SPC Advance 2022: Atlanta

Harnessing the Collective Energy of Collaboration

Advancing packaging sustainability requires the involvement, energy and boldness of the entire supply chain. Through partnerships, projects, case studies and initiatives, SPC member companies and partner organizations are working together to establish avenues of collaboration that will have a bigger impact on sustainable and regenerative packaging and improved recovery systems. At our fall event, we will showcase collaboration examples from different stakeholders as well as a series of Atlanta-spearheaded future-thinking projects that are setting the city and the state of Georgia, as prime examples and leaders in environmental sustainability, better manufacturing practices, responsible sourcing, forest and water conservation, climate strategies, more efficient recovery and composting practices and systems and packaging technology and production.

Tour | WestRock Corrugated Container Facility

Corrugated containers – they’re a consistent part of our lives connecting people to products every day, from transporting the food we eat, to making sure our online purchases arrive safely. Renewable and recyclable, corrugated containers come in all shapes and sizes and perform multiple functions – but do you know how they are made? Join our tour and you’ll find out. We’ll explain the entire process including the difference between the ‘wet end’ and the ‘dry end’ of the process; discuss rotary die cutters; and explain how an EVOL FFG (Flexo Folder Gluer) works. You’ll never look at a corrugated box the same.

Tour | CompostNow

This tour will be a 90-minute tour of the CompostNow composting operation on King of Crops farm. We will visit the compost piles, the cleaning station, go on a contamination scavenger hunt, show you a glimpse of what the day-to-day operations look like, and expand the conversation around composting and the possibilities around it.

Tour | Greif Sweetwater Paperboard Mill

Attendees will have a guided tour of a cylinder machine that manufactures Uncoated Recycled Board (URB) and Coated Recycled Board (CRB), both of them using 100% recycled paper.

Tour | Printpack Inc. Digital Plant Tour 

Tour Printpack’s Digital Plant and Pilot Plant on their Villa Rica Campus to learn how these operations enable sustainable packaging development.

Tour | Pratt Industries MRF

Join us for a tour to Pratt Industries’ state of the art single stream material recovery facility in Conyers, Georgia.  The facility processes approximately 9,000 tons per month of single stream.

Tour | Trees Atlanta – BeltLine Arboretum Walking Tour

Enjoy fresh air, new city views, fascinating Atlanta history, and every season of horticulture interest! Come walk with an expertly trained Trees Atlanta Docent and learn firsthand about Atlanta BeltLine Arboretum. This walking tour explores the horticultural collections and interesting facts on the Eastside Trail. A walking tour of the Atlanta BeltLine Arboretum is the best way to see progress and be active!

Tour | CHaRM, The Center for Hard to Recycle Materials + Zoo Atlanta

CHaRM, The Center for Hard to Recycle Materials, is a program/facility owned and operated by the nonprofit Live Thrive Atlanta. The facility accepts curbside recycling in addition to materials too harmful or bulky for curbside pickup. The tour highlights all the materials accepted, where recyclables go for processing, what they are made into, reuse materials accepted and how they are shared with other local nonprofits. Our goal is to make the visit and education in proper management of waste.

The second part of the tour is to Zoo Atlanta – Wild Walk Tour. Take a walk with a Wild Guide and get a personalized understanding of the Zoo’s animal ambassadors and how we care for them. During this experience, a wild guide will engage walkers with facts, stories and information about the animals in our care, as well as share details about Zoo Atlanta’s sustainability efforts and ways you can help save species.

Tour | Georgia Pacific Recyclable Paper Mailers Production Facility

Have you received an eCommerce order in a recyclable paper padded mailer? Depending on where you live, there’s a good chance it originated from Georgia-Pacific. Georgia-Pacific would like to invite you to visit their Recyclable Paper Mailer production facility located in McDonough, GA.

As consumer demand for sustainable packaging continues to grow, brands and retailers are looking for ways to meet that demand without sacrificing strength and performance. GP Mailers offer protection in a lightweight and flexible design and the paper for GP mailers is sustainably sourced and meets the requirements of SFI® Certified Sourcing (SFI-00007). GP’s paper padded mailers received a Widely Recyclable label from How2Recycle®, which means they can be deposited in any paper or corrugated recycling collection point, which for most consumers is their curbside recycling bin.

GP has been supplying recyclable mailers to eCommerce customers for several years and has recently added capacity to serve additional customers looking for a cost-competitive alternative to plastic mailers or boxes.

Tour | Backstage Tour of the Chick-fil-A Support Center

Chick-fil-A , established in the 1960’s, has over 2,500 restaurants across the country and is now the #1 chicken restaurant chain in America. The company is renowned for its great tasting food, service, hospitality, and business model. Come and enjoy a fun, storytelling experience about the fascinating history, culture, and values of founder S. Truett Cathy. Also, learn about our unique business model, the “Eat Mor Chikin” cows, and much more! This tour will last approximately 2 hours and will include the History Museum, new product development in “The Kitchen”, and the “Nest” innovation center. Comfortable walking shoes recommended.

Tour | Porsche Experience Center Atlanta

The tour of the Porsche Experience Center will allow SPC Advance attendees to learn about the brand, history and experience center offerings. Tour participants will get a closer view of the track as well as all vehicles on display.

Tour | Georgia Aquarium

Attendees will get to learn more about the behind the seas and behind the scenes at the Georgia Aquarium as it relates to exhibits, conservation, zero waste efforts, sustainable seafood and how the aquarium is educating visitors on ocean conservation. Plus, they will get to see the popular exhibits (and their secrets) from behind the scenes.

Tour | State Farm Arena

Attendees will get a chance to tour the State Farm Arena, the world’s first sports and live entertainment venue in the world to receive TRUE Platinum certification. When beginning this journey in 2019, State Farm Arena diverted only an average of 10 percent of total waste. Since May 2021, the venue has consistently diverted a minimum of 90 percent of fan-generated waste from landfills and incineration during basketball games, concerts and events. The venue diverted more than 500,000 lbs. of waste during Hawks’ home games throughout the 2021-22 NBA Season. The Hawks and venue worked closely with one of their proud sustainability partners, Novelis, the world leader in aluminum rolling and recycling, who provided guidance and operational knowledge to organize, sort and recycle aluminum and other materials.

Tour | Georgia Tech Renewable Products Institute and Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design

Tour attendees will get a chance to visit the Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking which features a remarkable collection of over 10,000 watermarks, papers, tools, machines, and manuscripts. The museum’s mission is to collect, preserve, increase and disseminate knowledge about papermaking – past, present and future. In addition to the museum, attendees will visit the Renewable Products Institute Labs on Chemical Analysis (Some specific areas of experience include machine deposit, evaporator scale and product contaminant chemical characterization; wood, pulping liquor, pulp and paper chemical analysis; product defect analysis; and methods development); the Corrosion Lab *materials testing and fatigue testing of duplex steels) and the Paper Testing Lab which has over 5600 square feet of lab space dedicated to address any paper, board, corrugated board/box and specialty product testing needs in areas of strength, optical, surface, and structural properties. In addition to a full complement of conventional Tappi method testing capabilities, the Paper Testing group can provide special services in the areas of environmental simulations and accelerated aging as well as the Pulp Analysis Lab; the Fiber Optical Microscopy Analysis and  the Black Liquor Lab.

The second part of the tour will include the Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design is the first building in Georgia and 28th in the world to earn Living Building Challenge (LBC) certification, the world’s most ambitious and holistic green building achievement. Rather than being less bad for the environment and people, The Kendeda Building is regenerative

Cleanup | Chattahoochee Riverkeeper Land-based Cleanup, sponsored by Recycled Paperboard Alliance

Join a group of SPC Advance 2022 attendees for a closing activity to the event by spending an afternoon volunteering with Chattahoochee Riverkeeper’s cleanup project. This cleanup is sponsored by the Recycled Paperboard Alliance.

We will be picking up trash in and around the Chattahoochee river OR a tributary to the river. Trash can consist of plastic bottles, bags, balls (of every type), toys, tires, car parts, building materials, and yes even the kitchen sink. We will be wading in the water and/or walking along the banks.  Even a little bit of bush-whacking might be involved.  Lifting of wet, trash-laden garbage bags required.

Evening Social | Innovation and Co-Creation Evening at the HP Graphics Experience Center, sponsored by HP

A group of SPC Advance attendees will enjoy an evening of networking and a tour of the Graphics Experience Center to experience all the new opportunities made possible by HP’s digital printing solutions. This is the only site in the Americas, where you can see HP’s entire graphics portfolio in one place. Attendees will get to experience automated, end-to-end graphics arts solutions that can professionally print everything from postage stamps to building wraps.

Evening Social | Drafts with Dow at Sweetwater Brewing, sponsored by Dow

Hosted by Dow, SPC Advance’s Evening Social at Sweetwater Brewing will be at The Woodlands which is home to Sweetwater’s barrel aging program where brewers create small batches of sour, funky or otherwise awesome beers, located next door to the main production brewery. We chose this venue for their sustainability and water conservation efforts.

Evening Social | An Evening at the World of Coca-Cola, sponsored by Coca-Cola

This Evening Social will be hosted by The Coca-Cola Company. During this social, attendees will get a chance to journey through the storied history of the iconic beverage brand, interact with a variety of exhibits, and sample beverages from around the world. There will be drinks, appetizers and a chance to connect with Coca-Cola stakeholders and fellow attendees.

Evening Social | An Evening with Purpose with Quad and SPC at the High Museum of Art, sponsored by Quad

Join SPC and Quad at the High Museum of Art for an evening with a purpose. With such positive feedback from our social at SPC Impact, Quad has decided to continue its “social with a purpose”. As a global community, we need to urgently innovate to meet sustainability goals. We need diverse innovators – people who come from different backgrounds, experiences, and who think differently in order to drive this innovation. As a way to support communities we do business in, Quad’s U.N.I.T.E BRG has commissioned local black artist, George Galbreath, for a custom piece to raffle off at the end of the night. The social will be at the Robinson Atrium which showcases the award-winning architecture of Richard Meier.