Business News

Michael Cronin, President Alcan Packaging Food Europe Re-elected Chairman, Food Packaging Europe Association

Tuesday 01. July 2008 - Alcan Packaging, part of Rio Tinto Alcan, is pleased to announce that Michael Cronin, president, Alcan Packaging Food Europe has been re-elected chairman of the Flexible Packaging Europe (FPE) association for a second consecutive year. FPE's main goal is to promote the flexible packaging industry in Europe.

One of Michael Cronin’s priorities as chairman of the FPE will be for the association to take a leading position on sustainability. Speaking at the FPE annual conference, Cronin emphasised the important role the association plays in responding to European Commission demands on food contact issues for flexible packaging and its strong commitment to support the Commission driven FACET (Flavours, Additives and Contact Material Exposure Task) project.

“We must make certain that everyone understands the critical job flexible packaging plays in the protection of food and many other products,” said Cronin. “We must also highlight the important role we play in reducing the resources consumed by our industry, a role achieved through food preservation thereby reducing food waste, and through substantial material usage reduction programmes implemented by FPE members,” he added.

Flexible Packaging Europe was founded in 1998 (under the name Euroflex) and its core business is to represent the European flexible packaging industry at a European level, dealing with all kinds of issues relevant to the industry, most notably food contact and environmental issues.

Alcan Packaging Food Europe, a business of Alcan Packaging, is the European leader in flexible packaging for the food and beverages market. Alcan Packaging Food Europe registered sales of $US2.3 billion in 2007. It operates 31 plants in 18 countries and employs 7,300 people.