b'Register at www.stationerymatters.news to receive our biweekly industry e-newsletterNEWSAll new Stationery ShowThe annual stationery show in London Islingtons Business Design Centre enjoys a fresh new look this spring, with a full re-brand, a new name, and an expanded awards which, for the first time, includes retailer categories.Now called Stationery Show London, the specialist trade-only shows brand-new look reflects the design-led character for which the show is becoming known in the industry. Bold colours and black replace the muted pastels of the shows previous branding as it moves into an exciting new phase. This year sees the prestigious Stationery Awards receive their own standalone event while still taking place Maped calls time on plastic packaging on the first evening of the show. The shows organisers are Maped Helix has pledged to reduce single-use plastic in itsespecially excited to introduce retailer categories, which packaging as part of an ongoing commitment to educationinclude Best Specialist Stationery Retailer, and New Store and the environment. The company produces over 25 millionof the Year.units of home, school and office stationery each year, which itwww.stationeryshowlondon.co.ukdistributes in more than 80 countries worldwide. Top-selling product, the Oxford Maths Set (see our Icons of Stationery feature on page 21), has for many years been packaged in a plastic-free sleeve and the company is now working towards ensuring all ten of its bestselling Oxford products are in plastic-free packaging by 2020.Gray Richmond, UK managing director at Maped Helix, explains: Its really important for us to create packaging that does not use single-use plastic and is recyclable, whilst still properly protecting and displaying our products during the distribution and sales process.Our short-term aim is to remove single-use plastics from at least 50% of our products by 2021. Our new Oxford pen range has been carefully designed to feature only plastic-free packaging, and includes ballpoint pens, fountain pens, gel pens, rollerball pens and ink cartridges.Richmond continues: Many of our office products and colouring packs are also in 100% cardboard packaging, but its a trickier task for multipack stationery sets, erasers and pencil sharpeners, which are currently in blister and clamshell packaging for display purposes. The industry as a whole must embrace change in the way we package products. Over many years, infrastructure has been developed that is focused towards using plastic in packaging. This will need to be revolutionised at great pace to hit our short and long term targets, but we are very much committed to doing so.Gray concludes: Our role in plastic reduction is not only environmental but educational. Its important for us to inspire our customers and communicate the importance of being environmentally conscious and socially responsible purchasers. We want to lead the way in eradicating single-use plastic packaging and its essential to garner the support of manufacturers and retailers to do this.www.mapedhelix.co.uk 8 SPRING//SUMMER 2019'