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NPE Plastics Show Returns from COVID-induced Hiatus with Newfound Spark

NPE2024 adds plethora of educational opportunities at new Sparks Stages devoted to bottling, innovation, and sustainability.

Geoff Giordano

January 8, 2024

2 Min Read
sparks flying between hands
Yagi Studio/Stone via Getty Images

The triumphant May return of the COVID-delayed NPE: The Plastics Show will feature many new educational opportunities thanks to a wealth of added information sessions.

The three Spark Stages are one of those additions. Showcasing bottling, innovation, and sustainability, the Spark Stages will feature more than 75 presentations on the expo floor. These talks, presented hourly between 10 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. daily, are geared to letting attendees “hear from their peers on their toughest business challenges,” according to the NPE2024 website. 

From high-level market updates to more focused insights on particular lines of business, Spark Stage presentations will focus on a broad array of topics critical to the plastics industry.

The Spark Stages were created “to celebrate the incredible partnerships between exhibitors and customers that drive plastics innovation forward,” according to a PLASTICS spokesperson.

Throughout all five days of NPE2024, each Spark Stage will run 30-minute sessions on the exhibit floor. “Each session will dive into dynamic panel discussions and success stories,” the spokesperson said. “Audience capacity will fluctuate as sessions are designed to be ‘come and go’ and will be happening throughout the day.”

Specific sessions on each stage are scheduled to address the following topics (subject to programming changes):

  • Bottling Stage: Global PET markets; bottle making and filling in PET; a PET bottling update; and sustainable and powerful secondary packaging.

  • Innovation Stage: The history of innovation in the plastics industry; getting certification, production, and delivery processes back on track; a novel purification process for recycling polypropylene; the benefits of full integration of peripherals via OPC UA; and more.

  • Sustainability Stage: Using pyrolysis to convert multilayer plastics into higher-value materials; improving blown-film applications with melt filtration; transforming plastic pellet management; innovative foams using 100% recycled polymer feedstock; and more.

NPE2024 runs from May 6 to 10 in Orlando, FL, at the Orange County Convention Center. See the Sparks Stage schedule on the NPE2024 website.

About the Author

Geoff Giordano

Geoff Giordano is a tech journalist with more than 30 years’ experience in all facets of publishing. He has reported extensively on the gamut of plastics manufacturing technologies and issues, including 3D printing materials and methods; injection, blow, micro and rotomolding; additives, colorants and nanomodifiers; blown and cast films; packaging; thermoforming; tooling; ancillary equipment; and the circular economy. Contact him at [email protected].

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