16 minute read
Sustained Momentum
Leveraging packaging line automation to move the needle on packaging sustainability
A
s many of the world’s leading food and beverage companies are quickly finding out, moving packaging sustainability from niche applications into mainstream mass manufacturing processes has been a daunting endeavor, often held back by the lack of speed and scale these manufacturers need to make a real significant impact with their sustainability strategies.
With much of the existing global stock of operating packaging machinery having been designed to work with packaging materials that have proven to be highly problematic to achieving the vaunted Circular Economy goals of closed-loop packaging recovery, recycling and reuse, simple material substitution has often proved to be a noble but inadequate strategy for meaningful environmental footprint reduction due to the lack of not just the volumes of planet-friendly packaging materials, but the ability of their packaging machines to process these materials at the same production speeds and efficiency levels as with the packaging they are meant to replace.
Happily, progressive companies like the Atlanta, Ga.-headquartered paper packaging systems manufacturer WestRock Company are working tirelessly to narrow that gap with a new breed of highly automated packaging line solutions that can enable CPG (consumer packaged goods) manufacturers to really move the needle on packaging sustainability.
As an integrated producer of both paper packaging and the machinery used to apply that packaging onto all sorts of consumer products, the company has earned plenty of industry-wide praise in the last few months with the introduction of its CanCollar Eco paperboard packaging solutions—developed to replace plastic ring carriers widely used in beverage container multipacks—along with the advanced high-speed packaging machinery to support their widespread implementation by leading beverage producers.
Over the last two years, three major global beverage producers have installed WestRock’s CanCollar Eco packaging line technologies at their operations, including: • Leading Mexican brewing company
Grupo Modelo partnering with WestRock and Grupo Gondi in transitioning to CanCollar Eco packaging in
Mexico, eliminating over 100 tons of plastic waste. • Asahi Breweries, Ltd., one of the largest Japanese beer companies headquartered in Tokyo, introducing Can-
Collar Eco Plus technology to the
Japanese market. The initiative is projected to reduce their paper usage by 8,000 tons, and the GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions associated with material production by 7,400 tons. • WestRock implementing the CanCollar
Eco paperboard can ring technology with Coca-Cola European Partners in Spain in 2020, making it the first
European country to roll out these sustainable rings on multipack cans. The use of CanCollar through this partnership is projected to save more than 18 tonnes of plastic annually.
Recently, the Canadian Packaging magazine caught up with WestRock’s director of corporate sustainability Chris Davidson to relate the company’s efforts to scale up the conversion to sustainable packaging worldwide through improved automation capabilities.
Q. Please explain how advances in automation are making fiber-based alternatives like CanCollar Eco more cost-effective for the food and beverage industry. A. Across industries, automation allows us to drive innovation that helps our customers optimize their operations, reduce costs and drive efficiency at scale. With automated processes, our customers can optimize resources used, enabling them to reduce electricity and water usage to lower their transport carbon footprint.
Sustainable, fiber-based packaging and A schematic drawing of the automatic CanCollar Fortuna mcahine cpable of applying the CanCollar Eco paperboard clips to beer cans at lightning speeds of up to 2,000 cans per minute.
Chris Davidson, Director, Corporate Sustainability, WestRock Company.
plastics replacements are generating significant interest and greater market demand. Our broad portfolio of innovative fiber-based solutions, many of which are engineered to match the performance of plastic, make WestRock uniquely positioned to take advantage of this shift.
In the beauty segment, rigid tube packaging is increasingly becoming of interest for products like deodorant or lipstick. Even cosmetic palettes are now available in a fiber-based format, as consumers become more discerning about waste and the environment.
In grocery, many of our partners are being asked by consumers to help them load less plastic into their shopping carts. We recently launched our EverGrow produce packaging, which is a recyclable alternative to single-use plastic.
We partnered with Liquibox to develop a new SIOC (Ships in Own Container), bag-in-box e-commerce solution for liquid products. It leverages one of our automation offerings—the Meta box design for speed and flexibility in case forming. This packaging replaces rigid containers, while helping liquid products arrive safely at their destination.
Q. Please describe the automation process and equipment used in the production and application of Can-Collar Eco packaging. A. Our CanCollar Eco is compatible with our CanCollar Fortuna, Chunk and Corsair automation platforms.
The CanCollar Fortuna is the fastest and most flexible of the CanCollar automation systems, running up to 2,000 cans per minute.
Designed for mid-speed can lines, the Corsair system can run up to 240 cans per minute. Given its speed and size, it’s typically best-suited for craft or artisanal beer.
As the only manual option of the can multipack systems, the Chunk system is a collapsible table that supports multiple can sizes with one simple height adjustment. Despite being manual, the application can process for 24 cans only takes 12 seconds. While all three systems work with CanCollar Eco, optimal operations would vary by system. The CanCollar Fortuna is best suited for larger businesses that rely on that level of speed to package their products in a timely manner.
The base model will run CanCollar Eco, and there are additional modules available that support capabilities—including a can orientation module that individually orients every can for increased shelf appeal or hidden barcodes.
The machine choice all depends on what the customer is looking for in terms of speed, pack format and flexibility, and we provide several options to meet their specific needs.
Q. What is driving market demand for the development of sustainable packaging such as CanCollar Eco? A. We’re seeing plastic replacements as a rising priority for businesses and consumers across the globe. Consumers want to put their money behind products that are better for the planet, as well as businesses that are conscious of the environmental impact of their packaging. It’s increasingly important for brands to create sustainable packaging alternatives as many countries, including Canada, are passing legislation to reduce the use of plastic packaging.
The CanCollar Eco system provides a glue-less, recyclable alternative to plastic shrink film and plastic rings that function to bundle cans together—making them easier to transport.
The CanCollar family, including CanCollar Eco, provides an easy solution for businesses and brands to reduce their plastic usage in this area. In fact, we had heard directly from our customers that they wanted to further reduce and remove plastic from their operations, specifically with alternatives for securing cans in trays.
Q. How big is the market for such sustainable packaging? A. Sustainable packaging and plastics replacements are generating significant interest and greater market demand. We are seeing increasing movement from plastic to fiber-based packaging as a result.
According to a recent Global Buying Green Report, 67 per cent of consumers identified that it’s important that the products they purchase be packaged in recyclable materials. This shift has encouraged brands to look for sustainable solutions to their packaging options. As conversations continue around how we will address climate change, we expect that companies will further prioritize adopting sustainable packaging to reduce their footprint across their supply chains.
For instance, we’ve already partnered with customers like Kraft Heinz, Nestle, GSK, Coca-Cola and Grupo Modelo, who are all were looking for renewable and recyclable packaging options to reduce plastic usage. We look forward to fostering new partnerships and designing new packaging innovations that will help us continue towards our shared goal of a more sustainable future.
Q. What kind of board is used in the construction of CanCollar Eco packaging? What are some of the practical benefits that this packaging offers? A. Our CanCollar Eco design is made of a single ply of WestRock’s CarrierKote paperboard, which maintains its strength under wet conditions. The design is engineered to use as little material as possible, while still achieving performance requirements. Unlike a typical cardboard box that would cover the entire product, CanCollar Eco only uses a compact paperboard clip The Can Collar Eco paperboard clip utilizes an innovative tooth design to ensure a tight hold of the multipack beer cans, while providing a good surface area for brand messaging.
NEW EMPLOYEE APPOINTMENTS
Dany Lavoie Area Sales Mgr., Montreal Brett Horst Area Sales Mgr., SW Ontario
Carlo Gavazzi has appointed Mr. Dany Lavoie to their Canadian Sales Team.
Dany come to us with 20 plus years of experience in the electrical industry. He has developed many strong relationships with key industrial and OEM accounts by providing winning solutions for their projects. We are proud to welcome Dany as the new Area Sales Manager (ASM) for the greater Montreal Region, and ask that you join us in welcoming him to the Carlo Gavazzi Canadian team; dlavoie@carlogavazzi.com
Carlo Gavazzi a le plaisir de vous présenter M. Dany Lavoie qui se joint à l’équipe des ventes canadiennes.
Dany nous arrive avec plus de 20 ans d’expérience dans l’industrie électrique. Il a développé de nombreuses relations solides avec des comptes clés dans le milieu industriels et OEM en fournissant des solutions gagnantes. Nous sommes fiers d’accueillir Dany en tant que nouveau responsable des ventes sur le territoire (ASM) pour la grande région de Montréal et nous vous demandons de vous joindre à nous pour l’accueillir dans l’équipe canadienne de Carlo Gavazzi. dlavoie@carlogavazzi.com Carlo Gavazzi has also appointed Mr. Brett Horst to their Canadian Sales Team.
Brett is a graduate of Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning with an Advanced Diploma as a Technologist in Electrical Engineering. Brett has more than 5 years of experience in the electrical industry working with a variety of industrial and OEM customers. We are proud to welcome Brett as the new Area Sales Manager (ASM) for the Southwestern Ontario Region, and ask that you join us in welcoming him to the Carlo Gavazzi Canadian team; bhorst@carlogavazzi.com
Carlo Gavazzi a le plaisir de présenter M. Brett Horst à l’équipe de vente canadienne.
Brett est diplômé de l’Institut de technologie de Conestoga College et d’apprentissage avancé avec un diplôme avancé en tant que technologue en génie électrique. Brett compte plus de 5 ans d’expérience dans l’industrie électrique travaillant avec une variété de clients industriels et OEM. Nous sommes fiers d’accueillir Brett comme le nouveau représentant des ventes (ASM) de la région du Sud-Ouest de l’Ontario. Nous vous demandons de vous joindre à nous pour l’accueillir dans l’équipe canadienne de Carlo Gavazzi; bhorst@carlogavazzi.com
GAVAZZI Components Proximity Sensors with IO-Link and IO-Link Smart Configurator
to hold the upper part of the cans, making the design recyclable wherever beverage cartons are accepted.
Due to CarrierKote’s special clay coating, CanCollar’s surface provides a great base for customers to print on or embellish their brand messaging.
The key feature of the CanCollar Eco is the unique tooth design that tightly hold the multipack cans by the rim, allowing us to use as little packaging as possible to secure the product.
We are very proud of this design, and the CanCollar technology recently won the Sustainability Award of the Year recognition from the Paperboard Packaging Council (PPC) through our partnership with Coca-Cola Europacific Partners and Lervig Brewing.
Q. Are there plans to introduce CanCollar Eco packaging to the Canadian marketplace in near future? A. We are continually looking to partner with customers to deliver solutions to their specific packaging needs and their sustainability targets. The CanCollar Eco technology is currently used across the U.S., Spain, Japan and Mexic,o and we look forward to working with partners to introduce this innovative solution to the Canadian market.
Earlier this year, we partnered with our customers, Grupo Modelo and Asahi Breweries, to introduce CanCollar Eco to the Americas and Japan, respectively. By using this innovation, Grupo Modelo will be able to avoid 335 tons of packaging waste annually, and Asahi will reduce the amount of paper used by roughly 8,800 tons annually Partnerships like these will help advance our journey towards a Circular Economy around the world, and they are a very important part of our sustainability journey as a packaging provider.
Q. Why is packaging sustainability such an important priority for WestRock? A. The promise of a sustainable future begins with healthy forests, so our commitment to sustainability begins with our sustainable forestry practices. We’re committed to working alongside family land-owners and environmental partners to ensure environmental and economic benefits for our communities and the forests where we operate.
Fiber-based packaging is a sustainable alternative to plastic, but we want to ensure that we’re doing more than simply offering a sustainably-sourced product.
By considering sustainability at every phase of the package’s life cycle, we design right-sized solutions to avoid excess packaging waste with renewable and compostable.
Creating a more sustainable future will take collaboration across industries. There’s no one-size- fits-all solution, so we innovate our products by solving our customers’ biggest challenges.
Our broad and ever-growing portfolio of innovative fiber-based solutions, many of which are engineered to match the performance of plastic, make WestRock well-positioned to take advantage of the demand for sustainable packaging.
Our emphasis on sustainability extends through the entire product life-cycle as we also have our recycling facilities. Fiber can be recycled up to seven times, so our recycling facilities allow us to maximize the usage of the materials we source.
As a sustainability leader in the packaging industry, we are committed to long-term improvement and will continue to take active steps towards advancing the circular economy.
Leveraging 18 recycling plants across the United States, WestRock recycles eight million tons of materials per year— far exceeding our 5.5 million tons of recycled-fiber consumption, and we have already invested US$7.7 million in developing brand new recycling technologies so far through 2022.
WestRock’s CanCollar packaging used by Kraf Heinz to make multipacks of popular canned products in fully-recyclable and renewable one-ply paperboard packaging.
On March 22nd, Annex Business Media’s Manufacturing Group teamed up to host ADVANCE: Women in Manufacturing, a one-day virtual summit that brought together industry experts and thought leaders to promote gender equity, diversity and inclusion in Canadian manufacturing. Visit womenincanadianmanufacturing.com to view on-demand content, including videos and podcasts.
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Renewable materials big piece of the sustainability puzzle / Jaan Koel
There are more eco-friendly product offerings appearing on the market these days in more and more surprising places than ever before. Recently, news reports have described a supple leather-like alternative made from a special process based on threads from the root structure of mushrooms. The so-called Fine Myceliu material has already inspired luxury good giant Hermès, for one, to launch a new range of more sustainable high-end bags, purses and luggage, with other global brand-owners like Adidas, Lululemon and Stella McCartney quickly following suit. Reduction, not just in packaging but terms of total environmental impact, is of vital importance to our future, just like recycling and reuse. By using fungi instead of animal skins to produce next-generation “leather,” progressive manufacturers can not only reduce the landfill waste, but also do the same for animal exploitation and cruelty, along with the heavy chemical pollution generated by the commercial leather tanneries.
For sure, the more R’s that can be incorporated into a product the better. A good example of a product converging all three R’s in a tidy little package is the Reusable Beeswax Food Wrap from Abeego Designs Inc. of Victoria, B.C. Each package comes with two 33x33-cm wraps that resemble oil cloth in texture and appearance. Bing much ticker than conventional plastic wrap, they are easy to wash and use again. The self-adhesive flat sheets can be easily shaped to accommodate the shape and size of any stored food items kept in the fridge: half-cut lemons, cucumber ends, cookies for an afternoon snack, cheese, herbs, and even creating a totable pouch for trail mix. Claimed to last for at least a year before they can be recycled, these wraps are also perfect for wrapping larger items like a head of cauliflower or stick of celery. Fittingly, the wraps come in a slender paperboard box, also 100-percent recyclable, featuring a convenient tear-strip opening, with full instructions and user tips printed inside.
If you like using filtered water, but want to get rid of your chunky plastic filter container, then you may wish to try out Active Charcoal Water Filter sticks from Black+Blum of London, U.K., instead. The 12-cm-long sticks can be dropped into any bottle or jug to remove contaminants and make the water taste great again. The charcoal sticks are vacuum-packed in thick plastic film and are presented in an attractive recyclable wood-colored paperboard container that has a circular open cutaway on the front panel to reveals the product inside. Notably, the sticks are made of Binchotan Charcoal sourced from the Kishu region of Japan and they can last for six months, after which they can be used in the fridge as a deodorizer.
Another nice move along the lines of reduction is the new Corona Extra six-pack cans of beer. Instead of using plastic rings, which can be fatally harmful to birds and other wildlife, or full wraparound enclosures using up a lot of material, the cans use a lid-like corrugated paper clip to them neat and tidy on the shelf and easy to carry home. The lid design reduces the use of paperboard by about 65 per cent, and it is of course fully recyclable. The clever clip has die-cut side panels that fold underneath to form a second structural layer that stretches for about 12 centimeters between the cans like a tongue, with pre-punched holes that permit a shot of hot-melt adhesive to attach opposing pairs of cans to the board to prevent splaying. A word should also be said about PlantBased Dishcloth marketed by the New York City-based FC Brands. The super-absorbent square dishcloths made in China utilizing highly innovative material, developed in Germany, that is 70-percent cellulose, derived from plants, and 30-per cent cotton, with all the different design patterns printed with waterbased inks. These universally handy and practical dishcloths can be put in the dishwasher, a microwave machine, or even laundry for periodic cleaning and sanitization, and they are claimed to last for about six months.
No doubt, small wonders, victories and surprises will continue to pop up. Who would have thought that one could wear or tote leather-like material made from mushrooms? Wherever there’s an environmental will to do the right thing, there will always be an environmental way to do it.
(Clockwise from above)
A travel bag made with renewable materials derived from the root structure of mushrooms; the Reusable Beeswax Food Wrap sheets; a package of Active Charcoal Water Filter sticks; a Corona Extra six-pack of can held together with a corrugated clip on top of the cans; the long-lasting Plant-based Dishcloths from FC Brands.
JANN KOEL is a freelance writer and environmental consultant living in Toronto.
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