ORLANDO, FLA. (Jan. 11, 3:15 p.m. ET) — Bioplastics, sustainability, regulatory issues and initiatives in California that could impact the plastics industry nationwide are among the leading issues that are on the planned agendas for the three educational conferences that will be held in conjunction with NPE 2012.

 The 28 scheduled presentations at the Business of Plastics conference, organized by the Society of the Plastics Industry Inc., will be divided into five tracks: sustainability, bioplastics, marketing, medical products, and advocacy, regulatory and safety issues.

Also colocated at NPE2012 will be the world’s largest plastics technical conference, Antec 2012 — produced by the Society of Plastics Engineers — which had more than 700 presentations last year; and a Latin American seminar in Spanish that will focus on biopolymers andsustainability; rigid and flexible packaging, and specialty or high-value markets.

Some of the other key speakers at the Business of Plastics conference include:

• Thomas Blaige, chairman and CEO of Chicago-based market intelligence firm, Blaige & Co., will discuss global consolidation in the plastics industry.

• Laurie Hansen, executive director of the Western Plastics Association, will discuss how plastics issues in California impact the plastics industry in the U.S.

• Jeffrey Elllis, senior technology consultant to the Silver Institute in Washington and to the Silver Nano Working Group in Durham, N.C., will detail successful strategies for fighting regulatory battles.

• J. Michael Martinez, regional manager of government affairs and the environment for polystyrene food service manufacturer Dart Container Corp. will discuss why product bans and sustainability are incompatible.

• Two PolyOne Corp. executives—Larry Johnson, global director of healthcare marketing, and vice president of technology Roger Avakian, will discuss key industry trends and their affect on materials technology.

(Hansen and Blaige will speak on same topics prior to NPE2012 at the Plastics News Executive Forum at the Saddlebrook Resort in Tampa, Fla., Jan. 31-Feb. 1, www.plasticsnews.com/forum2012.)

The Business in Plastics Conference at NPE 2012 will also have several key speakers from the bioplastics sector including Marc Verbruggen, president and CEO of NatureWorks LLC; Daniel Gilliland, director of business development of Mirel Bioplastics, which are made by Telles; and Edwin Tam, manager of new strategic initiatives at Teknor Apex Co. Tam is also chairman of the SPI Bioplastics Council.

“The timely topics of bioplastics and sustainability will receive special attention in sessions of all three conferences, and the wealth of other technical and business subjects covered by the NPE2012 educational program will address the interests of plastics professionals from across the industry,” said Gene Sanders, senior vice president of trade shows and conferences for SPI.

Sessions for all three conferences will be held in meeting rooms of the South Building of the Orange County Convention Center. A fee applies for each presentation, payable at the time of NPE registration. The Business of Plastics conference runs April 2-5, Antec runs April 2-4, and the Latin American seminar April 2-3.

For more information on the Business of Plastics conference, visit npe.org.

Information on Antec 2012 can be found at www.4spe.org.

Main topics for the Latin America seminar can be found at http://www.npe.org/Attend/content.cfm?ItemNumber=7392&navItemNumber=7395