The new ‘Packaging Competence Center’ supports the development of future-proof packaging solutions. Gerhard Schubert GmbH and the Berlin-based Berndt+Partner Group packaging consultancy are combining their expertise with the Packaging Competence Center (PCC). The new organisation brings together experts in regulation, packaging design, materials and automation technology. The aim of the PCC is to advise manufacturers on the development of sustainable packaging and to find viable solutions for implementation. The focus is on meeting the challenges of PPWR as well as other sustainability issues. The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) aims to make the packaging industry more sustainable and to reduce the negative environmental impact of packaging waste. However, it presents manufacturers with major challenges due to extremely tight deadlines, different implementation timelines and the current lack of detailed regulations. Companies need to evaluate as quickly as possible how they will respond to the often complex requirements. This can have far-reaching consequences for their packaging and production processes – and requires efficient, compliant implementation, for which PCC provides a wide range of support. As Michael Graf, Head of the PCC and a sustainability expert at Schubert, explains: “Manufacturers are dealing with very practical considerations. What are the implications of packaging a chocolate bar in paper instead of a flowpack in the future? Or how does an existing cartoning machine run when blanks are resized, when they behave differently in the machine or when they can no longer be glued? These issues are significant and require answers along the entire value chain.”