Parkside points the way to a flexible future with latest open day

Parkside marked the beginning of Recycle Week by hosting an insight packed open day focused on inspiring the future of circular flexible packaging.

The event, titled ‘Welcome to a Flexible Future’, saw the company open the doors of its Normanton headquarters to visitors from across the packaging sector. In addition to a tour of Parkside’s flexible packaging production facilities, the event featured a programme of talks focused on offering insights and inspiration about the future of packaging.

Speakers included Dr Thomas Baker, plastics specialist at WRAP, who hosted a presentation on the journey to film circularity – one of the most pressing issues in today’s packaging sector. Meanwhile, Olga Munroe of the Retail Institute spoke about how to achieve systemic change to benefit the future of packaging, and Paul Jenkins of PackHub gave an overview of the latest packaging trends. The speaker line up was completed by Ian Bates of Two Sides, who delivered a presentation on the future of flexible paper packaging.

Several of the Parkside team also delivered talks, with Paul McKeown, group sales director giving a potted history of the company’s 70 years in operation, while Joshua Swann, technical director, provided insights into its technical capability and materials portfolio.

‘We pride ourselves on working at the cutting edge of packaging innovation,’ said Julia O’Loughlin, group marketing manager. ‘This forward thinking presentation outlines our optimistic view of the future, and of packaging’s place in a truly circular economy.’

Dr Thomas Baker said, ‘What stands out is the innovation being driven by the packaging industry, particularly best in class monopolymer designs seen today at Parkside Flexibles that meet functional, sustainability, and regulatory requirements at once. This helps to make sorting and recycling that much easier. That is a positive step towards creating a viable closed loop waste system that processors and recyclers can engage with in future and is what the UK Plastics Pact strives for with recyclability.’

Paul Jenkins commented, ‘It has been a hugely positive open house. There aren’t enough of these events taking place in my opinion – it has been a valuable experience for all of us to see how it really works at the cutting edge of packaging development, and to network with the people who are making it happen.’

Olga Munroe said, ‘It was an informative event filled with packaging insights and recent innovations. The FMCG packaging sector in particular is thought leading in terms of developing solutions for the sustainable transition. Events like this show Parkside’s willingness and openness in collaborating with stakeholders from across the supply chain to make the transition to green economy feasible.’