Packaging World’s Post

Just as interesting as children’s lifestyle brand Munchkin’s development and adoption of a new paper cable tie and backing card for its packaging is what started the company on its journey to transition its packaging to more sustainable designs and materials. Hint: It involves a stray kitten. Read more about the feline that set Munchkin on its sustainability course as well as its new paper cable ties, which have eliminated 1,200 miles’ worth of plastic ties, here: https://buff.ly/3zT688p #cableties #plasticfree #paperpackaging #moldedpulp #babyproducts #circularpackaging

Tech giant Google committed itself to eliminating all plastic from its packaging by 2023. And last year, it achieved its goal, unveiling its Pixel 8 smartphone in a 100% plastic-free, 100% recyclable, paper-based package. “We have a much stronger paper, which allows us to reduce the weight of the box, meaning a reduction in the carbon footprint when we ship our boxes versus the previous generation,” said Miguel Arevalo, packaging innovation lead, at the Packaging Recycling Summit last month. But Google didn't keep its packaging research under wraps. Now available to all brands, Google's "Plastic-Free Packaging Design Guide" details the solutions it developed to eliminate plastic from its packaging, including technologies and suppliers. Explained David Bourne, sustainability lead, “It’s not Google’s core competency to be about sustainability, and for many companies, it’s not their core competency either. We believe that by collaborating on sustainability, we can all enable the goals we collectively have and still have plenty of competition in other areas.” Read about the packaging tech and access the guide here: https://lnkd.in/g9FRBmGz #PackagingRecyclingSummit #PaperPackaging #circularpackaging #packagingrecycling #packaginginnovation #carbonreduction

Flexible film recycling in general, and store drop-off (SDO) specifically, are gaining fresh momentum. This new energy stems from PLASTICS (Plastics Industry Association)s' refreshed plastic film recycling directory (launching soon at the National Plastics Conference this week). Also driving renewed interest and consumer adherence is the new Flexible Film Recycling Alliance (FFRA), formed earlier this year. At the moment, SDO is the only game in town for consumer-level flexible film recycling, but FFSA stakeholders have designs on multiple (not just 'store') drop-off locations, and potentially even curbside recycling. Again highlighting the importance of multi-stakeholder collaborations, Patrick Krieger and PLASTICS are heading up the directory, which will inform Paul Nowak and GreenBlue Org on How2Recycle® (H2R) labeling directions, while Anne Johnson at RRS (Resource Recycling Systems) handles all of the pick and shovel work around methodology, data, validation, and retailer auditing underpinning a rejuvenated SDO. Assuming good end markets exist, often in durable goods like decking, these SDO efforts should help brands with their recycling commitments. “We [General Mills] have a commitment to be fully recyclable by 2030 in our last global responsibility report, we were at 93%,” said Patrick Keenan of General Mills at Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC)'s #SPCAdvance this month. “That sounds great, but that last 7% is basically all flexible film. We have a lot of great work that's happening within our R&D organization to look at ways to move that to recyclable, and one of those ways is through the store drop-off program. We've been passionate about ways that we can make it easier for consumers to recycle flexible film, and ways we can design a film to be more readily recyclable.” https://lnkd.in/gGYwZAsb

When Colgate-Palmolive transitioned its toothpaste tube from non-recyclable to recyclable, it knew the format would require industry-wide adoption to work at scale. So, the company shared its technology openly. But as Greg Corra explained at the Packaging Recycling Summit last month, the company also needed to better understand the impact of the new tube on waste sortation streams. Vision-based #AI model capable of identifying and sorting both toothpaste tubes and non-toothpaste tubes in real-time was just the ticket. Meanwhile, Amazon Climate Pledges' Nick Ellis wanted to identify bioplastics in a MRF to understand the material's viability as a #packaging format, and to facilitate its pathway through the recycling stream. An AI camera on a MRF paper line would reveal where much of the film ends up. Both companies partnered with Glacier, a first-of-its-kind vision-based AI model capable of identifying and sorting AI is capturing data “not only for data’s sake, but to empower everyone who’s thinking about how to enable circularity to do so much more quickly and much more efficiently,” said Glacier's Rebecca Hu at the Summit. Learn how these collaborations worked, and what the early findings revealed for both companies: https://lnkd.in/gKU359aR

Are corrugated takeout/delivery pizza boxes recyclable? Pizza Hut and Smurfit Westrock said at the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC)'s #SPCAdvance earlier this month that they are recyclable, and that recycling streams ought to be accepting them. They're valuable material that can become pizza boxes once again. Still, there's work yet to be done to get all the stakeholders in the value chain to align. #packaging #sustainability https://lnkd.in/gx_icJtw

The U.S. packaging machinery market is projected to see its slowest growth since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2024. Learn the factors behind PMMI Business Intelligence researchers' prediction, and why they expect a rebound in the years ahead. #packaging #machinery

When The Coca-Cola Company saw that its aluminum cans and PET/rPET bottles sold at universities, sporting events, and concert venues often did not get recovered and recycled into new food-grade #packaging, the company set out to develop a closed-loop solution at select venues, where it validates, collects, processes, and returns its packaging as food-grade packaging for the beverage supply chain. As Jim Velky recounted at the Packaging Recycling Summit last month, the company didn't go it alone. Coke collaborated with Circular Solutions Advisors to create a value chain including MRFs and reclaimers to tap into and unlock recycled material supply that may have gone to landfill or the environment without intervention. Read about how they did it: https://lnkd.in/dRhyPbzK #PackagingRecyclingSummit #Scope3emissions #circularpackaging #packagingrecycling #packaginginnovation #carbonreduction

A visit to Metsä Group’s Äänekoski, Finland, mill site includes a tour of its board mill, Excellence Centre for packaging design, and Pro Nemus visitor center.

For 20 years, PTIS LLC and its futurist partners have led a triennial, pre-competitive program called the Future of Packaging. They were collectively ahead of the curve on that whole "#sustainability" trend as early as 2004, and on crude oil prices in 2008. Here, PTIS and Foresight Alliance offer up five (actually six!) more #packaging trends to watch. https://lnkd.in/g3kkhW82