Oerlemans Plastics has closed its 50th-anniversary celebrations in style with the festival Circular Open Air. The packaging manufacturer organized a dazzling program this weekend for 400 business guests on Friday and on Saturday for over 800 staff members and partners. With the presentation of the IMPACT vision on Friday, the company revealed its circular strategy and future-proof packaging products for the coming years.
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The festival is the apotheosis of an anniversary year full of milestones for the family business. Late last year, it opened a new factory, changed the group name to OPACKGROUP, and passed the 250 million euro turnover mark through two acquisitions, among other things. Owner Joan Hanegraaf was appointed Officer in the Order of Orange Nassau for his branch work in the plastics industry; an appreciation for his many years of vision summarized in one sentence: "We write VerduurSamen with an S" (Sustainable is something you do together).
This direction was further elaborated at the start of the festival in four seminars for the visitors on, respectively, Making Impact, Developing Innovations, Sustainability & Legislation, and a tour of the independent research center OPACKGROUP Technology Centre. Guests could further get an impression of the new factory, in which all machines were operational and running at full speed.
There were even more people with a vision of the festival on Friday. For example, former astronaut André Kuipers presented his lucid speech about our responsibility for the earth. "When I worked in the space station ISS, I saw how fragile and beautiful our planet is at the same time. A bright blue sphere with an ultra-thin atmosphere; seeing it from space is indescribable. Today, with the knowledge of the space sector, we can apply a tremendous amount of knowledge. For example, specialized satellites measure the number of illegal forest fires in the Amazon and also what substances are released in the process. Technology can also be used from space to predict how much freshwater supply is disappearing per country per year. And even everyday items like your mattress and your phone camera were created with knowledge from the space station."
The space traveler further shared with the audience that many packaging tests are done in a weightless environment. "Be careful because when opening packaging with small products, everything floats away from you!"
After Kuipers' fascinating speech, sand magician Gert van de Vijver wrapped up the story of sustainable packaging with a beautiful sand performance. And director Johan Kranenbroek expressed his appreciation and thanks to all parties involved, who together have been responsible for the momentum that has now been achieved. On Saturday, there followed a private party for staff with a varied musical parade on the festival grounds of Circular Open Air.
