World Packaging Congress to emphasise on packaging for global economical resurgence

Wednesday, 12 November 2014 00:36 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Waruni Paranagamage The national body of packaging, the Sri Lanka Institute of Packaging (SLIP) and its subsidiary unit, the Packaging Development Centre, are making arrangements to host this year’s World Packaging Organization (WPO) annual events in Colombo. The board meeting, committee meetings, judging of World Star Competition for Excellence in Packaging, the International Packaging Congress and post congress tours will be held in Colombo from 17 to 23 November.

From left: Treasurer - SLIP Sunil Costa , Vice President Nishan Perera, Vice President Anuradha Jayasinghe, Chairman – Packaging Development Centre Dharmatilake Ratnayake, President – SLIP J. D. C. Perera, Deputy President Rohan Victoria , Vice President Thusith Wijesinghe and Hony. General Secretary Thushantha Karunanayake - Pic by Sameera Wijesinghe The grand finale of WPO events, the Lanka Star 2014 Awards competition, which aims to simulate interest in improving packaging standards in Sri Lanka, will be held on Friday 21 November at the Cinnamon Lakeside Hotel. The Sri Lankan packaging industry business community along with around 30 foreign delegates will participate in the World Packaging Organization events. Poor packaging has become a serious issue in relation to food safety in the world and in Sri Lanka it is still a big challenge in the farm to fork chain, which highly impacts consumer safety, food preservation, price and supply demand stability in the food market and also food nutrition. However, many of them in the supply chain and end consumers have poor awareness of the food wastage caused by poor packaging. SLIP as an active member of the Asian Packaging Federation and the World Packaging Organization (WPO), was inaugurated in 1975 and works towards promoting development of packaging technology and science to reduce packaging problems. This year’s event will have a forum with three sessions under the theme ‘Packaging for Global Economic Resurgence’ featuring seven resource persons from Australia, South Africa, Indonesia, India and Turkey and five from Sri Lanka delivering presentations on topics related to the packaging industry. Chairman of the Packaging Development Centre and the one of organisers of the event Dharmatilake Ratnayake said the event would be a great platform for participants engaged in the packaging industry, food safety research, innovations and other relevant fields in food packaging. The Chief Guest will be Minister of External Affairs Prof. G.L. Peiris, while Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen will be the Guest of Honour. The sessions of the forum will cover global package in the field of packaging, creating competitive advantage in the packaging industry and sustaining the competitive advantage in packaging industry. The Lanka Star 2014 will comprise three categories – flexible packaging consumer packs, rigid consumer and transport packs, and students’ category consumer packs. Ratnayake said: “We consider five main criteria for the awards. Those are innovations, functionality, graphic appeal, efficiency and environmental performance. We hope to stimulate interest in improving packaging standards in Sri Lanka.” The organisers said that the winners of the Lanka Star Awards would qualify to submit their winning entries to Asia Star and World Star Awards.