By the first quarter of this year the Packaging Council of Australia had reached a crossroads, and called an EGM on 26 April to decide its fate: to close altogether or to pursue an alliance with a like-minded and like-purposed industry body.
The EGM was adjourned to give CEO David Carter time to investigate alliance opportunities, which as previously reported have resulted in talks of a merger with the Printing Industry Association (PIAA).
As a next step, the PCA called its members together to continue the EGM on 9 November to discuss and sanction the move towards signing an MOU with PIAA to create a single association to serve the interests of packaging and printing businesses.
Member feedback at the EGM was pro the merger, according to Carter, and the PCA will now move forward to get the MOU agreement in place in as fast a time frame as possible.
"A six-month time frame has been suggested, but I have yet to discuss this with the PIAA," Carter said.
He said the two bodies had not discussed specifically a potential name for a merged entity, but that neither were opposed to the idea of a name that reflected the industries and interests they represent, namely packaging and printing.
Carter was also quick to stress that joining forces with the PIAA did not mean the PCA would not be open to working with other packaging industry associations.
"The PCA has delivered many benefits to members in the past and intends to build on these in our future strategic direction," he said.
"We will continue to pursue a solution that allows us to provide industry representation in support of member issues," he said.
Carter lists these as "advocacy, product stewardship schemes, legal representation, education, training, forums, materials, standards, food contact and safety, risk identification, environmental accreditation, to name just a few".
He noted that although the PCA awards program had not run this year, revisiting the program is on the agenda.
