With over 87,000 visitors and 39% of participants stating this was their only trade show of 2018, global packaging solutions company RETAL enjoyed an active ALL4PACK event this year, with its sustainability director part of the Petnology panel discussion on the latest industry challenges.
Presenting its complete range of PET and rPET preforms, closures, containers and films, including its market-leading multilayer technology, RETAL's multilingual team met with customers and industry experts to discuss the ever-changing trends and the all-important demands of consumers, including the need for more sustainable solutions.
RETAL's sustainability director Emmanuel Duffault was a participant in the Petnology Conference panel discussion at ALL4PACK, sharing his expertise in how leading food and drink brands can harness the responsible characteristics of rPET for their packaging and meet strict CSR targets.
Duffault says, “It was a positive discussion, focused on the advantages of rPET and PET over packaging alternatives. I was interested to hear my fellow panelist Christian Detrois from Nestle share his thoughts on the strong sustainability aspects of PET thanks to its lower carbon footprint. We also talked about how the consumer perception of plastic is low, but actually the key issues are its collection and recycling. I appreciated being invited to participate in such an important industry event.”
Protect with multilayer
The RETAL stand included its latest weight-reducing High Grip closure solution that is now in mass production, the 100% rPET preforms that RETAL converts for Nestle Pure Life and a selection of the PET yoghurt containers developed for Danone's 'heritage' dairy brand in Russia. It also showed its highly-respected multilayer solutions, which RETAL has been investing in and developing in Europe since 2003.
Emilie Chassagnard-Perreau, Commercial Manager at RETAL France, says, “The objective with multilayer is to compete with the performance of glass bottles while keeping the advantages of plastic: lighter weight and reduced carbon footprint – both key topics at this year's ALL4PACK. We talked with a number of leading French food and beverage brands as well as with major global brands to share our broad range of complete solutions that meet their strict demands and are already chosen by many household names.”
RETAL demonstrates and boosts its strong commitment to sustainability with the appointment of its first Sustainability Director.
Experienced sustainability and CSR specialist Emmanuel Duffaut joined RETAL on 1st March 2018 and he is already making a positive impact. With a strong background gained across R&D, production and sustainability positions in the food industry, Emmanuel also brings with him an understanding of the needs of RETAL’s customers - the food and beverage companies that use PET.
Duffaut says, “RETAL is a responsible business with a priority objective to improve its sustainability performance across its entire value chain, and I am very excited to be leading this project.
Aligning our effort with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, our main objective will be to reduce our products’ environmental footprint, with special focus on climate change mitigation, and to ensure the highest level of compliance on the social and working conditions aspect, both in our factories and in our suppliers’ facilities.
To that end, after a complete due diligence, we will define realistic but ambitious goals and report publicly on our progress.”
As a major player in the PET value chain, RETAL is looking forward to taking on the challenge and the responsibility of creating a Plastic Circular Economy. The company will continue to reduce plastic pollution and foster the reuse and recycling of plastic material.
RETAL pays special attention to the local communities where it operates and, in addition to the economy generated around the company's activity, it seeks to help and participate to their sustainable development.