Industry activities in October

Leading a new initiative to address food waste with Canstruction

In 2017, Metal Packaging Europe began to work with Canstruction, a US based international charity. Canstruction organises the creation and display of magnificent structures made entirely from filled food and beverage cans, which are then donated to food banks. This is an innovative way to raise awareness about the many advantages of canned food with a wide audience, whilst simultaneously highlighting the important role cans play in helping to save food.

A sculpture in the shape of a guitar, made from over 1000 tuna cans, was built in Lisbon at the Metal Packaging Europe Annual General Meeting, as well as at the Alimarket Packaging Conference in Madrid. Can manufacturer CROWN Europe joined forces with Spanish seafood company Frinsa that, through its brand Ribeira, provided the tuna fish cans for both events.

Olivier Aubry, Business Development & Marketing Director of CROWN Food Europe and Chairman of the Metal Packaging Europe Food Commission, commented, “This industry initiative is an outstanding illustration of what metal packaging can do. We deliver millions of products, safely and sustainably, across the globe and contribute to saving food every day. The donation of canned tuna in sunflower oil is rich in Omega 3, providing healthy eating for consumers.”

The cans have been donated to food banks in Lisbon and Madrid, who were delighted to accept the contribution, recognising the value of canned food in their important work to fight undernourishment and hunger. Food cans act as an extension of nature, ensuring generous harvests are not lost. They lock in nutrients and vitamins forever, providing healthy and long fresh meals to consumers. As true shelf life heroes, they preserve food longer than any other packaging.

In a third event, Metal Packaging Europe and Canstruction will join forces again at the Asian Packaging Fair on October 25 – 28 in Istanbul. Our corporate member Sarten is sourcing the filled cans and will donate them to the charity organisation “Türk Kızılayı” (Turkish Red Crescent).

Metal Packaging Europe thanks Canstruction for their support on this project. Founded in 1992, they have donated over 40 million pounds of food worldwide. They host events in over 150 cities around the world to raise hunger awareness with full canned food sculptures.

Sustainability in Packaging Europe Conference 2017

As part of the initiative to participate in leading sustainability events, we will be present at the above conference, which takes place on October 25-26 in Barcelona and is organised by Smithers Pira. This is a major event on the European packaging sustainability calendar. Lena Nover, European Business & Sustainability Manager, will be making a keynote speech on behalf of the industry. The wide ranging presentation will underline the importance of unambiguous facts on recycling and the value of consumer engagement campaigns citing the recent industry campaign in the Netherlands led by Albert Heijn and the absolute need for coherent legislation from policy makers which supports a functioning Circular Economy.

Next to further interesting presentations on packaging sustainability, the conference provides the chance to network with over 150 attendees from across the entire packaging value chain including some of our members’ major customers (PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, L’Oréal, Nestlé, Mars and many more).