The ‘Nobel prize’ for packaging sustainability – the global Sustainability Awards – reaches its climax at the Sustainable Packaging Summit, with the winners announced and finalists celebrated at the awards and networking dinner on 12th November. This is an opportunity to get acquainted with most significant recent sustainable packaging innovations and initiatives, in the view of the expert international jury, to network with a diverse crowd of innovators and delegates, and relax over fine dining. 

The crises of climate change and packaging pollution demand an urgent and joined up response from consumer goods and the wider packaging value chain. The global packaging Sustainability Awards seeks to support this by setting the agenda on best practice, turning the spotlight on the most important areas of R&D, and differentiating greenwash from the innovations that make a genuine difference. 

Since its inception in 2015, the initiative has not only exponentially grown, but continually evolved in order to better reflect the innovation landscape and the sustainability demands that industry needs to meet. However, its core principles are constant: the Sustainability Awards is free to enter, and open to all kinds of organisations throughout the packaging value chain and beyond – from start-ups to global brands, and universities to manufacturers. It emphasizes the importance of holistic and substantive impacts, and watching out for unintended consequences. Its rules and processes are transparent and, though organized by Packaging Europe, are independently judged by a diverse, international jury of experts, with zero input from the organizers.