Hope you are OK, and enjoying the summer it’s been a while!
The trouble with being a single-person operation is that communications can be a bit me, me, me, which is why I’ve held off sending this out for a bit, but as anyone who is self-employed will tell you no-one else is going to blow your trumpet for you so….
I spent last summer researching and writing a report for Smithers Pira – The Future Lifecycles of Packaging Recycling to 2023 – it is now available to purchase online here – http://bit.ly/31Mw9zy or you may already have access to it if your company is a member of Smithers Pira.
My client Garçon Wines has been winning awards left right and centre for their flat eco-wine bottle, but the ones that mean the most to me were the UK Packaging awards for Innovation of the Year and the Consumer Convenience award – you can check out their website here – http://bit.ly/2ZaVYqY
Along with my colleague Steve Jackson, I spent the last few weeks of 2018 working some maternity cover at Iceland Foods, working at their head office in Deeside. I enjoyed every single minute of it – they are a great team of people.
My big news is that for the last 6 months or so I’ve been working 4 days a week at the Grantham Centre for Sustainable Futures at the University of Sheffield on the UKRI funded project Plastics:Redefining Single Use http://bit.ly/30aM4Y0 They’ve now taken me on as staff for the next year, leading one of the sub-projects, a proof of concept study on Reusable Packaging. I’m absolutely thrilled, and so proud to be working on solving the plastics problem at my old (and new!) university. I’ve already given oral evidence to the EFRA committee at the Houses of Parliament, am working with some very high-profile stake holders, and am enjoying the interdisciplinary nature of the project, working with not only Polymer Scientists, but Sociologists, Psychologists and Environmental Scientists.
I work a 4 day week, so I am still available for smaller projects, straight consultancy work and coaching smaller businesses through the packaging development process. Please get in touch, and if I can’t help directly I’ll put you in contact with someone who can.
If you live in or regularly visit the North of England, and are not already signed up, please consider joining the North of England Packaging Society. It is free to join (follow this link – http://bit.ly/2VQaug19) and we plan factory visits and networking socials in Leeds and Sheffield (and possibly beyond if there is demand). The next email will come out in a couple of days so if you sign up now you will receive it.
See you at Packaging Innovations at Olympia on 11th and 12th Sept if you are going.
Cheers,
Sarah
Sarah Greenwood MSc(Eng) FIMMM APkgPrf
Packaging and Plastics Consultant
07826 791 045