- Global market overview of advanced recycling
- Updates in APAC Regions
- Technical trend and innovations
Cassie Zhao | Senior Consulting Analyst, Information Division, Smithers
Cassie is mainly responsible for consulting projects in the Asian market, covering tires, materials, packaging and other industries. She joined Smithers for more than two years . Prior to that, she had three years of consulting experience. As a team member based in Suzhou China, Cassie supports consulting team to provide solutions for solving issues and improving efficiency to clients. Recently Cassie presented Smithers outlook on OTR tire market at China Rubber Conference in Qingdao, China. The white paper Sustainability in Tire - 6 Ways The Tire Industry Is Addressing Sustainability she is responsible for, will be published during our conference.
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Suhas Dixit is an entrepreneur and seasoned professional with over 15 years of experience in the field of advanced recycling and biofuels. As a chemist and inventor with 12 patents in pyrolysis and pyrolysis oil purification, Suhas is committed to developing technologies that transform plastic and biomass waste into high-quality liquids. As the founder and CEO of APChemi, Suhas has led the company in delivering 47 successful projects in plastic pyrolysis and oil purification. His innovative solutions have gained global recognition as a driving force in plastic circularity and decarbonisation. He is a sought-after keynote speaker at international forums on Plastic/Biomass Pyrolysis, Chemicals/ Advanced Recycling, Plastic Waste Management and Sustainability. With a strong commitment to driving positive change, Suhas is dedicated to delivering innovative and sustainable solutions that address critical global challenges, such as plastic and biomass waste management, circular economy, and decarbonization. His extensive knowledge and experience in developing and implementing cutting-edge technologies have led to numerous successful projects and patents in the field of advanced recycling and biofuels.
Tan Jia Hui is a Public Affairs Manager at Neste, based in the Suntec commercial office in Singapore. She oversees public policy and advocacy efforts, the company's engagement with public sector organisations and other key stakeholders in the region for the Renewable Polymers and Chemical business unit.
Before joining Neste, Jia Hui worked at ICIS (Independent Chemical & Energy Market Intelligence) where she analysed and interpreted market trends around plastics recycling and circularity in Asia Pacific. She closely monitored regulatory movements and downstream developments, providing market insights into an otherwise opaque region. She also has spoken at several international conferences on the topic, in both English and Mandarin.
Angelin Yang is the Leader of Circular Economy Business, APAC (Ex-Greater China) at SABIC where she brings over 15 years of commercial experience in the petrochemical industry. Having worked with several multinational companies, Angelin has managed portfolios ranging from fossil-based polymers to recycled and bio-based polymers. She is dedicated to exploring and implementing advanced recycling technologies and strategies to reduce environmental impact while promoting economic viability. Angelin’s work involves close collaboration with local businesses and stakeholders to adapt and thrive in the evolving landscape of resource recycling. Her leadership is characterized by a deep understanding of both the challenges and potentials that define the current environmental agenda in the petrochemical sector.
Richard Smith is the Sustainability Director for Amcor Flexibles Asia Pacific.
Richard is a Chemical Engineer and has worked in the packaging industry for over 30 years focused heavily on innovation and enabling brand owners to become more circular through responsible packaging solutions.
In 2013 Richard was made a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Packaging for significant contribution to the development of innovative plastics packaging.
More recently in 2020, Richard was appointed as a non-executive Director of the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO).
Chris specialises in creating value and positive impact for large, complex businesses and organisations by improving the sustainability of their operations, products, packaging, and supply chain.
His experience includes driving system changes to deliver sustainability, product stewardship and corporate reputation outcomes in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, and the US.
Prior to joining APCO in August 2022, Chris led strategic and transformational change in environmental sustainability across leading retailers Kmart and Target where his remit included climate change, product stewardship, circular economy, packaging, plastic, and waste. He has also spent time in the packaging and utilities industries and government.
As APCO’s CEO, Chris leads the development and execution of strategies that bring business, governments, and industry together to design, use, recover, reuse and recycle packaging to improve waste, climate, water, material, chemical and social impacts.
Attorney Marc Anthony Cruz Cox (Marc) is the Director for Stakeholder Relations of Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines, Inc. (CCBPI).
In this role, Marc leads the company’s strategic partnerships with key stakeholders, which include national government agencies, local government units, industry groups and foreign chambers, NGOs, and partner communities to advocate issues of close concern to CCBPI.
In the area of sustainability and policy, Marc is leading the company’s initiatives toward establishing a more robust circular economy for sustainable packaging — as aligned with The Coca-Cola Company’s World Without Waste vision: to collect and recycle 100% of its plastic and can packaging by 2030, which ties in with CCBPI’s program to ensure compliance with the Philippines’ Extended Producer’s Responsibility (EPR) law, which took effect in August 2022.
Marc likewise represents CCBPI as a Director in PETVALUE Philippines Corporation— the company’s joint venture with Indorama Ventures Limited of Thailand. PETVALUE Philippines is the country’s first food-grade bottle-to-bottle PET recycling facility which commenced operations recently (2022). Through his leadership, PETVALUE Philippines was granted pioneer investment status by the Philippines’ Department of Trade and Industry -Board of Investments in December 2020, further paving the way for a truly world-class recycling enterprise to be established locally.
Kithsiri Wijesundera is a multi-skilled professional who carries with him
several years of experience in heading a few leading companies engaged
in FMCG marketing, Export and International Marketing. He has a B.Sc.
Eng degree with specialization in Mechanical Engineering from the
University of Peradeniya and a MBA with a merit pass from the
University of Colombo. In addition to his mechanical and industrial engineering experience in several
private companies he also has first hand experience in Marketing Research, Marketing Communication
Strategy and advertising planning, Brand Marketing, Packaging, International Marketing, Exports, Retail
and Distribution and Supply Chain Management. His last assignment before taking into full time
consulting was as CEO of Dankotuwa Porcelain Limited. As a Strategic Management consultant he has
worked with Bates Asia Strategic Alliance Limited on several brand-marketing assignments.
Nancy has experience in collaborating with clients across a range of industries and various government agencies. Working for Smithers for 10+ years, she has helped the company set up several new business units in China, and recently leading our information business in the region developing conferences and working on market research projects. Nancy has led multiple consulting projects, and her early market research on new projects has provided key information and data to support both our clients and our own investment decisions.
Nancy holds a bachelor’s degree of arts in English Major from Nanjing University of Science and Technology, and MBA degree in East China University of Science and Technology.
Highly experienced, research-oriented, proactive and flexible professional with over 19 years of core experience in Regulatory Affairs and Compliance, Government and Public Affairs and Clinical trials Operations Project Management in diverse fields of various of pharma products, vaccines, medical devices and food product categories segment across geographies.
Started with Sanofi Pasteur as Clinical Associate leading the operation of clinical trials and regulatory registration for almost 10 yrs with an exposure of India and Asia across, followed by Abbott Healthcare Regional Manager (Asia) for Regulatory Affairs, Quality Compliance and Clinical Operations handling China, India and South East Asian countries. Currently Leading Scientific and Regulatory Affairs function of Mars Wrigley India for the last 10 yrs years driving an effective regulatory compliance culture and driving advocacy agenda across various product categories.
Post graduate Pharmacist from Delhi Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research (DIPSAR) with specialization in Clinical Pharmacy and M Phil – Biotechnology along with Post Graduate in Business Management.
Olivia Park is a manager of global packaging R&D at CJ CheilJedang, a number one food company in Korea, where she focuses most of her time developing packaging professionals, identifying new strategic initiatives and delivering sustainable packaging solutions through breakthrough packaging innovation. She has more than 17 years of all food packaging industry experiences from CPG including e-commerce packaging. She was awarded World Star Packaging in 2013 for the development of microwave film for frozen food, and ASIA STAR AWARD for the development of flexible container for fermented Korean kimchi. She holds a number of patents related to packaging development and materials. She has built a packaging infrastructure in the US for the globalization of Korean processed foods, and is currently preparing for the future by establishing a sustainable packaging strategy and technology roadmap for CJCJ. Olivia received BS/MS degree in chemistry from University of Yonsei in KOREA.
Ciaran is responsible for delivering Smithers global growth initiatives and supporting Smithers Asian client base.
Ciaran has been working for Smithers for nearly twenty years supporting the packaging, print and paper value chains with key market and technical information in the form of conferences, reports and consulting. Ciaran has worked on winning and delivering a wide range of market consultancy projects to major industry players, recent projects include a global assessment of printing and packaging growth trends and market assessment for a major new product launch for one of the world’s largest packaging converters.
Ciaran has launched and managed many international conferences in this sector including Digital Print for Packaging, SustPack, Specialty Papers and Print Futures.
Craig is a Senior R&D Leader within the FMCG industry with 20 years experience across multiple categories and geographies having lived and worked in the Australasia, Europe and Asia markets. He has a specialization in driving Sustainable and Circular end to end Packaging innovations and solutions.
Based at the FrieslandCampina Development Centre Singapore for the last 4 years in a Regional R&D Leadership Role, he holds a Bachelors degree in Food Technology from Massey University, New Zealand (his original home country).
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Since joining Haleon in July 2021, Joe has worked with colleagues across their business to develop and implement Haleon’s Packaging Sustainability Strategy. This aims to reduce Haleon’s consumption of virgin petroleum-based plastics, make their packaging recycle-ready and to look for opportunities to partner with other organizations (whether they be competitors, suppliers, waste management etc) to collect, sort and recycle their packaging at scale by 2030.
Joe graduated with a BSc and PhD in Chemistry from the University of Manchester before joining Unilever in 2002 to lead R&D teams in developing the next generation of products that were both loved by consumers, as well as being more sustainable. Joe is passionate about the role science and technology can play to find sustainable solutions and the power of collaboration to make these come alive with Haleon’s consumers.
Chris received a BSc (Eng.) Textile Technology at Huddersfield University.
He has a strong technical sales background developed over the last 30 years working in various engineering businesses. He started off his career as a Commissioning Engineer in the textile machinery industry and made his way up into technical sales. He has acquired a wealth of experience in selling high value capital equipment in the Textile and Heavy Industry sectors for leading UK machine manufacturers.
Chris started working for Bobst in 2016 and is now the Sales Director for the Eastern Hemisphere looking after the promotion of Vacuum Metallizing Equipment from the base in Manchester UK.
Fabienne is Head of Market Engagement at PEFC International. She leads the end-users and retailers engagement programme, promoting PEFC sustainable forestry Standards for supply chain traceability assurance. Managing a team of colleagues and consultants, Fabienne ensures that companies understand the importance of PEFC’s work and are equipped to report their own progress on sustainability targets.
Marika Knorr is the Head of Sustainability and Communication at CCL Label since April 2020 and is dedicated to grow the “Sustainable Product Family” while driving CCL’s Sustainability roadmap. Marika holds a Master‘s Degree in Art from Cologne University and Arizona State University and started her career as a newspaper and magazine writer before moving into Corporate Communications at international companies including TÜV Rheinland, LANXESS AG and Constantia Flexibles. She has held varied and senior positions in marketing and communications and has extensive experience in our industry focusing on sustainability and communication. Marika is based in Cologne, Germany.
Kodak Xiao, Sr. Business Sustainability Director, APAC, P&SP, Dow Inc drives the regional sustainability strategy. He is responsible for building the ecosystem to support the business model for plastics circularity, while achieving lower carbon emissions. Kodak has more than 15yrs of experience in the packaging industry and has worked in different roles from sales to marketing in different countries and regions. He joined Rohm and Haas in 2007 as marketing manager for Adhesives. In 2011, he worked on projects associated with the Olympics & Corporate Mergers and Acquisitions in Midland, USA. He was named the Industrial and Consumer Packaging Marketing Manager in 2013. In 2015, he became the Marketing Director for Packaging, APAC. Kodak received his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Hunan University and his MBA in Finance from Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Emily holds an B.Eng in Food Engineering and M. Eng. Studies in Packaging Technology from Massey University in New Zealand, and has 20 years’ experience working in technical, quality and operations roles in the New Zealand food industry. In her role at Fonterra she is responsible for leading strategy development and technical initiatives in the space of sustainable packaging across Fonterra’s global footprint. Her areas of focus include metrics and reporting, global portfolio review, market insight, life cycle assessment and use of recycled content.
Empathetic leader and proven project manager dedicated to bringing method to madness. Shea has a decade of experience in sustainability integration, public affairs and international development.
I am a packaging professional with 20 years of experience across various industries such as cosmetic, household, insecticide, bakery, food & beverage, and dairy.
My expertise lies in technical packaging development, where I work closely with R&D and manufacturing plants to implement packaging improvements and establish quality standards for packaging components.
In my current role as a senior global specification and compliance packaging specialist in a food company, I am responsible for food safety assessment in chemical composition for packaging based on EU and China (GB) legislation. I work closely with packaging laboratories in the EU and China to define testing proposals and ensure compliance with regulations.
Bio coming soon...
Maija Pohjakallio joined Metsä Group as VP, Climate and Circular Economy in August 2021. She is excited about promoting the well-being of people and the planet by combining science and business with sustainable development and a circular economy. Prior to Metsä Group Maija worked in the field of circular economy at Sulapac Ltd., VTT, Technical Research Centre of Finland, and the Chemical Industry Federation of Finland. She holds a doctoral degree in physical chemistry and electrochemistry from Helsinki University of Technology (currently Aalto University).
Sustainability consultant based in Singapore with experience working across many of the industry’s initialisms and acronyms: CDP, GRESB, GRI, TCFD, MPR, amongst others. Previously worked in the IT services industry as an IT auditor and project manager (SOC reporting, ISAE 3402, SOX) before completing a Master's in Sustainable Development.
Since 2015, when he founded SuperBin, he successfully procured a fund totaling 50b Won with equity and debt financing and built an image data base & a nationwide service system for Nephron (recycling resource collecting robot) using this data for waste, the very first in Korea 9 years, after he had established SuperBin. Furthermore, after completing the recycling reformation (r-PET Flake) factory, he has led the Korean plastic industry for an innovative circular economy. Previously worked as a CEO for a steel company sized 500 billion Won revenue/year, he understood the entire business and its products’ composition and managed the control of price strategies. Despite obstacles of the market conditions during his incumbency, he successfully achieved the highest profit in the company’s history and business performance that exceeded market growth and profit rate through successful restructuring of the company and new businesses. He got a Master's degree(MPA) from Harvard Kennedy School and studied at Cornell's Economics Ph.D. program.
As the Founder / CEO of Plastics For Change, Andrew's role is to make it easy for brands and manufacturers to transition from virgin to recycled plastic. Plastics For Change has developed a marketplace platform that connects waste-pickers to global markets and ensures a consistent supply of high quality recycled plastic for brands. This initiative is about creating better livelihoods for the urban poor while keeping plastic out of the ocean. This year Plastics For Change launched the first and currently the only fair trade recycled plastic certified by the World Fair Trade Organization. Andrew has catalyzed several global brands and manufacturers to replace the use of virgin plastic with fair trade recycled plastic, thereby immediately improving the social and environmental impact of their products. In 2018, Andrew was named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list of innovators and disruptors who are reshaping their industries and changing Asia for the better.
Nicholas joined the Alliance to End Plastic Waste on May 1st, 2020 as Vice President of
Projects, responsible for the sourcing, development, planning and implementation of
projects focused on ending plastic waste in the environment.
He brings a strong international background in the chemicals and plastic business. A
Canadian and Australian citizen, he has worked extensively in Europe and Asia throughout
his career.
Nicholas held various management positions in the Borealis Group from 2009 – 2020. Most
recently as Head of Marketing Automotive, based in Vienna Austria. Prior to that he was
located in Singapore as Strategic Planning Manager for Borouge Pte. Ltd.
He started his international career in the chemical industry in 1998 with Ciba Specialty
Chemicals where he held several sales, marketing, strategy and management positions in
Hong Kong, Switzerland, Thailand and the United Kingdom.
Nicholas holds an MBA in Marketing and Strategy from the University of British Columbia
in Vancouver, Canada and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the
University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada.
Jasmin has been working at ISCC for more than 4 years now and from the beginning she has been heavily involved in the development of the ISCC PLUS scheme as well as the further implementation of the use of logos and claims mainly at the end of the supply chain. For almost two years she has been the team lead for the department “Logos, Claims and Licensing”. Jasmin has a background in CSR management and did her master’s in business administration: Strategy and Organization at the VU Amsterdam.
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Patomwat Tatijarern is an application and market development executive at SCG Chemicals (SCGC), the World's leading plastic producer company in Circular Economy ranked by BloombergNEF2022. He has over 9 years of experiences working in flexible packaging industry. In recent years, Patomwat has shifted his focus on general flexible film to mono-material solutions for flexible packaging. Together with SCGC development team, mono-material packaging innovation development such as SCGC oxygen barrier coating technology have been accomplished with proven by success cases in the market. Moreover, encouraging brand owners and integrated value chain to be more sustainable with his offering initiative solutions is one of his expertise.
Suku Ponkshe is an Associate Partner in
McKinsey’s Atlanta office. She is part of the
Operations practice focusing primarily on
Procurement in Packaging industry. Her experience
spans across direct and indirect categories, with
expertise in packaging procurement spanning
across North America and Europe.
Additionally, Suku also leads McKinsey’s
Sustainable Packaging Hub
Nerida has worked in the Packaging industry for close to 25 years and holds the Vice President Sustainability & Save Food role at the World Packaging Organisation. She is also the Executive Director position at the Australian Institute of Packaging which is the peak professional body for packaging training & education in Australasia.
Nerida is passionate about educating the industry on the important role that packaging plays in minimising Food Waste and how designing Save Food Packaging can make a difference. She is also one of the creators of the annual Xmas Foodbank hamper program which is designed to help those who are vulnerable and in need. The volunteer program has packed over 14,0000 hampers to the value of over $1 Million AUD over the last 11 years. She , is the lead for the Save Food Packaging Consortium project within the Fight Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre and was the packaging representative on DAWE’s National Food Waste Strategy Steering Committee.
Nerida is also committed to helping educate and train packaging professionals in the importance of sustainable and circular packaging design and recognising best practice in this area. She is also the WPO lead for the Global Packaging Design for Recycling Guide which is currently being translated in multiple languages across the globe. The second stage of the global project is the development of a large series of country waste stream mapping guides which are in progress.