Sydney`s Luna Park, known for its face and slogan Just for Fun, was the venue for the 2008 AIP National Conference organised by Australian Institute of Packaging.

The AIP National Conference hosted over 280 delegates, exhibitors, members of the press and other interested parties. A strong suite of speakers from Australia, the UK, Finland, NZ, Singapore, China and the USA addressed its theme A Climate of Change, bringing clarity and many resulting questions on the magnitude of climate change on the planet and packaging sustainability.

Angela Nicholls, an Al Gore Ambassador on Climate Change, moved delegates as she presented Al Gore`s An Inconvenient Truth in dramatic demonstration of the undeniable impact of global warming.

Placed as a stakeholder in the packaging industry with Visy, Angela brought packaging technologists into the climate change debate, detailing the problem facing every human being on this planet.

A wide range of speakers followed and these included brand owners, associated industry organisations, supply chain, industry observers and consultants. James Tupper (IGD UK) brightened the day with his illuminations on international retail developments including shelf ready packaging and distribution re-engineering.

The AIP National Conference progressed through a better understanding of the magnitude of the climate change problem, carbon footprint assessment including PIQET, updates on the NPC and next steps, options for sustainable materials including biopolymers, the waste cycle and recycling, intellectual property, the new importance of design, segment specific case studies, returnable packaging, distribution channel innovation and more.

Gavin Williams and his team from the PCA gave an enlightening welcome address on their warts and all analysis of the National Packaging Covenant effectiveness a contribution the AIP Board was grateful for as a measure of anticipated collaboration between its organisations in years to come.

Gerard van Rijswijk put an interesting and controversial position arguing against the impact of global warming, climate change drivers and the economic sense of changes in industry policy. As a Senior Policy Advisor to National Association of Retail Grocers of Australia, Gerard challenged the real impact of packaging on the environment and the debate between reduction and recycling versus landfills. Gerard was successful in stimulating debate and forcing delegates to determine where they sat on the climate change issue.

Gerard van Rijswijk said that while there is a chasm between views, there is also a high level of community sentiment on climate change and that packaging is highly visible. An educated audience knows that packaging is a small contributor of greenhouse gasses compared to other segments of a full life cycle analysis (e.g., agriculture production).

However, packaging is perceived as a big contributor of environmental problems, the emotional response it creates elevates it to similar standing in the eyes of the public along with power station emissions, fossil fuel consumption, water and energy shortages as well as the destruction of the Barrier Reef.