This year, Propak Cape, taking place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre from October 24 to 26, will host more than 200 local and international exhibitors.

Based on the previous Propak Cape, held in 2014, this year, the company is expecting more than 6 000 visitors.

“Propak Cape is a showcase for packaging and related industries. It focuses on all matters related to packaging, and the co- located shows embrace the related sectors of food processing, plastics, printing, labelling and wine and olive oil production,” says Propak Africa and Propak Cape event director Sven Riddle.

He points out that the FoodPro expo will cover the food processing industry, the Pro-Plas Expo will cover plastics, Print Expo will cover printing, Pro-Label Cape expo will cover labelling and the wine and olive production industry will be covered by the Wine & Olive Oil Production Expo.

Riddle points out that Propak Cape will showcase tailored packaging solutions and new designs for a range of markets that will ensure quality, functionality, integrity and shelf appeal. Pharmaceuticals will also be in the spotlight with their unique packaging needs for highly sensitive substances.

Further, there will be a broad showcase of equipment, products and services, as well as live demonstrations regarding machinery. There will be many technical experts at the stands to engage with visitors and provide advice and technical guidance, he adds.

Further, the Sustainability Pavilion is a new visitor attraction, with its primary objective to enable visitors to better appreciate and understand the various industry initiatives that have been successfully implemented by the sector’s producer responsibility organisations.

“The pavilion will provide a platform to engage, debate and share opinions on sustainability, the environment, recycling and related issues with a variety of industry experts. Many of South Africa’s leading associations will be among those exhibiting in the Sustainability Pavilion,” he states.

Riddle points out that Propak Cape is endorsed and supported by the Institute of Packaging South Africa (SA), Plastics SA, Printing SA, Packaging SA, the South African National Bottled Water Association, and the Italian-South African Chamber of Trade and Industries.

He explains that the association partners of Propak Cape include the Aerosol Manu- facturers’ Association of South Africa; beverage cans, metals packaging industry body MetPac-SA; recycling company Petco; the polyolefin recycling company NPC; and the Polystyrene Association of South Africa, previously known as The Polystyrene Packaging Council.

The corporate industry sponsors of Propak Cape are lubrication specialist Centlube, pneumatics solutions provider Festo and pneumatics products provider SMC Pneumatics, Riddle points out.

One-Day Indaba

The African Packaging Indaba is taking place alongside Propak Cape on October 26. This year’s event encompasses sustainability concerns and developments surrounding substrates and raw materials, how South Africa’s top retailers and brand owners are incorporating sustainable packaging formats and how packaging can reduce food waste.

“The event will host top speakers and encompass topics such as new packaging materials contributing to a sustainable future, the economics of the industry and the future of fast-moving consumer goods retail packaging – whether retailers and brand owners are thinking sustainably,” he says.

The Indaba will also cover food waste and packaging insights and advice, using smart chemistry for packaging design, the ‘battle of the substrates’, as well as the best options in sustainable board, glass, plastic and metal packaging.

He concludes that the Indaba and Propak Cape are valuable events for anyone who wants to increase their network, meet industry experts and learn about current, contextual information regarding the packaging industry, various value chains and sustainability issues.

Free Seminar Information
During Propak Cape, seminars can be attended by anyone free of charge. This year, Packaging SA executive director Charles Muller will address the topic of emerging trends in sustainable packaging 2017 and beyond, and will discuss how sustainability is no longer an option, but an essential design element to attract, relate to and retain consumers.

Industry body Plastics SA executive director Anton Hanekom will focus on initiatives driving growth in the local plastics industry and Plastics SA sustainability director Douw Steyn will focus on rethinking the future of plastics by providing industry insights.

Digital solutions company Kemtek Imaging Systems business development executive Wendy McLoughlin will discuss digital disruption and innovation in terms of the future of packaging.

“This will address why it is not enough for packaging to merely contain the product inside without advertising on the outside. Consumers are expecting packaging to do so much more – it must excite, inform, create an experience and even save the planet,” she highlights.

Printer automation systems provider Konica Minolta digital print solutions product manager Leon Minnie will discuss challenging the printing conundrum of diversification and new applications in print, highlighting the label and package printing industries, which are also challenged by the constant need to evolve and meet emerging consumer trends.

Pneumatics solutions provider Festo Didactic Training and Consulting business manager Hugo van Niekerk will address ‘the dawn of smart factories: reducing downtime costs and maximising productivity for the packaging, processing and plastics industries’.