John Bernardo says he is not afraid to generate a bit of controversy, especially when it comes to how PET packaging should meet the coming train of sustainability.

            Bernardo, the influential head of packaging-based consulting firm Sustainable Innovations, has a lot to say on the subject of plastic bottles and rigid packaging. Some of it is worrisome, but many of his comments showcase optimism that the PET packaging industry can find opportunity from some of the issues it now faces.

            Bernardo -- a communicator, scientist, educator, and innovator and lead juror for the 2010 DuPont Awards for Packaging Innovation – argues that bottlemakers must do a better job of merging sustainability with market success.

            “We need a reason to look at PET meaningfully,” he noted n an interview with Packaging Strategies. “We must say bottlemakers make it convenient and easy to take soda, water, and tea with us where we go, but they also encourage us to recycle those bottles for reuse.”

            Bernardo will offer his thoughts on advancing sustainability in PET bottles in a keynote address at the 2010 PET Strategies conference, to be held Oct. 6-8 in New Orleans. This year’s keynote session also features Dr. Shell Huang, director of packaging research for Coca-Coca Co. Huang will look at future prospects for PET bottles using renewable materials and the market climate for waste reduction.

            The agenda is available online, and early-bird registration is now open for the landmark, 13^th annual rigid packaging conference.

             With sessions featuring the market landscape for the beverage industry (from Bill Pecoriello of Consumer Edge Research), the global materials challenge (from Edgar Acosta of DeWitt & Co), sessions on hot-fill technologies (from Laurel Spencer of Amcor Rigid Plastics) and food prospects (from Paul Baillie of Graham Packaging Co.), and a special luncheon presentation from Pat DeRueda, president of Waste Management Recycling Services, the conference will live up to its subtitle of “defining the future of plastic containers.”

            Bernardo helped define that future by discussing -- with some urgency -- the need for the PET packaging industry to make a shift in its strategic thinking. He suggested that petroleum as a feedstock is going to become more supply-constrained and more expensive, citing the growth in the driving population in China and India as one drain on petroleum usage.

            Users of plastic materials will either need to shore up sourcing options now -- setting fixed-price long-term contracts that buffer the effects of rising prices – or look more aggressively at alternative, non-petroleum-based materials. Using Coca-Cola’s launch of the PlantBottle last year as one example, he said that sugarcane-derived materials converted into a recyclable PET feedstock offer one solution.

            Even better, the bagasse byproduct derived from sugarcane can be reused to make PET instead of going to waste, a smart use of resources, Bernardo said. “It is left-over vegetative matter that is considered a waste product,” he said. “The industry is figuring out ways to take the starch out of that for PET.”

            Another consumer hot button has been the landfilling of plastic bottles, symbolized by the floating plastic mass in the waters between Hawaii and California. However, the plastics industry can turn around negative perceptions by being more proactive at encouraging consumers to recycle containers, offering codes on labels and offering incentives for bottle collection. One example of new labeling programs is the Sustainable Packaging Coalition’s Labeling for Recovery Project, looking at new package graphics that better denote recyclability.

            The need to recycle will be further driven by expected Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) programs, where retailers and some brand owners will be charged for the number of bottles that are wasted and not collected. Programs already are in place in Europe, and California may be the first U.S. state to adopt such a program, Bernardo said. “States could rely on using that money,” he said. “It puts a burden on retailers to collect packaging.”

            These and other issues will be bandied about as items for discussion (and potential controversy) during Bernardo’s speech and a question-and-answer period following his presentation at PET Strategies. It is a conference that should generate both discussion and controversy for years to come.