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Cleaning Products Company Helps Remove 41K+ Pounds of Ocean Plastic

Despite its playful name, household cleaning products company Defunkify is quite serious when it comes to “defunking” consumers’ laundry, carpets, kitchens, and bathrooms—basically anywhere in the home that’s funky—in the most effective and sustainable way possible. The Eugene, Ore.-based company was founded in 2019 to eliminate the gap between “green” products that don’t clean very well and hard-working brands that contain toxic chemicals. In the process, it sought to redefine what’s possible in terms of safety and sustainability.

For its laundry detergents, stain and odor remover sprays, and allpurpose cleaner, Defunkify uses bio-based ingredients that the company’s Chief Sustainability Officer, Eddie Rosenberg, says offer “phenomenal cleaning properties.” He adds that the company’s “back-to-square-one approach” has allowed it to develop the most effective, safest products on the market.

But Defunkify’s mission doesn’t end with its products; the environmental friendliness of its packaging is equally important. Explains Rosenberg, “Sustainable packaging and business operations have always been a core pillar in Defunkify’s DNA, and every decision we make is rooted in science and empathy to foster a better, cleaner future. Why? Because we don’t want future generations to live with more microplastic trash and toxins than fish and clean water. With that in mind, minimizing and eliminating plastic packaging has been a core priority since we launched our first liquid laundry detergents in 2020.”

Currently Defunkify’s packaging for its liquid laundry detergent products consists of highdensity polyethylene bottles made with 25% post-consumer recycled material. Spray products are packaged in PE bottles with 25% PCR content. For its powder formulas, the company uses recyclable paper cartons that are Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified, with a compostable pouch inside made from material supplied by TIPA that is certified to be industrially compostable within 180 days. Says Rosenberg, “We also concentrate our formulas to work better with less and never use fillers, so we can use the smallest and lightest bottles and boxes.”

In the near future, Rosenberg shares that the company will be unveiling a patent-pending packaging system that eliminates all plastic trash from the cleaning and personal care industries. In the meantime, to offset its plastic footprint, Defunkify has partnered with plastic action platform rePurpose Global to help fund the removal of plastic waste headed into marine ecosystems. For every product purchased, a percentage of the sales are directed to this effort. In 2021, Defunkify removed 41,571 pounds of plastic waste in West Java, Indonesia, that would otherwise have been burned, sent to landfills, or leaked into the ocean and waterways.

Says Richard Geiger, CEO of Defunkify, “We are proud to have funded the recovery of over 41,000 pounds of plastic from nature, accounting for everything that directly touches the products we sell—every bottle, every cap, every spray nozzle, every bag, and even the tape—and we plan to

Eddie Rosenberg, Chief Sustainability Officer, Defunkify take this one step further in 2022.” The partnership with rePurpose also helps to empower marginalized workers to better tackle plastic pollution in their communities. According to the Defunkify, today’s informal waste workers earn less than $5 a day, work in precarious conditions, and face severe discrimination. The partnership creates an additional income stream by attaching value to low-value plastics, while supporting Waste4Change, a recycling social enterprise that holistically lifts up waste workers through occupational safety, health insurance, and skills training.

As a result of Defunkify’s offset efforts, every one of its products is certified Plastic Neutral by rePurpose. “In other words, every bottle of Defunkify prevents another bottle of plastic waste from polluting our oceans and rivers,” says Rosenberg. This designation has also contributed to the company being named Carbon Neutral Certified for the last three years. —Anne Marie Mohan

Hall of Fame Deadline Extended, Nominate Your Mentor Now

The prestigious Packaging & Processing Hall of Fame has extended its nomination deadline for the 2022 Inductee Class to Friday, July 1, 2022. This is your last chance to nominate someone who made a difference in your packaging or processing career, or someone who made a positive impact on the industry as a whole.

The Packaging & Processing Hall of Fame recognizes career packaging and processing professionals for their significant contributions to the industry and education. The honor, which PMMI coordinates, has been awarded since 1971. A new class was inducted during PACK EXPO Connects, November 9-13, 2020, and future classes will be inducted every other year at PACK EXPO International.

The Packaging & Processing Hall of Fame is the top honor a packaging or processing professional can receive in his or her career. Past inductees are packaging leaders who have dedicated themselves to the industry through expanding knowledge and volunteer

leadership and have personally advanced the field of packaging. A Packaging & Processing Hall of Fame commission evaluates nominations and chooses the coming year’s class. The commission is made up of a cross-section of industry professionals, including suppliers, journalists, and end users. Nominations are simple and quick. Just visit www.pmmi.org/hall-of-fame, and be prepared to respond to how your nominee has done one or all of the following: • Advanced the science, technology and practice of packaging or processing • Expanded packaging or processing knowledge and understanding beyond the industry • Been a remarkable volunteer leader in the packaging and processing community After July 1, the commisison will carefully weigh submissions and select the 2022 Packaging & Processing Hall of Fame Induction Class, to be announced at PACK EXPO International Oct. 20-23. Nomination form at: www.pmmi.org/hall-of-fame —Matt Reynolds

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Absolut Vodka Restages its Flavors Line in Bold Strokes

Absolut Vodka is making a splash with new graphics for its portfolio of flavored vodkas. The launch follows fast on the heels of the unveiling in 2021 of a new bottle for its original vodka, a project that was four years in the making and the biggest design refresh since 1979 (see pwgo.to/7572). With its flavors line, Absolut has continued the focus on the brand’s heritage, provenance, and authenticity, established in chapter one of the restaging, while adding a dash of zest.

Prior to the redesign, Absolut’s flavors portfolio underwent several design iterations as varieties were launched. Most recently, the line used two distinct designs: One featured a frosted bottle; the other a clear bottle with flavor-related graphics.

“The previous packaging design was part of our journey to begin unifying the range through white logotypes and an artistic interpretation of the different flavors,” explains Elin Furelid, Head of Product Portfolio & Innovation for Absolut. “However, at the time, the frosted style was designed to convey the freshness of our citrus range that only consisted of two flavors, Citron and Mandrin. When we launched Lime and Grapefruit a few years later, the conflicting designs became confusing for consumers as despite all of our flavors being made the same way, with natural flavors and without adding any sugar, they appeared as separate. Our ambition for the redesign is to harmonize the look and feel of the range to help consumers find and explore it more easily.”

As Furelid explains, most of the design elements for the flavors range are based on those created recently for Absolut Vodka original, including the classic bottle shape, the silver cap, the embossing of “Country of Sweden” at the bottom, a new paper label on the front of the bottle, and a medallion bearing the image of company founder, L.O. Smith. In contrast to the previous flavors design, the new graphics focus heavily on the brand’s credentials.

“Our heritage and the role that craft plays in the production of Absolut Vodka is shown more prominently on the bottle,” says Furelid. “This is signified with an update on the script and the inclusion of our founder’s name on the quality seal, our medallion. Our distillery, in the village of Åhus, takes pride of place on the center of the bottle alongside our One Source philosophy. We’re proud of our roots and people, so have included the address to our factory on our label and a more legible and human script so that we are showcasing the craftmanship and rigor that goes into making Absolut.”

Unique to the flavors line is a large brushstroke of color on the back of the bottle that aligns with each flavor and helps consumers find, trial, and experiment with new flavors. “One of the most important things with this new design system is the combination of color and that they are true to the actual fruit,” says Furelid. With the refresh in packaging, Absolut also updated the flavor profiles and ABV levels for each variety to allow the natural flavors to come through in the final taste. The brand also introduced a new flavor, Absolut Passionfruit.

Furelid adds that brushstroke of color is also a nod to Absolut’s strong history of creating limitededition bottles that use the packaging as a canvas for sharing big and bold ideas. “We have a long history of challenging the status quo and pushing boundaries—art and design plays a significant role in that,” she says. “We’re continually looking to reignite the bold and creative aspects in all our product offerings, from our first ever work with Andy Warhol in 1985 to the 550 artist partnerships that have taken place in the years since. The updated design and packaging of the flavors range is part of that continued ambition to develop Absolut’s unique design and taste, with curiosity, creativity, and collaboration at heart. This new design system helps to bring out the intensity and taste promise of the upgraded flavors in a better way than the previous design.”

The new, harmonized flavor line has begun to ship to markets globally and will continue to roll out, depending on current stock inventories. —Anne Marie Mohan

Watch a video on the color development for the new flavors packaging

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Fiber-Based Drink Lids Adopted in Swedish Foodservice Chain

Every year, more than 300 billion plastic lids, equivalent to 1.5 million tons of plastic, are produced, and many of them end up as litter in the world’s oceans. A Swedish collaboration between foodservice brand MAX Burgers and its suppliers PulPac and Liplid is replacing the traditional plastic lid with what the trio says is a more sustainable fiber-based alternative. “As a restaurant we are part of the problem, but we want to be part of the solution. We want to be a role model for our industry. When we go public with how our meals affect the climate, our guests can help us to lower our joint impact,” says Richard Bergfors, President of MAX Hamburger, on the company’s website. MAX Burgers says it is the first quickservice restaurant chain to label and compensate for the food’s impact on the environment. As part of this ecologically minded stance, it will start to roll out the Liplid in all its restaurants in Sweden in 2022. “For us at MAX, this collaboration is a perfect solution. We work continuously to develop our business and our menu to reduce our climate footprint. And we always strive to improve the experience for our guests. We’ve analyzed the coffee lids on the market and focused in on Liplid as the best out there,” says Malin Laurén, Global Head of Purchasing at MAX. “This has been a fantastic project, where we have adapted Liplid’s brilliant product to our technology and will manufacture the first series of two million lids for Liplid. We look forward to seeing them go live at MAX Burgers”, adds Sanna Fager, Chief Commercial Officer at PulPac. PulPac says that its fiber forming technology made the unique lid from fiber possible, and adds that dry molded fiber offers benefits such as structural strength, undercuts, de-nesting, advanced geometries, and control of material thickness, making it possible to produce very thin fiber products. VibFeedersAd.qxp_Layout 1 2/12/21 12:37 PM Page 1The dry process also saves water and energy, resulting in up to 80% lower CO2 footprint compared to alternatives. Besides the technical and environmental advantages, PulPac says its technology offers highly competitive unit economics, which it says makes it possible to replace single-use plastics at global scale. “The world needs smart and functional alternatives to single-use plastics. Using PulPac’s innovative approach, we at Liplid produced a fully recyclable, plastic free and biodegradable cup lid with a new and unique design—bringing a new drinking experience to the market,” says Jesper Berthold, CEO at Liplid. The lid is placed inside the cup, rather than on it, to prevent leakage and improve the stability and drinking experience of on-the-go beverages. The design, using 25% less material, was a winner of one of the 2022 World Star Packaging Awards in the category of Packaging Materials and Components. —Matt Reynolds

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Three Actions for CPOs to Navigate Packaging Shortages

Supply instability and rising costs are prompting chief procurement officers (CPOs) to adopt new approaches to packaging material procurement. That’s according to Gartner, Inc., which covers the topic in its new publication, “Tactics for Navigating Packaging Shortages.”

“Shortages of packaging materials such as pallets, plastics, corrugated, metal, and glass are wreaking havoc across supply chains, and it remains unclear when—or if—these constraints will subside,” says John Blake, senior director analyst with the Gartner Supply Chain practice. “Packaging procurement is highly complex, as it requires coordinating many different suppliers. To further complicate matters, there has been a lack of investment in technology that would allow for seamless collaboration across the supply chain.”

To successfully navigate in this environment, Gartner says CPOs must adopt new tactics that drive greater resilience, manage the rising costs of packaging, and improve packaging sustainability. The three actions it recommends to reduce the impact of packaging supply constraints include the following: 1. Centralize packaging specifications: Packaging specifications are traditionally linked to a SKU or bill of materials (BOM). However, this practice prevents CPOs from being aware of all the packaging specifications across the organization. A better way is to centralize all specifications across the organization. This allows CPOs better visibility and enables improvements, such as harmonizing similar materials, establishing more sustainable alternatives, and fluidly switching suppliers in the event of a shortage.

“Ultimately, procurement teams need to build a packaging supply ecosystem, but they must first obtain full transparency of packaging specifications across the enterprise. Currently, we still see very limited adoption of advanced SaaS [software as a service] applications that would enable such a step. This is a massive investment gap for CPOs to close,” Blake says. 2. Collaborate with suppliers: As packaging suppliers operate at maximum capacity—either from demand or due to availability of raw materials—they are now in a position to select which customers and orders they choose to fulfill. CPOs must establish a close collaboration with suppliers and make it easy for them to fulfill orders.

Collaboration can take the form of agreeing on suitable material substitutions, alternative production facilities, incentives, or a streamlined supplier onboarding. “Suppliers with limited capacity will prioritize customers with the most favorable commercial conditions,” says Blake. “CPOs must align the interests of the suppliers with the internal requirements of manufacturing and R&D to chart the best path forward.” 3. Segment packaging: When CPOs have a holistic view of all packaging requirements in the organization, they can use packaging segmentation to break down silos and identify the possible opportunities and risks that each segment presents. For example, primary packaging is in direct contact with the product and must ensure quality over the product’s shelf life and might require additional certification by the supplier. However, primary packaging carries a unique set of needs that can result in longer lead times or increased upfront effort to qualify alternative materials or suppliers. On the other hand, transport of packaging such as pallets, crates, and stretch wrap is often standardized. A switch to reusable packaging could mitigate shortages.

“Each level of packaging has its own set of risks that CPOs must factor into strategies to mitigate supply shortages. Segmenting packaging across the organization provides a better base for decision-making,” Blake concludes. —Anne Marie Mohan

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On-pack Cannabis QR Codes Provide Product Transparency

The COVID-19 pandemic, with its requirements for individuals to socially distance and keep safe and sanitized, changed much about consumers’ shopping behaviors and their interactions with consumer packaged goods brands. These changes extended to the cannabis market, as well, shares Jordan Plunkett, Marketing Director at Veritas Fine Cannabis. Inspired by restaurants’ use of QR codes in place of menus, Veritas began in 2020 to add QR codes to its cannabis packaging labels to put comprehensive product data at consumers’ fingertips.

Veritas is a Denver, Colo.-based wholesale cannabis company that differentiates itself and its products by the overall passion and dedication that every member of the team puts into their work every day. That’s according to Veritas owner, Mike Leibowitz, who adds, “High-quality products come naturally when people enjoy coming to work and love what they do.”

The brand centers around cannabis being the connection that brings people together. “Denver is a melting pot, as is Colorado in general, and we try our best to encapsulate this in everything we do, whether it’s a collaboration with craft artisans who call Colorado home, a dining experience with elevated dishes, or an interactive art experience unlike anything anyone has seen,” says Plunkett. “Cannabis is an experience, and we try our best to highlight that.”

Packaging for Veritas’s range of cannabis products, which includes flower and pre-rolls in 100 strains that rotate regularly, comprises glass jars and black plastic tubes, respectively. Graphics for the packaging were done by Sarah Egener, Art Director at Veritas, who Plunkett says “managed to create the perfect brand voice in visual form.” He adds, “We like great weed and fun experiences with good people. Our label presents all the important information about an individual strain, such as type of experience—energizing versus relaxing, for example—general effects, genetic lineage and the top three terpenes, in an organized chart format that’s easily digestible for any consumer. We are a brand for the newcomer and the connoisseur, so it’s important that we highlight the details people actually would be focusing on while shopping for cannabis.”

In 2020, as QR codes were revived, Veritas realized the opportunity to provide consumers with more comprehensive information on their products beyond what could fit on a label. “When the restaurant industry reintroduced QR codes to the general public we took notice,” shares Plunkett. “The technological advancements in smartphones and a more straightforward way to scan and use the codes was quickly adopted.

“In our eyes, QR codes had been a dying thing pre-COVID because smartphone users previously had to download a third-party app to scan them instead of using the camera feature, and let’s

be honest, we live in a world where these additional steps can act as a deterrent.

“We capitalized on this opportunity [new technology] to give consumers quick and easy access to verified information directly from the source. Veritas Fine Cannabis packaging QR codes lead back to a strain card on our website that provides even more detailed information not included on the label such as the full terpene and cannabinoid lab test results along with where else they can find that product, if it’s currently in the rotation. This has allowed our customers to become more educated on what they are smoking while allowing us to reach the customer directly by showing them where they can then find said product again.”

Specifically, the QR code allows consumers to see the 21 most prevalent cannabis terpenes present in the product and data on nine different cannabinoids (e.g., THC, THC-A, CBD-A, CBN, etc.), highlighting the most prevalent ones in that strain, as well as a searchable list of retailers across the state currently carrying the strain.

Veritas developed the QR codes using an online code generator. Says Plunkett, the codes themselves are easily accessible and readily available, and if you know where to look, are free. “Payments for the software may be necessary if QR codes are being produced in mass quantities,” he explains, “but it’s mainly the time and labor that goes into the creation of them to make sure they are accurate for different SKUs.” The QR code software also enables Veritas to collect data from consumer scans, including the general regions where they are scanning, what’s being scanned, and when it’s being scanned, providing insight into what strains or products are popular in some areas, as opposed to others.

While Plunkett says the QR codes are not the main attraction on the packaging label, they are a key component when it comes to consumers being able to get additional, accurate strain information. “Through our experiences, we’ve learned that transparency is key,” he shares, “and we want to always ensure our customers are getting nothing but the best every time.” —Anne Marie Mohan

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