If you’d sat down at the start of the year and made a note of your main hopes for the packaging industry in 2007, the list would probably have looked something like this: greater stability in raw material prices, an easing in the pressure from low-cost economies, and more balance in the environmental debate.
Many of you would have been disappointed, though, for the past year has been notable for the lack of, or very slow, progress in these areas.
Indeed, we end 2007 with the Prime Minister himself promising to ban plastic bags, contrary to the official position of his own environment department. Surely he has more important issues to address, such as losing the personal details of 25 million people in the post.
But despite these continuing public attacks, I feel more optimistic now that the industry will be able to counter these malign influences in 2008.
For instance, although I’m not overly enamoured with the look of the British Retail Consortium’s new recycling logos, they could just lead to a subtle shift in the public mindset by making people think more about the local authority infrastructure rather than purely in terms of ‘good’ or ‘excessive’ packaging.
In 2008, I also expect the industry to be more on the attack about its environmental contribution, particularly in its ability to reduce carbon emissions elsewhere in the supply chain (notably from food waste). And with a number of major trade shows to look forward to, there will be plenty of opportunity for packaging people to get together and share new ideas.
It only remains for me to thank you for your continued support of Packaging News and packagingnews.co.uk throughout 2007, and I hope you enjoy the festive period to the full before returning for what is sure to be a hectic, but stimulating, 2008.
Gordon Carson is editor of Packaging News