers are NOT given free rein to fill a session presenting their companies, allowing no time to actually get to the crux of the issues.
  • A talking shop: This is NOT an opportunity for a group people in a room to simply agree with everything said, regardless of outcomes.
  • All promise, no delivery: We will NOT promise what we can’t deliver. The issues covered are complex. They won’t be solved at a two-day conference. But we will help deliver progress through in-depth, constructive and practical advice around specific issues.

Who attends

Mondelēz International
Mars
Amazon
HP
WWF
H&M
The Coca-Cola Company
PepsiCo
Vodafone
Walgreens Boots Alliance
Ellen MacArthur Foundation
Procter & Gamble
Tetra Pak
GSK
Walmart
PwC Belgium BV
WRAP
World Economic Forum
Papkot
Reckitt
Kraft Heinz
Henkel
Lululemon
Greenbiz
Planet Tracker
Tosca Packaging
Eastman
IGD
The Recycling Partnership
Alliance to End Plastic Waste
Quantis
Avery Dennison
Danone
Lidl
ALDI
Heineken
Greenpeace
Mattel
rePurpose Global
TerraCycle
Google
Canopy
The Sustainable Packaging Coalition
Closed Loop Partners
Oatly
American Forest & Paper Association
Chick-fil-A
Hu Kitchen
Kenvue
Sanofi Consumer Healthcare
Colgate-Palmolive
Campbell's

The venue


The Study at University of Chicago

1227 E 60th Street

Chicago, IL
60637
United States

More details

Supported by

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Get in touch

For any questions on the conference, please contact:

Lia Da Giau
Project Manager
Lia.DaGiau@innovationforum.co.uk

Sponsorship

For more information and to inquire, please contact:

Gabriela Cuison
Business Development Manager
Gabriela.Cuison@innovationforum.co.uk 

Sign up

Registration for the Sustainable Packaging Innovation Forum is currently open.
To sign up, you can do so online here, or get in touch directly for details of group discounts.

Join us for

  • In-depth guidance from industry leaders on how to effectively implement policies.
  • Networking with key stakeholders, including NGOs, business, government and supply chain actors.
  • An entirely off-the-record discussion that encourages open and honest disclosure from speakers and genuine participation from the audience

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