How exciting this particular week was in our calendar attending the various events as part of ProPak Asia 2018 in Bangkok 14-17 June.

The AIP has been exhibiting at ProPak now for three years and this year we were the proud hosts of the WPO Save Food and Sustainable Packaging Pavilion, which included an area to showcase the AIP and our PIDA Award winners and then the greater WPO and the 2018 WorldStar Award winners.

The opening of the exhibition was a true fanfare with the official opening done by the Thailand Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, followed by an official tour of the exhibition halls by all the VIP’s where one gets a taste of what the week holds.

We had many visitors to the pavillion stand with various requests, such as specific packaging component information to education needs and even those wanting to save the countryside of Thailand from litter. There was never a dull moment at ProPak Asia 2018 as we were well positioned at the exhibition.

That evening the AIP team attended the local ThaiStar Awards and AsiaStar Awards presentations along with seeing 3 recipients receive their WPO WorldStar award. The AIP were pleased to offer a half day Training program on ‘The role of Packaging in minimising Food Waste’; this was most informative and the attendees immediately got themselves involved by asking many provoking questions leading to many discussions.

There were numerous related conferences and packaging seminars being held alongside the exhibition, certainly something for everyone.

We took part in the AsiaDrink conference where Pierre Pienaar, our Education Director and President of the WPO, delivered a paper on Smart Packaging from a science perspective. This conference was well attended by attendees from all parts of the ASEAN Region.

Pierre also took part in ‘Packaging in a Circular economy’, at the ASEAN Packaging Seminar that was organised by the Indonesian Packaging Federation. Here we all heard what was happening in various Asian countries and what and how a circular economy is being implemented progressively throughout the region.

We all enjoyed the good company of the Australian Ambassador to Thailand, Hon. Paul Robillard at the reception for all those exhibiting or visiting on the Australian Pavilion. This was a lively occasion and good to see and meet those Australians now living and working in Thailand, within the packaging industry.

The organisers of ProPak Asia 2018, namely UBM, kindly invited us from the AIP to their VIP Reception Dinner held at the Moon Glass Restaurant where we not only enjoyed true Thai food but also got to meet many of the other such organisations from around the world.

Four days of action packed learning, thought stimulating ideas, meeting fascinating people from all over the ASEAN Region and learning from those who also share in our industry; was all over and the time had come to board our flights home after a wonderful week in Bangkok.

The AIP looks forward to hosting the WPO Pavilion again and running another training course in 2019.

IP HOSTED WPO PAVILION AT
PROPAK ASIA 2018

The AIP hosted the World Packaging Organisation (WPO) pavilion and ran their new training course on ‘The role that packaging plays in minimising food waste’ at ProPak Asia 2018. A huge thank you to the UBM team for making the pavilion look so fabulous! It was an extremely proud moment for the AIP to be able to see two of our very own PIDA Award winners - Sealed Air NZ and Woolcool Australia be recognised on the poster display as the Gold and Bronze winners for the 2018 Save Food Packaging Special Awards...