Crain Launches Sustainable Plastics Brand

Crain Communications Inc. is launching a new brand to address the emerging recycling and sustainability focus of the global plastics industry.

Sustainable Plastics will provide news and information that impact consumer and industrial brands, manufacturers, governments, the plastics industry and more.

“There is no bigger issue today in the plastics industry than recycling and sustainability,” said Group Publisher Brennan Lafferty in a statement. “It’s a topic that will continue to grow in interest and focus. There’s a need for devoted coverage that we, at Crain, know we can provide. Business stakeholders everywhere seek more data to make thoughtful decisions to run their companies. Our track record and reach tells us we are best equipped to meet this challenge to the benefit of our readers, advertisers and sponsors.”

Crain veterans Don Loepp and Karen Laird will lead the editorial efforts while Show Director and Sales Director Matthew Barber will be responsible for the commercial side with digital, print and event opportunities.

Crain’s focus on Sustainable Plastics means Plastics News Europe and PRW magazines will no longer publish. Readers in Europe will receive Sustainable Plastics instead with additional digital reach in the United States.

Sustainable Plastics dovetails with Crain’s Plastics Recycling Show Europe (PRSE) held annually in Amsterdam. Partnered with Plastics Recyclers Europe, the PRSE trade show gathers together recyclers, consumer brands, nongovernmental organizations and other stakeholders from around the world.

Keeping in step with the new brand, Crain’s annual Plastics Industry Awards in London honoring the best in the United Kingdom’s plastics market will in 2020 also place more emphasis on the circular economy. In addition, 2020 marks the 20th anniversary of the awards, which hosted more than 600 delegates in 2019.

“Over the past few years, the plastics industry has found itself squarely in the firing line,” said Laird, the editor of Sustainable Plastics, in a statement. “In response, it has set forward-looking priorities, ambitions and goals to shape the transition toward a circular plastics economy. What we’re seeing is a paradigm shift that is leading to new collaborations and innovation along the entire value chain and bringing fundamental changes to the industry. Aligning our new title with these developments reflects our role in the ongoing transformation.”

Sustainable Plastics’ website will launch February 1, while the first print edition will mail in March.