The Products of Change Live Packaging Workshop is making its return this month to take a deep dive into the design principles and materials that brand owners and manufacturers need to be aware of when meeting demands for more sustainable packaging and products.
Following its successful 2023 debut, the Live Packaging Workshop will once again be held at the Informa Offices in London’s Blackfriars on Thursday 21 March. The day-long session will be led by Products of Change’s packaging ambassador, Mike Swain and joined by POC’s advisor and ambassador for circularity, James George (both pictured above with Illana Adamson, founder at Be Better Sustainability, Assessor Cambridge Sustainable Marketing Course at SiLC 2023).
The Packaging Workshop will span three sessions, including an online introductory session running from 9am to 12noon on Thursday 14 March, followed by the in-person Workshop on Thursday 21 March, which itself will be followed by a free-to-attend networking session with the Products of Change community.
Products of Change Members will receive a 20% on the ticket price.
The packaging and product development landscape is about to change dramatically with new legislation (such as Extended Producer Responsibility, Design for Recyclability and new Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directives) coming into effect across the European markets this year and next. Meanwhile, the Plastic Packaging Tax continues to impact cost and materiality in current packaging processes while the North American market is anticipating major changes to product and packaging manufacturing at the introduction of its own Green Directives.
The Products of Change Live Packaging Workshop will arm you with the knowledge and design principles on how to create the packaging of tomorrow, looking at materials, circularity and reuse, and the design principles behind it all.
Offering the full package
Last year, attendees from Mattel, Paramount, Addo Play, and TDP Textiles joined Products of Change’s debut Live Packaging Workshop alongside representatives from FOCO, Robert Welch, Inside Out Toys and Talking Tables.
“This course was a brilliant starting point for business to understand more about the role they can play within the circular economy. While my company does not produce packaging itself, it allowed me to think more critically about what certain claims of sustainability mean and how ‘greenwashing’ can be avoided,” said Siana Scott, product developer and designer at Paramount. “I now feel armed with the knowledge I need to not only better serve my company, but the customers that will eventually buy the products, too.”
For the 2024 Workshop, POC’s Mike Swain will once again call upon his 30+ years of experience of the packaging industry to deliver a course alongside James George, POC’s ambassador and advisor for the circular economy.
The pair will be joined by Richard Coles, a packaging industry expert and part-time packaging design course lecturer at Greenwich University. Like last year, the course will offer attendees a foundational understanding of the circular economy, the legislative changes taking place to nudge the consumer products sector towards better circularity, and the principles needed to design fit-for-purpose packaging for a more circular system.
Education for the industry
Like last year, the in-person Workshop (Thursday 21 March) will be preceded by a one half-day virtual session led by Mike Swain as he introduces the basics and principles behind current global legislation and its impact on the packaging design sector.
The price of the Live Packaging Workshop will again also include a one-hour one-to-one consultancy follow-up with Mike Swain, Richard Coles, or James George.
Bringing the Products of Change community together, the Live Packaging Workshop will be followed by a free-to-attend networking session for the Products of Change membership community. From 4.30pm to 6.30pm, attendees will be welcomed to an informal meet-up where they will receive refreshments and the benefits of a 20-minute Sustainability 101 session in the form of a guest speaker discussion from Dayrize.
Products of Change members can register for their complimentary Member Meet-up ticket here. The session will be held at the Informa Markets offices, 240 Blackfriars Road, London.
Those wishing to purchase their tickets for the Live Packaging Workshop can do so here.
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