Sustainable Packaging Innovation Forum USA

27th - 28th October 2026

Chicago, USA

Rishi Banerjee

Senior Director and SmartLabel Lead

Consumer Brands Association

Rishi is a Washington, DC-based government and industry relations professional currently heading the SmartLabel program at the Consumer Brands Association. His extensive career spans food safety, regulatory affairs, and policy across both public and private sectors. He has held senior roles at Amazon, GAIN, the Global Food Safety Initiative, and the American Frozen Food Institute, among others. Earlier in his career, he worked in management consulting and policy advocacy. Rishi began at the USDA, conducting scientific research on foodborne pathogen transmission, giving him a strong technical foundation that underpins his policy expertise.

Rishi Banerjee's sessionsView full agenda

Day 0

Monday 26th October 2026

Time
Session title
Session type
17:00 - 18:00
Day 1

Tuesday 27th October 2026

Time
Session title
Session type
08:45 - 08:50
Welcome words 
Institute of Packaging Professionals
09:10 - 09:50
EPR compliance infrastructure: What do the rules require and what can the market deliver? 
RecycleMe | The Recycling Partnership | ALDI USA | Unilever
Plenary
09:50 - 10:30
Plenary
10:30 - 11:00
11:00 - 11:10
11:10 - 11:50
Closing the loop: How to develop viable end markets for secondary materials 
Tetra Pak | Can Manufacturers Institute | Crown Holdings | NAPCOR
Plenary
11:50 - 12:20
Plenary
12:20 - 13:20
13:30 - 14:15
Breakout
15:00 - 15:30
15:30 - 16:15
16:15 - 17:00
17:00 - 18:00
Day 2

Wednesday 28th October 2026

Time
Session title
Session type
08:45 - 08:55
08:50 - 09:30
Case study
09:50 - 10:00
10:00 - 10:30
10:30 - 11:10
Reuse at scale: What works, what doesn’t, and pathways forward 
Mastercard | Tomra | Sustainable Packaging Coalition
Plenary
11:10 - 11:50
Circular economy as industrial strategy: How to build stronger value chains and local economies 
Delterra | Martin Brower | Washington State Department of Commerce
Plenary
12:30 - 13:30
13:30 - 15:00
15:00 - 15:20
Plenary