World Packaging Organisation to expand membership – and educational efforts!

Written by Bo Wallteg

Monday, 17 April 2006 00:00

Under the motto “Better quality of life through better packaging to more people” the World Packaging Organisation is active worldwide. Some 40 countries are members through business organisations and packaging institutes. Many people are acquainted with the organisation through the WorldStar competition, which annually selects the best packaging worldwide. However, the organisation’s most important work is less known. Its main goal is to develop and educate the packaging industry worldwide. Since 2002, the Secretariat of the World Packaging Organisation (WPO) has been located in Sweden under the direction of Dr Carl Olsmats, who also plays a leading role at the well-respected packaging institute STFI-Packforsk, Sweden. “Our job at WPO is to promote the benefits of packaging commercially, economically and ecologically as well as from a social perspective,” says Dr Olsmats. We spread knowledge through education and by exchanging information between members. Most member nations have their own packaging education programmes. If we can transfer knowledge from the developed countries to the underdeveloped ones in a successful way our mission will have succeeded. It’s important to point out that WPO is a non-profit organisation. All the money we receive is reinvested in projects worldwide,” says Dr Olsmats. More members needed To make this work as effective as possible, it is important to have a large network of participating countries. Clearly, there could be more than the current 40 or so members. “This is of course true. We could have and also want to have more members, perhaps twice as many,” says Dr Olsmats. “At the same time, we have to remember that we have indirect coverage through regional organizations. It would, however, be good to acquire more direct members. This would effectively expand our network.” Ghana a good example WPO educational projects are partly financed through sponsors, and it is usually not difficult to find companies prepared to finance the various projects. One of the latest successful projects is the one that took place in Ghana two years ago. A group of South African lecturers provided by the Institute of Packaging (SA) conducted a one-week workshop. Participants came from local industries, not only from Ghana, but also from neighbouring countries. “The result was very positive”, Dr Olsmats reports. “We inaugurated a packaging institute, met and informed government ministers, and this year Ghana held its first-ever packaging fair. This was also the first year that Ghana entered the WorldStar competition. We feel confident that WPO delivered something positive to Ghana,” he adds. Educating educators At the WPO’s recent annual meeting in Prague, it was decided that WPO would sponsor a project in Mumbai, India, for the purpose of educating educators from around the world during a four-week session. The WPO contribution is US $ 20,000, to which local sponsors will contribute additional sums. “Another project is in Nigeria scheduled to take place in February 2006,” Dr Olsmats continues. “We will arrange a workshop for local decision makers as well as an official opening of a packaging institute there. This is happening in co-operation with the International Trade Centre (ITC).” Packaging library in Sri Lanka Yet another example of WPO’s work is the recently finished expansion of a packaging library established by the Sri Lanka Packaging Institute in co-operation with Sri Lanka Export Developing Board. Although established in 1983, not much had happened since. A few books were acquired, but the selection never grew. After a request from Sri Lanka, the Institute of Packaging Professionals in the United States, together with WPO, took on the challenge and this year expanded the library with several new books on packaging. New this year is the WPO’s World Student Star competition, with the goal of encouraging young talent to focus on packaging development. This year’s selection took place in Dubai and resulted in 27 winners from six countries. “The competition is undertaken in the same way as the WorldStars”, Dr Olsmats explains.” Those countries that run packaging competitions for students submit their contributions to the jury. So far not many countries have student competitions, but we hope that the establishment of the World Student Star programme will result in more interest in holding such competitions,” says Dr Olsmats. Improving the chances of succeeding As can be seen, a great deal of work is being carried out at WPO to spread the message of packaging and to develop the market – work that is beneficial for the entire global industry. For the WPO, this in part means succeeding in sending its message to the packaging institutes around the world. If this succeeds the chances of expanding the number of projects will increase. Photography: Bo Wallteg

Last Updated ( Friday, 21 March 2008 20:43 )