ChinaPlas Shanghai 2010

This year ChinaPlas is taking place in Shanghai. It is gonna be a big season for Shanghai as they are hosting the China World Expo this month as well. The dates for ChinaPlas are:

Date
19-22 April 2010

Opening Hours
19-21. 4. 2010 ( 09:30 - 17:30 )
22. 4. 2010 ( 09:30 - 15:00 )

Venue
Shanghai New International Expo Centre, Pudong, Shanghai, PR China

Admission Details
The exhibition is opened for professionals in the industry
Admission fee is RMB20 per person
Students and children will not be admitted

There is lots of talk about the quality of Chinese machinery for the packaging industry so this year the local companies are pulling out all their punches to prove that they can manufacture high tech machinery for the plastics and rubber industry. Amongst the exhibitors will also be numerous suppliers of raw materials. It should be an interesting week in Shanghai.

PLASTIKI - A Boat Made of Recycled PET

A boat made using over 12,000 PET bottles has set sail on a voyage that will take them across the Pacific Ocean from the western coast of North America to the Eastern Coast of Australia. The mission is to raise awareness of environmental issues this planet faces and also address social issues whist driving innovative solution.

"It’s about recognizing that waste is fundamentally a design flaw (it does not appear in nature) It’s about re-thinking waste as a resource. It’s about cyclical ‘cradle-to-cradle’ philosophies rather than linear thinking when it comes to how we design our world. It’s about a better understanding of the lifecycle’s and materials used in our everyday lives. It’s about being curious and open, being prepared to let go of assumptions in order to undertake a new ‘Planet 2.0’ way of thinking and acting. It’s about acknowledging that we don’t have all the answers and that nobody is as smart as everybody. It’s about being collaborative and curious so to engage multiple perspectives, skills, opinions and organizations. It’s about constantly learning, unlearning and re-learning. It’s about re-integrating back into the web of life by recognizing and reducing our human fingerprints on the natural world. It’s about moving on from just articulating the problems and inspiring action of the solutions. It’s about encouraging the world to reduce, reuse, recycle and rethink more of the planets natural resources. It’s about delivering a spectacular global “Message in a Bottle”."

This is a landmark expedition that we hope paves the way for more adventurous entrepreneurs to give something back by opening the door to new possibilities. You can follow the voyages of the PLASTIKI on the their website. The voyage will take 3 months to complete and we wish them the best of luck.

Source: PLASTIKI

Innovative Design x Construction Technology

Product design is not just limited to food and beverage packaging, or products for the general consumer market. Construction Technologies Australia (CTA) recently teamed up with War Design.

"War worked with CTA to develop a brand architecture and identity across their corporate brand and product ranges. The objective is to reflect the new level of professionalism and technical advancement in their fields of expertise. The end result shows a bold, strong and forward thinking company on the verge of greatly impacting the Australian & New Zealand market place.”

Source: Lovely Package

Salve Water x Social Business

“I will not spend the money for myself. I will rather spend it in special business on a no-profit-no-loss policy.” – Muhammad Yunus

The quote from Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Prize laureate and the developer of the term “social business”, summarizes well the process which guided the concept behind Salve (”Save” in Portuguese), a product conceived and branded by À La Carte Design and developed in joint with Acqua Incorp.

We’re living in an era in which philanthropy, eco-consciousness and well-being are increasingly present in each aspect of our daily lives. And the “Generation G” – G for “generosity” –, as pointed out by Trendwatching website, moves and is moved by this urge in doing the good, not only for the self, but for everyone else. And is precisely in this desire to do the good that “Salve” makes a call, turning the simple act of buying a bottle of water into a collaborative movement that helps to transform lives.

The identity follows this concept, of collectiveness, compounded by a mosaic of icons representing positive attitudes which, albeit small, form a greater picture; the importance of small acts that realize great things together.

And to kick off this project, Instituto Criar will be the first institution to be benefited through the “Salve” water, with your donation. Take an action, take “Salve”.

Source: Lovely Package

9000 Years Dagu Glacier Spring Water

I stopped in at a convenience store in Guangzhou (CHINA) yesterday and came across this bottle of mineral water. The first thing I noticed was the foil pack. The print claims the introduction of this new outer packaging seals of light and prevents the introduction of electromagnetic waves that would effect the water quality.

Dagu Glacier Spring Water is Nine Thousand Six Hundred and Ten years old. The company pledges that all their products are bottled at source and even go as far as to offer a 1 Million RMB (US $147,000) reward to anyone who can offer proof that the company has manufactured and filled the product in a plant outside the place of origin or any engagement in contract production to produce and bottle the product.

While most 500ml PET water bottles are priced around3 RMB, this bottle of Dagu Glacier Spring Water was selling for 10 RMB (US $1.47). This is the first time I am seeing this water in the market which makes me curious as to how effective their marketing campaign will be. Chinese consumers are generally quite conservative and I can't imagine too many people would pay over 3 times the price of competitors brands to enjoy the purity of 9000 year old glacier water, no matter how good it tastes.

The bottle design is simple, yet attractive. They have utilized a 1.9g HDPE 30/25 water neck closure and a 19.5g preform. It is refreshing to see that they have not gone for a heavy preform simply to make their bottle feel more expensive as some artesian brands do, but the foil pack does seem quite wasteful.

Water for Water

“Recently finished design for a new line of bottled water called ‘Water For Water’ which is currently stocked across all Gloria Jean’s Coffee houses in Australia, with plans to implement the water into the international GJC franchises in the near future as well as other retail outlets.

The goal of the design was to reflect the international goals of the water (via the small text on the front with WATER in different languages) along with providing a design that would stand out from the rest of the bottled water that’s currently on the market. The design of the bottle took on and off approximately six months, going through various different design iterations including trials on different stocks, and was also affected by getting approval for the right launch date.

All of the profits from the sale of Water for Water go directly towards water based projects and initiatives and currently the first project is a Water Station in Caloocan, Philippines. It’ll provide not only clean drinking water at a minute cost, but also host a community centre that’ll he provide education both for children and adults as well as run programs on healthy living.”

Source: Lovely Package

Method Laudry Detergent

Method Laundry Detergent has just dropped their new fabric cleaner in the US market and claim that it is 'smarter', 'easier', and 'greener' than their competitors brands. How? Well they are utilizing a new formula with 'smartclean' technology, their precision dosing pump avoids wastage, and their plant based formula is 95% natural packed in bottles that are not only easier to hold and transport, but also uses 36% less plastic than other leading detergent brands. While it usually cost consumers more to go green, Method Laundry Detergent is actually giving visitors to their website $2 off of their next Method purchase. While USA and EU are offering subsidies to manufacturers who cut emissions in those regions, we still have to weigh how cost effective it is to 'go green' in Africa.