Plastic bags – a taxing issue

VIETNAM - In an abrupt about-turn, Vietnam’s Ministry of Finance is recommending the abolition of an Environmental Tax on the production and sale of plastics shopping bags and, oddly for a finance ministry, proposing the refunding of any and all tax payments made during the last fiscal year.

The Ministry of Finance, concerned that the Hanoi government might have some difficulty achieving its socio-economic targets - due to increasing inflation as the taxes were passed on to the consumer - presented its novel proposal at a recent conference with local administrations to discuss economic targets for 2013.

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I have seen the future of packaging, and it is Augmented - or maybe not

If the geeks have their way, we will all soon be overwhelmed with the latest technological trend in packaging: Augmented Reality.

My first close encounter with virtual reality, this next-big-thing in packaging, came in October 2008 on one of my regular trips to Japan where, during Tokyo Pack, I was decidedly underwhelmed by the demo.

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Plastics bites back in the Philippines

 

PHILIPPINES - The plastics industry in the Philippines has barked back against the growing howls of environmental lobbyists and politicians attempting to introduce a nationwide ban on plastics and expanded polystyrene (EPS), claiming that “local governments are in effect making global warming worse because more paper means less trees and therefore more carbon dioxide in the air; less water for people to use; and more power to be generated which produces more greenhouse gases”.

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China’s new waste import restrictions – a wider strategy

CHINA - New waste import regulations introduced by the Chinese government have once again thrown the scrap into the fan, sending exporting nations into a tailspin, severely slashing shipments and depressing scrap plastics prices by up to 40%.

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Ten US packaging machinery trends for 2012

ASIA/US - With the US economy beginning to show some positive signs, there is a pent-up demand for new packaging products, new technologies to increase packaging line productivity, and new acquisitions that Asia needs to be aware of, according to one packaging expert.

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How human behaviour in food packaging production can influence food safety

Ishan Palit, President & CEO, TÜV SÜD Asia Pacific, one of the world’s leading providers of integrated testing, inspection and certification services to the food industry, discusses why urgent action is required to change human behaviour in the food packaging industry.  

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