Sustainability nonprofit GreenBlue and its Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) have announced the final agenda for the ninth annual SPC Spring Meeting, taking place on March 19-22. The event will bring together more than 300 packaging and sustainability professionals at the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero Center Hotel in San Francisco, CA, USA. Anthony Watanabe, president and CEO of Innovolve Group, will deliver the keynote address, which will focus on regeneration and how big business is bringing back biodiversity.

“This year’s Spring Meeting continues to push the boundaries of the business of sustainability,” says Nina Goodrich, executive director of GreenBlue. “In addition to the formal agenda there will be significant opportunities for collaborative conversations on leading edge practices, ideas, and actions.”

Others headlining the agenda are highly respected sustainability, innovation, and technical leaders, including Chris Luebkeman, Director of Global Foresight and Innovation at Arup; Laura Thompson, Director of Technical Marketing and Sustainable Development, Sappi Fine Paper North America; April Crow, Global Director, Sustainable Packaging, The Coca Cola Company; Lauren Heine, Co-Director and GreenScreen Director, Clean Production Action; Dagmar Braun, Head of Strategic Business Area–Thin Print Papers, delfortgroup; and Ron Gonen, Deputy Commissioner for Recycling, New York City.

Session highlights include:

•        Regeneration: the next frontier beyond sustainability
•        Understanding sustainability in the process, product, and package context
•        The marriage of design and life cycle thinking
•        A collaborative approach to material health
•        A case study in lean and clean production
•        The economics of forest certification
•        A day in the life of a recycling expert.

Luebkeman will lead an interactive workshop that will guide participants through a process designed to define the medium- to long-term drivers that will impact the evolution of more sustainable packaging. Also during the conference, the SPC with partner Éco Enterprises Québec and facilitator PAC Next and will announce the launch of a new interactive web-based set of guidelines for designing more sustainable packaging. James Ewell, director of GreenBlue’s Sustainable Materials program, will also provide an introduction to the organization’s newest resource, Materials IQTM, which is a comprehensive business-to-business online registry that is designed to provide in-depth sustainability information about materials used in a variety of products and industrial sectors.

While the conference is open to the public, it will kick-off on Tuesday, March 19th with SPC members-only Industry Leadership Committee meetings. The meeting will offer optional tours in the San Francisco area, including a visit to the Davis Street Transfer Station, TCHO New American Chocolate Factory, or the Robert Mondavi Winery. An evening opening reception will follow on Wednesday, March 20th, and the meeting’s technical program sessions will take place Thursday, March 21st through 1:00PM PST on Friday, March 22nd.

For event details and to register, please visit http://www.sustainablepackaging.org/events/details.aspx?eventid=10080.