Packaging World May 2021 by PMMIMediaGroup

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Hershey Brazil: Digital Print Campaign Celebrates Women 38

Nestlé’s Smarties Switch from Plastic to Paper Pack 46

Linear Servo Track Adds Wireless IO 50

Personal Care Brands Opt for Aluminum 56

High-End Hot Sauces Spice Up Automation

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Hershey Brazil has been actively leveraging the power of digital printing in a campaign that uses chocolate bar packaging to promote and value female talent. 50

FEATURES 28 COVER STORY Hershey Leads the Way in Digital Print #HerSheGallery transforms a chocolate bar wrapper, The BoxMaker gets its second C500, label printing continues to progress, and digital enhancement adorns a chocolate pack.

38 Nestlé Achieves ‘Paperization’ of Confectionery Packaging Transitioning from plastic to paper for 419 SKUs of its Smarties brand chocolate candies requires extensive R&D in new materials, new package designs, equipment compatibility, and recycling potential for Nestlé.

46 AUTOMATION Wireless Welcome in Manufacturing 56

The use of wireless in manufacturing plants is still met with a good deal of skepticism today. Much of this doubt is based on experience with traditional wireless, which is simply not reliable because it’s neither fast enough nor scalable. We’ll take a look at a technology that’s changing packaging machine builders’ minds on this.

50 Specialty Personal Care Brands Embrace Aluminum Bath and hygiene brands that target sustainability-minded consumers—ones who are less sensitive to price and more concerned about doing good—are landing on aluminum as an ‘infinitely’ recyclable plastic alternative.

56 Spicing up Sauce Packaging When demand outstrips food packaging capacity, new equipment is the best solution. But when product viscosities vary and flavors are superb, not just any machinery will do.

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DEPARTMENTS 10

packworld.com VIDEO

COLUMNS

7 22 24 26 60 64

Clever Hershey Brazil Digital Printing Campaign

Lead Off The Legal Side The Big Picture Sustainable Packaging Shelf Impact! Professional Perspective

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NEWS/EVENTS

ANIMATION

10 News 18 Quotables/By the Numbers 61 Industry Watch

Wireless IO on Linear Servo Movers

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INTERVIEW

20 First Person PRODUCTS

48 Automation Technology 62 Technology

VIDEO

Hot Sauce Filling and Capping

ADVERTISING

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63 Advertiser Index

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Aladin Alkhawam Director, Packaging Operations, Par Pharmaceutical Jan Brücklmeier Technical Application Group Packaging Technology Expert, Nestlé David France Packaging Research Fellow, Conagra Foods Patrick Keenan R&D Packaging Engineer, General Mills/Annie’s Organic Snacks Mike Marcinkowski Global R&D Officer, GPA Global & Hub Folding Box Co. Paul Schaum Chief Operations Officer, Pretzels Inc. David Smith, PhD Principal, David S. Smith & Associates Brian Stepowany Packaging R&D, Senior Manager, B&G Foods, Inc. Jasmine Sutherland President, Texas Food Solutions; Vice President, Perfect Fit Meals

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Packaging World® (ISSN # 1073-7367) is a registered trademark of PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies. Packaging World® is published monthly by PMMI with its publishing office, PMMI Media Group, located at 401 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 300, Chicago, IL 60611; 312.222.1010; Fax: 312.222.1310. Periodicals postage paid at Chicago, IL, and additional mailing offices. Copyright 2021 by PMMI. All rights reserved. Materials in this publication must not be reproduced in any form without written permission of the publisher. Applications for a free subscription may be made online at www.packworld.com/subscribe. Paid subscription rates per year are $200 in the U.S., $285 Canada and Mexico by surface mail; $475 Europe, $715 Far East and Australia by air mail. Single copy price in U.S. is $20. To subscribe or manage your subscription to Packaging World, visit Packworld.com/subscribe. Free digital edition available to qualified individuals outside the United States. POSTMASTER; Send address changes to Packaging World®, 401 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 300, Chicago, IL 60611. PRINTED IN USA by Quad. The opinions expressed in articles are those of the authors and not necessarily those of PMMI. Comments, questions and letters to the editor are welcome and can be sent to: editors@packworld.com. Mailing List: We make a portion of our mailing list available to reputable firms. If you would prefer that we don’t include your name, please write us at the Chicago, IL address.

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EDITORIAL Matt Reynolds Editor Patrick Reynolds Vice President, Editor Emeritus @Packcentric Iris Zavala Managing Editor Anne Marie Mohan Senior Editor @PackagingTrends Jim Chrzan Vice President, Content and Brand Strategy Kim Overstreet Senior Content Strategist, Alignment Sterling Anthony, Eric F. Greenberg, Ben Miyares Contributing Editors

ART David Bacho Creative Director

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PMMI MEDIA GROUP Joseph Angel President, Publisher Sharon Taylor Director, Marketing Amber Miller Senior Marketing Manager Bea Greany Brand Operations Manager Sarah Loeffler Director, Media Innovation Janet Fabiano Financial Services Manager Lloyd Ferguson Founding Partner

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Automation Key as Prices Rise, Labor Tightens During PMMI’s Executive Leadership Conference, held virtually on April 19th, Alex Chausovsky, Senior Business Advisor at ITR Economics, reviewed projections from 2020 and peered into the 2021 economy and beyond. I was able to sit down with him ahead of the event—on a Zoom call, of course—and pick his brain about what to expect from an economy that’s hopefully breaking free from a pandemic. What follows flows not from my brain, I am only the messenger here, but the front of the magazine seemed like a good space for such an all-encompassing, universally impactful prediction about a near-future economic landscape. “From a macro-economic perspective, we are currently at a low point in the business cycle. And when we look out to the future—basically the next three to five years—we see nothing but expansion in both the consumer and the industrial economies in the U.S., and really broadly speaking, around the world as well,” Chausovsky says. “With that notion in mind, we are tracking a lot of leading indicators that say fairly conclusively that at least for the next 12 to 15 months, so four to five quarters out into the future, there’s going to be rise in the business cycle. First, we’re going to claw our way out of the recession, and then we’re going to enter a period of accelerating growth.” As companies that are going to be buying packaging equipment are strategically planning for that future growth, Chausovsky says that they need to realize a couple of things. Number one, one of the major limiting factors to brands’ ability to capitalize on growth is going to be labor. The more these CPGs can automate their processes, the better off they’re going to be in terms of meeting future demand. U.S. Disposable Personal Income

$15.7

Jan-19

Apr-19

Jul-19

Oct-19

Jan-20

Apr-20

Jul-20

Oct-20

PERFORM

BUILT TO

Stimulus

CARES Act

FOR BAR PRODUCT

Income - Monthly

PACKAGING SYSTEM

Jan-21

Apr-21

Trillions of chained 2012 dollars, SAAR Source: US Bureau of Economic Analysis

“Despite the fact that we have an elevated unemployment rate, skilled workers are going to be very difficult to find and retain,” Chausovsky says. “And so, the less they need to rely upon human labor, the more likely they’re going to be able to prosper in the future, at least from a perspective of outperforming the rest of their peers. So now, in anticipation of that rise is actually a great time to be investing in equipment, because you’re going to need it six, nine, 12 months down the road, for sure.” In manufacturing specifically, there are currently about 450,000 open positions that companies cannot fill. You hear about “10 million unemployed people” on the news, but most

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people don’t talk about the fact that there were 6 million unemployed people even before the pandemic started. That equates to a 3.5% unemployment rate. And more importantly, the people that are still unemployed are largely concentrated in sectors like leisure and hospitality, like restaurants, and certainly retail environment as well. They aren’t in the manufacturing domain, or in distribution, logistics, or fulfillment centers. That means that not only is labor tight, but it’s expensive and will get more expensive.

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“If we look at wages they are clearly accelerating, especially for skilled positions. And the price of shipping and logistics is going to be going up as well,” Chausovsky says. “It’s kind of a perfect storm of inflationary pressure. When you hear the Fed talk about inflation, most of the time what they’re talking about is core Consumer Price Index (CPI). That’s the way that you and I feel inflation day-to-day, and then they extract the pricing pressures of food and energy from that metric. When we look at business performance, we’re looking at something called the PPI, and that’s the Producer Price Index. And our forecast is that that index is going to grow by 4 percent over the course of 2021. So that means that more than double the inflationary pressure that they felt over the course of 2020.” It’s just as important for these companies to realize as they look forward—let’s call it over the next 12 to 18 months—they’re going to be seeing higher prices across the board for all material inputs, not just labor. If you think about base metals like copper, steel, and aluminum, to oil, lumber, agricultural products, or even to byproducts of oil like plastics and resins, all of these materials typically go up in price as the economic cycle accelerates, according to ITR research. And so, despite the fact that we’ve already had some fairly significant increases, especially in those core metals and areas like lumber over the last six to nine months, there’s more upside pressure coming down the road. And it’s not going to be aggressive as what we’ve seen lately. Originally people underestimated demand and cut back on a lot of orders. And now, with the supply chain disruption that we’re seeing, people are scrambling, and that’s pushing prices up higher than they normally would have gone at this point. There will be a little bit of a cooling off, Chausovsky says, but that’s not to say that the prices are going to be decreasing, it just means that the future increases will likely happen at a slower pace than they have over the last two to three quarters. “The key message here is I want to remind all of these companies that they are not in business to grow their top line, they’re in business to make a profit,” Chausovsky says. “And so, you have to be extremely proactive and very conscientious of what’s going on in the pricing environment to make sure that you protect your profitability and that your margins don’t get squeezed, despite the fact that you might be seeing upside potential in your top line performance.” So how should brands and CPGs set themselves up to succeed in an accelerating economy? Chausovsky says they need to ask themselves three questions: “Number one, ‘Do I have the cash to climb this hill that’s in front of me?’ You need to have liquidity, you need to have capital. Some companies have it in their cash reserves, their war chest if you will, others will need to look to the borrowing markets. And now is a great time to leverage other people’s money to

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Expect General Rise Moving Forward Commodity Prices

“And then the last question I would ask is, if you look back at, let’s say, the 2008-2009 Great Recession period, particularly the recov120 120 ery from that in 2010, ‘What do you wish you 59.1% Copper 90 90 had done differently at that time?’ Do you wish 33.7% Zinc you would have hired more people? Do you 60 60 31.7% Alum wish you had bought that additional piece of 30 30 15.7% Steel equipment or machinery? Do you wish you had 0 0 expanded your factory space to create more capacity? Do you wish you had pulled the trig-30 -30 ger on an acquisition at the time? There are -60 -60 lots of distressed assets out there right now that -90 -90 might be lucrative acquisition targets. '00 '02 '04 '06 '08 '10 '12 '14 '16 '18 '20 '22 '24 '26 “Those are the questions they need to ask 3/12 Rates-of-Change themselves. And then from an action perspecSources: Wall Street Journal, London Metal Exchange, Bureau of Labor Statistics tive, they need to make sure they’re allocating invest for the future growth of your business. So that’s number one,” extra resources to sales and marketing. That’s going to be the difChausovsky says. ference maker in terms of realizing market share gain or being out The next question they need to ask themselves is, “Where are the ahead of the marketplace, in general, the talent in that sales and bottlenecks?” When you look back at your business to previous times marketing function. They need to make sure that they’re investing in that you were busy, he guesses sometime around 2017 or 2018 would their system and process efficiencies, and automation, by all means, is have been a peak busy cycle for packagers or their immediate supa great way to do that.” PW pliers, where were the bottlenecks then? Was it capacity constraints? Was it levels of inventory? Was it inability to get components or input materials? Where were you running into challenges in the past, and how should you try to get ahead of those challenges in order to meet mreynolds@pmmimediagroup.com the demand of the future? All Others 150

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NEWS

Schick Disposable Razors Take Sustainable Turn, Packaging Shifts to Match The new Schick Xtreme 3 Eco Glide razor is “the first and only disposable razor made from recycled plastic that’s also fully recyclable,” according to manufacturer Schick. “This innovative razor features unique Xtreme 3 flexible blade technology to adapt to and hug contours, plus 50 percent more aloe lubricant to settle sensitive skin. Its lightweight, easily portable handle has an ergonomic grip (made without rubber for easier recycling) that allows for superb control.” The Xtreme 3 Eco Glide razor isn’t a fully new product per se, rather it is a differently manufactured version of Schick’s existing Xtreme 3 Disposable product line with a handle that uses recycled (and recyclable) polypropylene and thermoplastic elsastomer, rather than virgin. The package for this greener version of the disposable razor also represents a departure from the original, and concurrently existing, Schick Xtreme 3 Disposable package, which has for some time consisted of a thermoformed biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) tray with film lidding. Instead, the new Schick Xtreme Eco Glide variety is packaged in a kraft-style paperboard carton. This Schick

Xtreme Eco Glide carton has no internal pieces, unlike the existing Schick Xtreme 3 Disposable thermoformed tray which uses with insert card. The carton is printed flexographically. “The facing is approximately the same size, but the shape is obviously very different since the pack structure has changed,” says Natalya Utesheva, Senior Brand Manager at Schick. This printed kraft paperboard carton should be recyclable in most municipalities, though the company can’t claim 100% in the case that certain recycling centers may not be able to handle impurities such as inks and glues. The new cartons are received at the Mexico City packaging facility as finished cartons, meaning they are printed, cut, creased, formed, and glued when they arrive. There, they are manually loaded with product and secured. Notably, the original Schick Xtreme 3 Disposable razor handle got a sustainability profile improvement of its own by switching from virgin PETG, to 100% rPET post-consumer recycled content. —Matt Reynolds

Sustainable Cosmetics Packaging South Korea’s Clio Cosmetics has launched its new Prism Highlighter Duo in injection-molded packaging made from a copolyester with 30% certified recycled content. Clio is part of the “K-beauty” phenomenon, an umbrella term for skin-care products derived from South Korea that focus on health, hydration, and an emphasis on brightening effects. With the launch, Clio becomes the first K-beauty brand to use Cristal Renew™, a sustainable resin derived from Eastman’s molecular recycling technologies. Cristal Renew is an appropriate packaging fit for the innovative Prism Highlighter Duo, which gives skin a natural glow and three-dimensional effect without feeling artificial, the company says. Eastman’s Cristal Renew met Clio’s need for the sustainable packaging option their consumers are demanding while still meeting their product requirements for excellent transparency, glossiness, and strength. Cristal Renew offers brands the same level of performance and design freedom they have come to expect from Eastman’s resins for luxury cosmetic packaging. It is part of a broad portfolio of sustainable resins now offered at scale by Eastman, which recently announced a $250 million investment in a plastic-to-plastic recycling facility that will be one of the world’s largest. The recycled content in Eastman’s Renew products has International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC-PLUS), providing brands with the transparency and trustworthiness that come from independent, third-party verification of recycled content claims. “Eastman’s molecular recycling technologies deliver significant environmental benefits, including landfill diversion and reduced greenhouse gas emissions,” says Renske Gores, Segment Market Manager, Cosmetics and Personal Care Packaging at Eastman. “We’re proud to partner with Clio, and it’s fitting that such an innovative brand is the first prestige brand in Korea to introduce Cristal Renew packaging to the market. In introducing the product to the market, Clio is once again demonstrating its leadership in Korea.” —Pat Reynolds

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15 Sustainable Packaging Innovations to Watch Sustainable packaging innovations just keep coming, with new technologies and introductions that follow a number of global trends. These include renewable or bio-based packaging that is compostable or biodegradable; packaging that is moving from one material to another—in particular, the trend away from plastic; packaging made from recycled materials, or packaging that is recyclable; and refillable and reusable packaging. That’s according to Paul Jenkins, Managing Director of ThePackHub, who hosted a recent webinar that covered 15 new sustainable packaging developments. They include, in no special order: 1. The new Greentote reusable, moisture-resistant, modular 100% recyclable container made from renewable resources is designed to replace plastic supermarket bags. Made of cardboard and available in two sizes, Greentote from DS Smith can hold more than three times the number of groceries than plastic bags, and the totes interlock, ensuring safety and convenience when transporting. Additionally, the container is coated with DS Smith’s proprietary Greencoat, which revolutionized the wax-coated shipping industry for poultry, produce, and seafood with its sustainable, moisture-resistant capabilities and durability in demanding supply chains. 2. In India, the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) has created bioplastic from marine seaweed. Said Jenkins, “Seaweed is obviously in plentiful supply, it’s inexpensive, and it grows rapidly, requiring only 45 days with sunlight only.” The polymers are similar to plant-based plastics currently used in food applications, and they can biodegrade naturally without producing toxic waste. They also can be disposed of through ordinary food waste and packaging collection systems. The bioplastic is in the concept stage only.

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3. Portland, Ore.-based homecare brand Aunt Fannie’s has taken a different tack to sustainable packaging. Rather than introducing measures to reduce, reuse, or recycle their packaging, they are certifying their product range as plastic neutral through rePurpose Global. For every package the company sells, it will make a donation to vetted programs that collect and recycle the same amount of plastic waste from the environment. 4. In Singapore, startup reuuse is offering hand soap tablets in flowwrap packages that offer a low-cost sustainable solution for consumers. The product was inspired by the frustration experienced with conventional liquid hand soaps and the environmental impact that goes with them. Noted Jenkins, hand soaps comprise 80% to 90% water, which is eliminated by the water-activated tablets. The smaller format also reduces space and weight in freight and storage. The product is sold in an assortment of three tablets with a reusable bottle. 5. Aalto University in Espoo, Finland, is working on a wood-based foam material that could replace bubble wrap for a variety of packaging applications. Developers are creating a solution made from a mixture of wood fiber, nanoclay, and lignen that has functional attributes such as strength, flexibility, heat resistance, and impact resistance. Reported Jenkins, the foam is edible, fully bio-based, and biodegradable in natural conditions. 6. The Sanikind Mini refillable sanitizer sprayer is made from recycled ocean-bound plastic. It’s available in a range of colors and comes with a clip to attach to the consumer’s purse, belt, bag, or even keys. Refills are offered in a recyclable aluminum container. Buying refills in bulk has the potential to save the consumer money versus purchasing disposable plastic bottles of sanitizer. But the price tag is steep at $18, which is about six- to eight-times the price of a comparable small, disposable bottle of hand sanitizer. 7. In an effort to reduce single-use packaging for its meal kits, Vancouver-based company Fresh Prep has introduced a reusable meal kit container with an insulated, reusable bag called the Fresh Prep Zero Waste Kit. The bag holds a reusable, BPA-free, dishwasher-safe plastic-and-silicone container that holds the meal kit ingredients in a organized way. 8. In South Korea, Hansol Paper in cooperation with Lotte Confectionery has developed paper packaging made from the byproduct of cacao beans, which are discarded after being used as chocolate ingredients. As Jenkins explained, the bean waste is processed into powder and mixed with recycled pulp material to make paperboard. The development was seven months in the making. According to Hansol, it intends to introduce more products with a greater content of bean byproduct in the future.

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recycling paper streams. The tortilla crisps will be kept crunchy and fresh in its metal-free, high-barrier laminate, which makes it recyclable. This solution reportedly eliminates the need to include a metallized layer while retaining crispness and avoiding grease leakage. 13. From Finnish food company Fazer comes a bread bag that incorporates oat hulls derived from the oat milling process. The packaging innovation was years in the making and involved the collaboration of Tampere University of Applied Sciences, the Natural Resources Institute Finland, and Design Forum Finland’s HerääPahvi! project. The new material is 25% oat hulls, and the pack can be recycled as cardboard. The oat hulls used come from Fazer’s Lahti-based oat mill. The bag is resistant to vapor to help protect the contents. Eleven versions were developed to create the final oat-hull paper suitable for food contact. 14. In the U.S., Procter & Gamble has introduced its Secret and Old Spice brands in a new packaging format with refillable cases. The cases are manufactured without the use of single-use plastics and include a refill packaged in 100% FSC-certified recyclable paperboard. Old Spice and Secret were the first major brands to introduce all-paper deodorant initiatives last year. Following the success of the limited-edition pilot, both

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Read more about P&G’s all paper deodorant tube packaging initiatives at pwgo.to/6069

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9. Brazilian dairy company Vigor had made the switch from plastic to paper for its Simples yogurt line. The new material is made from natural resources and is biodegradable. It also has a higher level of recyclability in the market than the plastic it replaces. Vigor estimates the new packaging will eliminate 15 tons of plastic per year. 10. General Mills has introduced a plastic film wrapper for its Nature Valley crunchy granola bar product that is designated as Store Drop-Off recyclable by How2Recycle. The material was developed in collaboration with Nature Valley R&D scientists and flexible packaging converter Printpack, and uses new-to-the-category advanced film processing with unique polyethylene polymers. Both wrapper and carton are printed with information for consumers on how to properly recycle the packaging. (Read more on p. 26.) 11. Questioning whether this package qualified for a place on this list given its unique material but an interesting concept to explore, Jenkins highlighted a concrete container from French cosmetics brand Le Crème Libre that holds refills of skincare capsules. The jar is made from sand, cement, and water, and is available online for 20 Euros for 50 mL. The brand, he added, is still in the midst of a crowdfunding campaign. 12. Working with Mondi, Swedish food manufacturer Orkla has created three recyclable packaging formats for its new Frankful plant-based TexMex range of soft tortilla wraps, tortilla crisps, and taco spices. Soft tortillas will be one of the first food products to be packaged in Mondi’s BarrierPack Recyclable solution, which uses a high-barrier, lightweight mono-material and a reclose tape to keep the food fresh in its original packaging. Meanwhile, Orkla’s spice mix will be packaged in a paper-based laminate, created from FSC-certified paper and a film made from renewable resources. According to Mondi, the high paper content ensures suitability for Swedish

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brands are expanding nationwide with an aluminum-free deodorant formula. The refillable packaging is priced for the mass market and is available in select stores nationwide as well as online at Walmart, Target, CVS, and Walgreens. 15. Also from P&G, its Gillette male grooming brand has switched from plastic to new recyclable paper packaging across its core razor range. The carton has also been designed to deter shoplifters, as the top of the pack is difficult to tear off. The fully recyclable packs are made using responsibly sourced paper and will eliminate more than 66 metric tons of plastic per year. The change came after P&G shopper research found that one of the most important determinants in the decision to purchase bathroom products for 55% of respondents was recyclable packaging. Also during the webinar, a presentation from Dr. John Williams of Aquapak Polymers covered the company’s Hydropol™ product. As Dr. Williams explained, the polymers are specially engineered to create a range of packaging products targeted to make non-recyclable packaging fully recyclable within existing waste streams, reducing the amount of singleuse plastics. ThePackHub offers a compilation of more than 500 sustainable packaging innovations in “The Sustainable Packaging Compendium 2020,” which is available for purchase. —Anne Marie Mohan

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NEWS

Nestlé’s ‘First’ in Recycled Content

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Nestlé and a coalition of companies have collaborated to produce what they are calling Australia’s first flexible film food wrapper made with recycled content. Printing and converting of the packaging material was done Amcor. The prototype KitKat wrapper demonstrates the opportunity to close the loop on recycling flexible packaging. The new wrapper was developed using Amcor’s expertise in incorporating recycled content into its packaging. The company also has a strong track record of innovation to deliver more recyclable solutions for its customers. Partnering together, Amcor, Nestlé, CurbCycle, iQ Renew, Licella, Viva Energy Australia, LyondellBasell, REDcycle, and Taghleef Industries all leveraged their individual expertise in collecting and processing the flexible film waste to create the prototype wrapper, which is made with 30% recycled polypropylene. “This is an exciting time for Amcor, and our participation in this project is fully aligned with our commitment to ensure all our packaging is designed to be recyclable or reusable by 2025,” says Simon Roy, Vice President & General Manager Amcor Flexibles Australia & New Zealand. “As a global leader in consumer packaging, we were proud to contribute our expertise in designing a structure that meets consumer needs and has a responsible end of life where it can be reprocessed and reused in food-grade packaging.” Sandra Martinez, CEO of Nestlé Australia, points to this launch as solid evidence that there is a pathway to solving the challenges of recycling flexible packaging materials. Brand owners like Nestlé, she adds, will play a key role in driving demand for such food-grade recycled materials and creating market conditions that will ensure all stakeholders throughout the value chain view these materials “as a resource and not waste.”

Go to pwgo.to/6067 to see an animated video on how flexible films (curiously enough, they’re called “soft plastics” in Australia) can be recycled.

www.eammosca.com info@eammosca.com | 570-673-0668

Here are the contributions made by the various participants in this particular project: • REDcycle and CurbCycle collected households’ flexible film waste, some from REDcycle bins and some from the kerbside collection trial. • iQ Renew sorted those bags in their Material Recovery Facility (MRF), removed the contaminants, and did the primary processing to create a feedstock. • Licella converted the plastic to oil using their Australian-developed advanced recycling technology, Cat-HTR. • Viva Energy Australia refined the synthetic oil. • LyondellBasell made food grade polypropylene. • Taghleef Industries created a metallized film. • Amcor printed and created the wrapper. • And finally, Nestlé wrapped the KitKat—keeping it fresh and safe to eat. —Pat Reynolds

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4/19/21 6:00 AM

Industry Ready for Safe Return of In-Person Trade Shows Registration is now open for PACK EXPO Las Vegas and Healthcare Packaging EXPO (Sept. 27-29, Las Vegas Convention Center). After more than a year away from in-person trade shows, nearly nine out of 10 packaging and processing end-users say in-person trade shows are essential for networking and discovering what is new in the industry, according to a recent survey from show producer PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies. With respondents citing in-person trade shows as the most critical resource when choosing equipment, PACK EXPO Las Vegas is poised to be an unbeatable opportunity to connect with the industry and explore technology in action. “This survey confirmed our belief that the industry relishes the unique opportunity to conduct business and see equipment in-person, with many noting that trade shows reveal solutions they were not considering before discovering them live,” says Laura Thompson, PMMI Vice President, Trade Shows. One survey respondent said that nothing could replace “being able to see and touch equipment while asking questions and receiving immediate feedback.” Another cited that the diverse array of exhibitors and education found at in-person events “make it a one-stop shop for investigating multiple solutions” for current projects as well as potential ideas on the horizon.

With its PACK Ready health and safety program, PACK EXPO Las Vegas and Healthcare Packaging EXPO will reunite the packaging and processing community, implementing thorough and up-to-date protocols for a safe and successful in-person event. Visit pwgo.to/6080 to learn more. PACK EXPO Las Vegas and Healthcare Packaging EXPO is the only show this year covering the entire packaging and processing industry with the latest new materials, technologies, and solutions to address the packaging and processing needs of 40-plus vertical markets. With multiple free educational platforms and countless networking opportunities, the event will provide endless prospects for exchanging ideas and professional growth. Industry partners continue to support the event as part of the PACK EXPO Las Vegas and Healthcare Packaging EXPO Partner Program (pwgo.to/6081), with 15 association partners already signed on to support and exhibit at the show, including the Association for Contract Packagers and Manufacturers (CPA), Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP), The Organization for Machine Automation and Control (OMAC), Flexible Packaging Association (FPA), Reusable Packaging Association, and more. Early bird registration is $30 through Sept. 6, after which the price goes up to $100. Visit pwgo.to/6082 to secure a place at this vital industry event. —Sean Riley

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4/16/21 9:47 AM

16 PW MAY2021

NEWS

Transparent PP Yogurt Cup with Reverse-Printed Paperboard Exterior is Fully Recyclable Building on the popularity and success of its “Bulgarian-style” yogurt, New York-based Trimona has added a new superfood-laden range of yogurt products. All of the company’s products are packed in a fully recyclable paperboard-polypropylene (PP) combination cup. “Trimona introduced America to Bulgarian-style yogurt ten years ago, and now we’ve gone to the next level of probiotic dairy evolution, or as we call it: Yogurt 2.0,” says Atanas Valev, Trimona Bulgarian Yogurt’s founder and CYO (Chief Yogurt Officer). “[Superfood yogurt varieties] Refresh, Protect, and Revive each combine the healthy benefits of both yogurt and superfoods.”

The company carefully chose superfood ingredients for the antioxidants, fiber, vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients they contain. Protect is designed to protect body and soul and contains 5,000 milligrams of powdered organic açaí, maca root, Aronia, beetroot, lucuma and monk fruit. Refresh is designed to refresh consumers’ memory, containing 5,000 milligrams of powdered organic matcha tea, maca, lucuma, spirulina, chlorella and monk fruit. And Revive is designed to revive creativity and spirit, containing 5,000 milligrams of powdered organic maca, lucuma, mesquite, turmeric, cinnamon, ginger, black pepper and monk fruit. The new superfood range also features ProViotic, a powerful new “friendly” bacteria that is isolated from a snowdrop flower and grown in a vegetable juice. Vegan, organic, and allergen free, ProViotic is scientifically proven to be a powerful pathogen inhibitor. “As soon as we saw the premium K3® pack from Greiner Packaging’s factory in Pittston, Pennsylvania, we knew it was a perfect fit for our wholesome1and natural12:37 yogurts. VibFeedersAd.qxp_Layout 2/12/21 PM Greiner Page 1 tells me that Trimona was one

of the first U.S. dairy companies to adopt this innovative, fully and easily recyclable packaging,” Valev says. Trimona uses both the 32-oz and 5-oz K3 pack for its plain Trimona Bulgarian Yogurt, and a 5-oz K3 format for its new superfood range. The K3 light weight thermoformed cup is made from polypropylene (PP) and uses up to 33% less material than a conventional direct-printed, thermoformed cup of the same size. It is wrapped with a paperboard outer layer, made from virgin board. The K3 packaging solution has an improved CO2 footprint and it can be recycled efficiently, as the paperboard and plastic can be easily separated. The patented K3 cup system design features a vertical tear-open side strip, enabling consumers to easily open the product by separating the plastic and paperboard container components. The 32-oz Trimona Bulgarian Yogurt K3 pack is topped by Greiner’s new IML (In Mold Label) 409 (116-mm) diameter lid which provides a secure and repeatable fit. Contributing both company’s goal of delivering a circular economy, the lids and labels are monomaterial, both made from PP, the same as the K3 cup. The outer paperboard wrapper, which can be easily removed to ensure recycling, can be printed on the reverse and this has created a good marketing and communication tool for Trimona. Messaging can be relayed as consumers eat the yogurt, from inside the cup. Or, it can be read when the paperboard is removed from cup for recycling. “The K3 pack has many advantages but also offers the chance to talk directly to our end users,” says Valev. “We use it to tell people about the history, heritage and science behind our traditional Bulgarian yogurt, and the genuinely good-for-you wellness benefits of our superfood range.” —Matt Reynolds

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Bio-based Potato Starches Replace Bag’s LLDPE Sealant Layer Driving toward a goal of using more sustainable materials in packaging, two Alexia Organic Potatoes brand products from potato producer Lamb Weston began using corn and potato starch in their packaging in April 2021. The packaging is partially made of potato starches, a byproduct of producing French fries. Research by GlobalData (March 2021) indicates more than three in 10 U.S. consumers believe environmentally friendly packaging material is a key driver of a purchase. Alexia’s Organic Sweet Potato Fries and Organic Yukon Select Puffs will feature a special seal, identifying the plant-based packaging. Lamb Weston’s packaging team spent two years collaborating to create a sustainable packaging alternative and continue working to expand their sustainable packing efforts. “Sustainability is a pillar of our packaging innovation strategy. By combining efforts with teams across the business we were able to create something innovative that will not only help reduce our carbon footprint, but also continue to deliver to our customers,” says Deb Dihel, Vice President of Innovation. The new bag material lamination replaces a legacy oriented polypropylene (OPP) bag with LLDPE sealant layer. “The bio-material is replacing LLDPE of our sealant layer,” says Casey Bettendorf, Senior Mgr Packaging Engineering on the Innovation Team. “OPP has proven to have many advantages that support our retail business, from its machineability to graphics. This effort is to reduce our footprint by utilizing more renewable resources at this point. Work is underway to expand this concept into a fully recyclable design.” In the new lamination, 16% of the complete structure has been replaced with plantbased material. Annualized across both items equates to removing 8,928 lbs of PE and replacing it with bio-based material, and a 6.5-ton reduction in CO2 emissions. “Lamb Weston has a robust supply chain. We had to make sure that the structure could meet all of our quality and operational requirements,” Bettendorf says. “Packing French fries using v/f/f/s [vertical form/fill/seal] tends to put a lot of stress on our material so good seals and puncture and tear resistance are critical to ensure we can provide a quality product to our customers.” Converter and flexible packaging supplier American Packaging Corporation (APC) provides the flexographically printed rollstock for this application. According to APC, the environmental impact annually* of using a packaging substitute for the Alexia Organic Potato equates to: • 14,700 miles driven • 252 trash bags in landfill • 750,000 phones charged • 98 trees over 10 years • 14 barrels of oil —Matt Reynolds *Utilized 3.0 mil LLDPE (low density polyethylene) sealant film with 20% biomaterial by weight. 6.5 reduction in net CO2 emissions.

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4/20/21 11:46 AM

18 PW MAY2021

QUOTABLES

BY THE NUMBERS

million

The number of units of cannabis beverage product sold by Truss Beverage Co., the joint venture of Molson Coors Canada and Hexo Corp., since launching its portfolio in August 2020, taking the lead in the category in early 2021 with a 43% market share

90%

The amount of packaging across Keurig Dr Pepper’s entire portfolio that is recyclable

$400 million

The amount invested by Gojo, producer of Purell hand sanitizer, in equipment, facility expansions, and employees to handle the surge in demand of its product, which increased 300% in every market and geography in 2020 versus 2019

$1.20 billion

The annual global sales target for Unilever for plant-based meat and dairy alternatives by 2025-2027

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“While many chemical recycling technologies are in their infancy, we believe they hold significant promise to help increase plastics recovery and to encourage highest and best use of our materials. Including chemical recycling technologies within the realm of recycling rates also sends a strong message to early scale innovators and their investors who are seeking reduced risk to advance these technologies.” –AMERIPEN, cited in an article, “EPA hears divergent opinions on chemical recycling,” from Plastics Recycling Update

“It [plant-based food] is about a wider opportunity to reimagine, reinvent, and reinvigorate what is a CHF12 billion [US$22.8 billion] category for us, and that is food. Those opportunities to reinvigorate the food category are few and far between. It’s a once in a generation opportunity. When you look at the wider opportunity, when you look at where we use these ingredients, to then make more attractive downstream offerings, like frozen pizza with plant-based toppings or frozen meals or other prepared dishes, then it’s a much bigger opportunity. We’re talking almost CHF700 million [US$761 million] [in 2020 sales]. And here again, growing at double-digit organic growth rates.” –Mark Schneider, Nestlé CEO, quoted in an article on FoodNavigator.com, “‘It’s a once in a generation opportunity’: Nestlé CEO says plant-based innovation can ‘reinvigorate’ broader food categories”

“Future factories are expected to have flexible and adaptable manufacturing lines that operate with greater autonomy, integrated closed-loop quality control, and connected workers to improve effective response to changes in supply and demand as they occur. The reality is that most manufacturers did not have these capabilities going into the pandemic. Yet today technologies like cloud, simulation, and SaaS are viewed as table stakes.” –Ryan Martin, Research Director, ABI Research, in a press release from the company, “In Their Quest for Digital Transformation, Manufacturers and Industrial Firms will Spend US$19 Billion on IIoT Data Analytics by 2026”

4/19/21 4:28 PM

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4/17/21 3:09 PM

20 PW MAY2021

FIRST PERSON

Palmolive Ultra’s New 100% rPET Bottle Greg Corra, Global Packaging Innovations & Sustainability, Colgate-Palmolive, discusses the development of a new 100% recycled-content, recyclable bottle for Palmolive Ultra dish liquid. Packaging World:

Why did you select Palmolive Ultra for this change and why this category overall?

Greg Corra: We have a broader strategy of increasing the use of recycled content across our portfolio, and we decided to lead on this in the U.S. with Palmolive Ultra because of the scale of the brand and a broader initiative we have to really lean in on sustainability with Palmolive Ultra, including the product, and also due to the heritage and position of the brand.

What was the existing bottle made from? Did it include recycled materials? The bottle was clear PET with a clear polypropylene cap. So prior to the change, we were between 25% and 35% rPET, depending on the SKU and depending on availability. And now we’re moving to 100% rPET across the range. With Palmolive Ultra, you’ve joined a new, more environmentally friendly formula with the new packaging. Did the formula come first or the packaging? They actually came together. We knew it couldn’t just be the packaging or just be the formula—it was a joint decision. And that’s been a trend more and more, at least within Colgate, to tie product and technology in the pack into a singular story and a singular body of work. How does this change fit in with Colgate-Palmolive’s larger sustainability goals? Our broader sustainability strategy includes as one of the 11 core actions eliminating plastic waste, and packaging is a significant part of that. Within that strategy, circularity is at the core. And what I mean by circularity is moving from a linear make-use-dispose approach to a more circular approach that includes recyclability, reuse, and

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compostability. So, as we look to apply that broader corporate strategy on this relaunch, moving to 100% rPET was a critical part of that, because the bottle design in and of itself is very recyclable. So PET is one of the most active recycling streams. We’re using clear bottles, no colorant. We’re using BOPP [biaxially oriented polypropylene] labels with washable adhesives to improve the stream it’s feeding into. So we wanted to pull from the circular economy as well. By using 100% rPET, that’s in an aim to kickstart and forward that on both ends. This also feeds into a goal we recently announced to reduce the amount of virgin plastic we use as a company by a third on absolute terms. That’s a pretty ambitious target, and using an increased amount of post-consumer recycled content is a core pillar of that.

What technical challenges did you face in moving to 100% recycled content, and how did you address those? In this category, as a company we’re very vertically integrated. We injection mold our own preforms. We blow our own bottles. We label our own bottles—all in house. So we take in resin, and we output a finished product. So the technical hurdles were not something we could outsource to a packaging supplier. We needed to solve them ourselves. So finding the right material specification from both a processability standpoint and a purity standpoint was critical because we didn’t want to change the iconic Palmolive Ultra bottle shape. It’s something that’s been around for a while. People recognize it. So the challenge was how do we get a 100% rPET on the same mold with the same geometry? So that was through finding the right specification of the material and the right supply, and setting the right intrinsic viscosity so that it would run on the equipment. That was number one. And then number two was validating that entire process from preform injection to bottle blowing to the full efficiencies of production. Did you have to do a lot of tweaking to equipment to make this happen? From a settings perspective, yes. We did not need to change the asset base, but for sure, packaging plus manufacturing were in it together to ensure this new material ran on our equipment. So it was more about settings, and less about new machinery. One of the issues with using 100% rPET in packaging has been the cloudy appearance of the material. How did you address this? So we know that the color and the clarity is different on recycled material versus virgin. And we made sure we looked at it holistically. Looking at the bottle filled, with the label on it, and with the specifications we set for performance, the clarity level was quite good. Also, we found that there is growing familiarity with recycled PET, and I would say a higher fluency in what that looks like. So what maybe 10 years ago would have been viewed as an imperfection or a flaw is now more readily seen as, that’s what recycled resin looks like, like a slight blueish cast. But I’ve personally been very impressed with how clear rPET has gotten. —Anne Marie Mohan

4/15/21 4:29 PM

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4/15/21 4:29 PM

22 PW MAY2021

THE LEGAL SIDE

By Eric F. Greenberg, Attorney-at-law

Recycling on Everyone’s Radar Recycling of packaging has been ubiquitous for decades, and yet, its systems have many moving parts, often confuse consumers, and could be more effective at recovering packages. For plastics recycling to work correctly, for example, it helps to have consistency in the use of identifiers for the different polymers, and for consumers to have some level of understanding of those identifiers, and for consistency in labeling claims about recyclability, and for recycling facilities to standardize what they can accept and process. Failure of any one of these can make the whole system less effective. In a word, recycling in the U.S. is ripe for an overhaul, as indicated by several recent developments, including at least one high-profile lawsuit and important federal legislative proposals. That lawsuit indirectly raises questions about what’s wrong with recycling in the U.S. It was brought by the environmental advocacy group Greenpeace, which has sued Walmart in California claiming that “the retailer has made false or misleading claims on the labels of many of its products about the recyclability of their packaging.” Despite Walmart’s longtime efforts to make packaging more sustainable and environmentally responsible, Greenpeace makes it out to be a villain, alleging that the retailer’s label claims of “recyclability” are giving consumers bad information. We’ll see how the case comes out in the end, but in the meantime the interesting question the controversy raises is whether the lack of availability of recycling facilities is Walmart’s fault or the fault of other parties, or is due to a lack of recycling infrastructure. Directly at issue in the case are the correct way to make label claims about environmental matters. The State of California has adopted the Federal Trade Commission’s Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims, which you may be familiar with as the “Green Guides.” These federal guidelines set out parameters by which label claims about various environmental characteristics can be made in a way that isn’t misleading to consumers. A misleading claim would render the product violative of federal consumer protection law. Specifically, the Guides recite that an unqualified claim that a package or product is “recyclable” should only be made where recycling of that package is available to a “substantial majority” of the population, which FTC says is 60% or more. If it isn’t, you could still make the claim that it’s recyclable, but your claim would need to be qualified by appropriate words or phrases to explain the limitations. Greenpeace alleges, however, that Walmart “provided no qualifications for some” of the products it claimed were recyclable, and for others it “provided the same two fine print qualifications for each Product: “check locally” and “not recycled in all communities.” Greenpeace claims that “the fine print is approximately 2-point font, making it difficult for consumers to notice, yet alone read. In addition, … a “check locally” disclaimer is per se deceptive under the Green Guides.”

Greenpeace further asserts that “By including the language ‘check locally’ and ‘not recycled in all communities’ together, [Walmart] is incorrectly implying that consumers need only check locally to determine whether recycling facilities exist in their community, not whether the recycling facilities in their community actually recycle the [p]roducts. The FTC has explicitly stated such an implication is deceptive. . . . Worse yet, even if a consumer followed [Walmart’s] directive to check locally to determine whether a facility actually recycled the [p]roducts, many recycling facilities in California (which are often operated by private companies) have no duty to provide such information and are unwilling to answer detailed consumer inquiries about their recycling capabilities.” Greenpeace is asking the court to order Walmart to halt what it calls its false and deceptive practices. Walmart has denied Greenpeace’s claims and moved to have the case dismissed on various grounds, most notably that it’s market conditions and the actions of other parties that are the biggest reasons more plastics are not recycled. And steps could be underway to address just that issue. In recent years, there have been multiple federal bills proposed that were aimed at improving plastics recycling nationwide. One leading example, called the Realizing the Economic Opportunities and Value of Expanding Recycling (RECOVER) Act, was introduced again in April and would fund state and local investments in improving their recycling programs. Lots of big packaging companies and the trade group PLASTICS are supporting the bill. PLASTICS issued a release explaining that “The legislation would allocate federal grants to states and municipalities to invest in improving their recycling programs and infrastructure, including upgrading plants that receive and process recyclables and enhance the recovery and collection of materials.” These concepts seem to be on the minds of many right now. In February, the Consumer Brands Association—formerly known as the Grocery Manufacturers Association, the leading national trade association for the consumer packaged goods industry—issued a report identifying problems with recycling systems and advocating federal-level solutions. CBA’s Blueprint for America’s Recycling System is a product of the group’s Recycling Leadership Council consisting of a combination of other groups (including PW ’s parent PMMI) that represent “consumer-facing industries, packaging companies, and the recycling ecosystem.” The group notes that there are almost 10,000 recycling systems in the U.S., and the report says, “The RLC is calling for a national strategy on recycling and policy action in three areas: data collection; system standardization and harmonization; and financing and end-market development.” What all this means for your business remains to be seen, of course, but what’s already clear is that recycling is on many minds, and the trend seems to be toward enhancing and expanding recycling systems. Change could come within the next year or two. PW

Eric Greenberg can be reached at greenberg@efg-law.com. Or visit his firm’s Web site at www.ericfgreenbergpc.com. INFORMATIONAL ONLY, NOT LEGAL ADVICE.

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4/15/21 4:22 PM

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24 PW MAY2021

THE BIG PICTURE

By Sterling Anthony, CPP, Contributing Editor

Packaging’s Vital Role in Vendor Management Vendor management is the discipline through which companies seek optimal value from the combined total of their vendors. The management of packaging vendors, therefore, is a component of vendor management. Since vendor management encompasses all of a company’s purchases, it’s helpful to recognize why packaging presents certain challenges. Packaging is performed at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels, and any given level can require multiple vendors. For example, the primary packaging for a beverage might consist of a bottle, label, and closure. Then there’s the likelihood that a company will have more than one vendor for a given packaging item. Complexities further increase in proportion to the number of different products a company has in-market. Even a small company can have a considerable number of packaging vendors. The discipline most associated with vendor management is procurement, a role that acts as the liaison between the company’s purchasing needs and the vendors that fulfill them. Given the amount of communication that’s involved alone, vendor management needs to be supported by information technology (IT), specifically specialized software. Anything less lends itself to loss time and human error. Following is a discussion of some major aspects of vendor management and their relationships to packaging. Supporting company’s mission and objectives: A company’s reason for existing is explained in its mission. A company’s objectives are the quantifiable means through which the mission is fulfilled. Since no company is completely self-sufficient, the goods (and services) supplied by vendors serve both supportive and enabling roles. When mission and objectives rely on mass manufacturing/ production, mass marketing, and mass distribution, packaging can be a source of competitive advantage. Packaging vendors, therefore, can be strategic partners. Vendor selection: A packaging vendor should be selected through a stepwise process. It starts with requirements, established by departmental stakeholders such as marketing, manufacturing, distribution, legal, etc. It’s the packaging department, in its interdisciplinary role, that must systematically reconcile the inherent conflicts and trade-offs. Next comes the identification of prospective vendors. When packaging requirements are rendered in material specifications, the vying vendors will be members of the same industry segment. However, when the rendering is in performance specifications, vendors from competing segments can be considered. Then there’s the development of the criteria by which prospective vendors will be evaluated. Size, financial strength, technology, service, and reputation are among the essentials. Even so, each individual criterion should be assigned weighted values, depending on what’s

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being purchased. Some procurement departments are large enough to have one or more purchasing agents who specialize in packaging, even down to specializing in a particular type. There is no degree of agent specialization, however, that can’t be bolstered by informed inputs from the packaging department. And there’s the necessity of letting vendors know that they are being sought. Requests of proposals are one way. Others include referrals, internet searches, and responses to previously sent sales/ promotional literature. At some juncture, dealings between the company and vendor finalist become more involved and personal. Mutual briefings on pertinent topics typically are done at this time, along with reciprocal facility visits. Finally, based on all the aforementioned (and possibly more), a selection is made. Managing risk: Every vendor relationship comes with risk. The type that might come most readily to mind is that of performance, or rather a lack thereof. As related to a packaging vendor, underperformance can be an inconvenience at best, and a disruption at worst. Another type of risk relates to the information given to a packaging vendor. There’s a risk that the vendor makes unauthorized use of this information, and that risk becomes greater the more proprietary and sensitive the information is. The risk need not be totally about integrity. An unintentional breach can be as harmful as an intentional one. How secure a vendor’s computer network is against hacking is an important consideration. Fostering win-win partnerships: Effective packaging vendor management builds on mutual interests. Although there are a variety of obstacles to that pursuit, a perennial challenge is pricing, since the vendor’s and the buyer’s preferences are natural opposites. A recommendable approach: the vendor decides its lowest acceptable price, the buyer decides its highest acceptable price, and the partners engage in good-faith efforts to reach a mutually acceptable price. The odds for success are increased the more each partner understands the cost structure of the other. That way, either partner might be able to suggest to the other ways to restructure costs for mutual benefit. Thus avoided will be the penny-pinching, zero-sum belief that one partner’s gain is equivalent to the other partner’s loss. As their very name implies, consumer packaged goods companies can’t exist without packaging. The same is true for a variety of nonretail categories (medical devices, for example). Broadened, any company that uses any packaging, whatsoever, can benefit from making the management of its packaging vendors a well-integrated component of a vendor management program. Next month’s article: How to construct an Approved Vendors List for packaging. PW

4/15/21 5:21 PM

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26 PW MAY2021

SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING

By Anne Marie Mohan, Senior Editor

First 100% Recyclable Snack Bar Film As its packaging declares, it’s “For the Love of Nature” that General Mills has introduced a film wrapper for its Nature Valley Crunchy granola bars that is certified by How2Recyle as being fully recyclable through Store Drop-Off systems, of which there are currently 1,800 nationwide. Said to be the first in the snack-bar category to produce such a wrapper, General Mills is making the technology available to all comers in the hopes that others CPG brands will follow suit. As General Mills spokesperson Mollie Wulff shares, this development puts Nature Valley a considerable step closer to meeting its commitment to make all its packaging 100% recyclable by 2025. She adds that the decision to go with a recyclable film versus alternatives such as compostable film or paper was made because Nature Valley believes recyclable film is the future of sustainable snack packaging. “Less than 10% of Americans have access to industrial composting, but over 90% of Americans are within 10 miles of a Store Drop-Off location,” she says. “Nature Valley’s new Store DropOff-recyclable Crunchy granola bar wrappers will have a meaningful impact on reducing waste and increasing recycling through packaging improvements and consumer education.” The new film, a biaxially oriented polyethylene (BOPE), was three years in the making and was developed by Nature Valley R&D scientists in partnership with film converter Printpack. According to Daniel Cluskey, Product Stewardship Engineer II at Printpack, BOPE works well in a mono-material construction because, when it comes to stiffness and heat resistance, it behaves much more like a biaxially oriented polypropylene—a film typically used in multilayer constructions for snack bar applications—than a cast or blown film. “That allowed us to maintain many of the physical properties that consumers are used to with the Nature Valley bar,” he explains. Those physical properties included the film’s ability to provide the needed barrier, run on existing packaging lines, seal properly, and provide puncture resistance. The biggest challenge, Cluskey shares, was developing the cold-seal/cold-seal release lacquer. “BOPP films have been specialized over the past several decades to receive and release from the cold-seal adhesive, and Printpack needed to tackle that challenge on a completely new substrate,” he explains. The film, branded under Printpack’s Preserve™ platform, is an adhesive lamination made from overprint varnish/BOPE/ink/ adhesive/metallized BOPE/cold seal. The metallized layer provides the barrier, which allows for the same six- to eight-month shelf life provided by the (non-recyclable) multilayer plastic film it replaces. Says Cluskey, printability is enabled by “a treatment at Jindal Films

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and on Printpack’s equipment.” The film is decorated using five-color extended-gamut flexo printing. To bring the film to market, multiple rounds of material testing were required to ensure it could run successfully on Nature Valley’s equipment. Dave McClain, Director of Sustainability for Printpack, says this is where the partnership between Printpack and the brand owner was critical. “The engineers at General Mills are incredibly knowledgeable and talented, as are the folks running the equipment,” he notes. “When things didn’t run exactly like the incumbent packaging, details on the ‘failure modes’ were required to make the necessary adjustments to the design of the package.” After the new film was put through its paces, General Mills submitted the substrate for testing under The Association of Plastic Recyclers – Film Critical Guidance Test protocol, which determined the material was indeed eligible to carry the How2Recycle Store Drop-Off label on its packaging. This is a significant milestone for the company, which for some time has championed increased recycling through its involvement with recyclingfocused industry organizations. Its new packaging provides the perfect canvas on which to educate consumers on recycling via Store Drop-Off programs. Both the new wrapper as well as the secondary paperboard carton that holds the product carry abundant messaging on what to do with the wrapper waste. “We are working with several industry partners to make sure consumers have the information they need to participate in Store DropOff recycling,” Wulff explains. “The two primary NGOs we are working with are The Recycling Partnership and the Wrap Recycling Action Program. Every recyclable Nature Valley Crunchy granola bar wrapper directs consumers to www.recycle4nature.com, which is the W.R.A.P. store drop-off directory to help consumers locate a program where they can drop off their recyclable wrappers and other eligible plastics. “Furthermore, Nature Valley has created an informational webpage at www.naturevalley.com/recycle4nature, directing consumers to more information such as what materials, beyond our wrappers, are Store Drop-Off recyclable and examples of aftermarket uses for polyethylene film [synthetic lumber/decking equipment among them].” The new packaging launched in spring 2021. The environmental impact of the switch, says Wulff, will depend on the wrapper’s ability to inspire Nature Valley’s 100 million U.S. customers to begin using the Store Drop-Off system for all their recyclable films. At this stage, even conservative estimates point to significant success: If just 1% of Nature Valley’s customers start recycling 1 lb of film per person per year, 1 million pounds of plastic will be diverted from landfills annually. PW

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Yes, We Can! At Sonoco, we’re committed to producing the right packaging for a better world. The design of Sonoco’s EnviroCan™ allows it to meet a brand’s ongoing challenge of balancing responsible materials sourcing with product and food safety. Our flagship container – a paper container with a steel bottom – not only meets the performance needs of the markets we are committed to serving, but it can also be recycled. The can body is made of 100% recycled fiber, of which 90% comes from post-consumer sources. The design of EnviroCan™ allows it to be recycled in the steel stream in the U.S., and EnviroCan™ is eligible for the relevant recycling label in Canada. But today, we face a new challenge. Unfortunately, many consumers don’t have access to recycle EnviroCan™ through their municipal recycling programs, meaning our paper container, like many other packages, is under-recycled. The North American recycling industry needs partnerships, investment and commitments from the industry to impact significant change. Sonoco is committed to reducing packaging’s negative impact on our world with ongoing efforts to increase the recycling rate of EnviroCan™ through both the paper and steel recycling streams. Through internal investments and external partnerships, Yes, we can succeed. To learn more about these projects and our EnviroCan™, contact 360solutions@sonoco.com.

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Hershey Brazil has capitalized on digital printing of flexible film as a way of celebrating female talent during International Women’s Day.

SPECIAL REPORT

Hershey Leads the Way in Digital Print #HerSheGallery transforms a chocolate bar wrapper, The BoxMaker gets its second C500, label printing continues to progress, and digital enhancement adorns a chocolate pack. WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

Short-run print strategies

Targeting a niche demographic

By Pat Reynolds, VP Editor Emeritus Coincident with the last two March 8 International Women’s Days, Hershey Brazil has been actively leveraging the power of digital printing in a campaign that uses chocolate bar packaging to promote and value female talent. Partnering with Hershey in developing the campaign is agency BETC Sao Paulo. The converter printing the flow-wrap packaging on an HP Indigo 20000 is Camargo Cia de Embalagens Ltda. The structure is a reverse-

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printed polyester laminated to white BOPP. The roll-fed 20000 is capable of handling media thicknesses from 10 to 250 microns and web widths to 30 inches at speeds to 19,500 sq ft/hr in four-color mode. It produces print quality that rivals offset and gravure. And because it’s a digital press that requires no printing plates, it opens up numerous opportunities for short-run quick-change production. In some ways the springboard for the campaign was the simple

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recognition that embedded in “Hershey” are the pronouns “Her” and “She.” Seizing on this fortuitous coincidence, Hershey developed a campaign called #HerSheGallery that transforms a chocolate bar’s otherwise humble flow wrapping into a space to expose and celebrate the work of female musicians, illustrators, poets, and photographers during the month in which International Women’s Day falls. Printed for the “Her/She” campaign in 2020 were 30,000 chocolate bar wrappers with the work of six artist/influencers: Illustrators Ana Flávia (@affnana) and Alessandra Lemos (@loleland);. writer Luiza Mussnich (@luizamussnich); poet Camila Lordelo (@euliricas); and musicians Yzalú (@yzalu) and Bruna Mendez (@brunamendez). The packaging artwork for the two musicians included a QR code linked to their current singles. Yzalú (@yzalu) is also the voice behind the video promoting the campaign (pwgo.to/6061). For the 2021 “Her/She” campaign, Hershey expanded considerably, as 320,000 chocolate bar wrappers were digitally printed with the work of eight new female artists. “We also added a Virtual Reality component to bring an emotional tone to the campaign,” says Larissa Diniz, Hershey LATAM Marketing Director. “It was a QR Code that led to virtual content highlighting each artist’s story of challenges they had to overcome, thus creating a connection to the reality of thousands of women.” For both campaigns, the chocolate bars in their digitally printed wrappers were available for a limited time in select stores of Grupo Pão de Açúcar and through Hershey’s e-commerce platform at www. hersheys.com.br. To broaden the reach of the campaign, Hershey populated the featured artists’ work throughout its social media network. The brand also encouraged other women to post their work using the hashtags #HerShe and #HerSheGallery. Felipe Toledo, Business Director at Camargo Cia de Embalagens, says the Hershey campaigns provide a perfect example of what brand owners can accomplish through digital printing. He notes that one other Hershey project, quite separate from #HerSheGallery and executed in 2020, was the HEROES campaign. This was a run of 5,000 chocolate bar wrappers that went to frontline workers battling COVID-19. Go to pwgo.to/6062 to view a YouTube video.

One of Hershey’s digital printing campaigns in 2020 honored the many first responders battling COVID-19. According to Diniz, the three digital printing campaigns that Hershey has executed so far taught the brand a lot about distribution, logistics, and deadlines. “We want to bring more and more initiatives like this in the years to come,” she adds. “Our goal is to take part in the discussion of relevant topics to our society and raise the audience’s attention to positive conversations in the search for relevant change.”

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The BoxMaker is big on corrugated The BoxMaker, a leading U.S. manufacturer of digitally produced packaging, has announced the purchase of a second HP PageWide C500 Press, adding significant capacity as the converter launches a nationwide expansion. This investment makes The BoxMaker the first converter in the world to operate two sheet-fed HP C500 presses. HP PageWide C500 presses deliver direct-to-board offset quality

print at mainstream production volumes, making the benefits of digital print available at scale. Installation of the new press begins this year in Springdale, Ark., at The BoxMaker’s newly acquired all-digital production facility located there. The addition of the industrial-scale HP PageWide C500 builds on the company’s nine plus years of experience producing high-value digitally printed corrugated packaging, displays, labels, and more. The

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If you’re dealing with any of the following, this is a spot for you to visit: • SKU Proliferation • Micro marketing efforts • Sustainability • Traceability As consumers look for smarter packaging options, advancements in digital printing are more critical than ever, making this pavilion a must-see for all show attendees. Visit www.packexpolasvegas.com to learn more and register to attend. PW

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BoxMaker operates the Pacific Northwest’s highest-capacity Digital Production Center, which in addition to their current HP PageWide C500 press, features digital finishing with a fleet of fully automated CAD cutting tables and two narrow-web digital presses for labels and folding carton. The purchase of the C500 press is part of a planned multi-million-dollar investment by The BoxMaker to effectively address growing demand in the market for digitally produced packaging and displays. “We are making significant equipment investments in Seattle and Springdale to deliver best-in-class products to clients across the country,” says Richard Brown, President and Co-Owner of The BoxMaker. “The HP C500 has proven valuable to both our business and that of our clients,” Brown continues. “Digital print technology enables brands greater flexibility for quick turnaround times, high-impact designs for multiple SKUs, and the ability to engage consumers with marketing promotions directly integrated into their packaging. The HP C500 is proven technology that will serve as the print platform to drive our growth strategy as we continue on our journey with HP to transform the market to digital.” The HP PageWide C500 Press enables The BoxMaker to digitally print corrugated sheets in orders of any size in offset quality with sharp text and barcodes, smooth tone transitions, and vivid colors. The press prints with HP true water-based inks, which allow for the production of boxes with no need for added internal packaging or an extra layer of material separating the corrugated from the product for the food and agriculture industry. As an all-in-one packaging partner, The BoxMaker strives to provide custom solutions that amplify their clients’ people, processes, and brand. Digital print not only empowers brands to create total alignment between their marketing efforts and retail packaging and display, but also enhances their supply chain management and reduces waste. The company is currently focused on scaling their digital production offerings and capacity to meet these growing needs.

Hybrid label press has big impact St. Louis-based Wegmann Companies, a manufacturer of custom printed labels with extensive hybrid & digital production capabilities, recently installed a hybrid digital/flexo press. Their experience with the Domino CEI BossJet “powered by Domino” hybrid press is having a major impact on their business. “There have been multiple times where I’ve had 27 hours’ worth of production that would have been done traditionally on a flexo press, and now on the hybrid I do it in one shift,” says Operations Manager Alex Wegmann. “From a produc-

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tion standpoint, come hell or high water, our customers need their products delivered on time, so we don’t have time for downtime. I can receive artwork from a customer at 8 a.m., have it on press within one hour, and have labels printed and delivered to them by the end of the day. It’s impressive.” Mark Wegmann, the owner of Wegmann Companies, describes just how the press is configured. “We start off with a 40-inch unwind, we have a web cleaner, a corona treater, foil, two flexo stations, a turn bar to print the back of the web, and then we move into the 7-color Domino where we can go from white or black to variable imaging or information into full color. We then come out and have two more flexo stations, and then we move right into semi-rotary die-cutting. From there we go into full rotary stations, scrap take-up, and at the last station we can either go roll-to-roll or rollto-sheet. And it is all powered right in the command center. This allows us to maintain the quality run to run. This is the quality of Domino. This is the quality of Wegmann.” Go to pwgo.to/6063 to see a video of the press in action. Knowing that they are able to deliver more for their customers each and every day means a lot to the Wegmann team. “I have a sincere appreciation for graphic designers and artists,”

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Owner Mark Wegmann (left) and Operations Manager Alex Wegmann of Wegmann Companies stand beside their new hybrid digital/flexo press. Inset shows the kind of labels the firm is able to produce. says Alex Wegmann. “They work really hard to bring their customers’ visions to life. So when I receive that artwork, I know that the Domino’s quality coming off the press will exceed their expectations. The most surprising thing that I’ve seen with the Domino is how accurate the color is, and how consistent it is over time.”

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Clustered print heads

Print resolution is 1200x1200 dpi and print speed is 70 m/min. When Aptech Graphics installed its LB701 Mouvent press in early 2020, it was one of the first in the U.S. to commercialize this cluster technology. “It brings us a distinct advantage of quality and the ability to dial it in and get consistent laydown,” says Aptech President Mark Mader. “I waited for this technology to come out partly because I could see it would be affordable.” (A Mouvent video says “Enter digital printing at 280,000 euros.) “Don’t get me wrong,” adds Mader, “nothing is free, but this is a quality press delivering high resolution and is a great value.” Customers most typically ordering labels from the new press include food, beverage, household goods, cannabis, and craft brewers. When asked if there’s a “sweet spot” in terms of the number of labels in a production run, Mader says it can vary pretty widely. “We’ve run millions for some customers and tens of thousands for others. But one thing we really like is THIS IS THE SUPERHERO OF AUTOMATED PACKAGING SOLUTIONS! how fast the press runs. We can print 100,000 labels for 16-oz cans in a day. It’s enabled us to go after some work that would ordinarily be flexo work.”

In 2017 a Bobst division called Mouvent unveiled a new digital label press that is differentiated primarily by its use of print head clusters. Each cluster consists of four Fuji Samba digital ink-jet print heads. Each head has its own fully integrated mechanics, ink management, and software, and each four-head cluster prints one color: cyan, magenta, yellow, or black. Mouvent UV-curable inks are also part of the package.

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Pressure sensitive labels for a craft brewer are a good example of what Aptech produces on its Mouvent LB701 digital press. Pressure-sensitive roll-to-roll label substrates Aptech prints on include both film and paper. “The inks go on aggressively enough that we don’t even need to apply an overvarnish to protect them,” he says. “And they have a really nice gloss.” Mouvent says that while thus far in the packaging space they’ve only produced label presses, other equipment is in the pipeline. Go to pwgo.to/6064 to see a video animation of the Mouvent technology.

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The Ultra Digital Enhancement press installed at Germany S.A.C.I.A.G. in Paraguay is used on a variety of paperboard packages like the one for chocolate shown here.

Digital enhancement of folding cartons Scodix, the world’s leading provider of digital enhancement solutions for the graphic arts industry, recently announced that Germany S.A.C.I.A.G has installed a Scodix Ultra Digital Enhancement Press. The press is the first of the Scodix Ultra series to be installed in Paraguay where Germany S.A.C.I.A.G is a leading packaging producer in the food, tobacco, clothing, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical markets. S.A.C.I.A.G. specializes in folding cartons, and that is the packaging format it is embellishing with the new Scodix press. Edgar Himmelreich, CEO of Germany S.A.C.I.A.G, states, “It is simple logic to bring the leading digital enhancement press onto our production floor, as it enables us to supply quality short-run enhancement to our customers quickly and economically. The release of the Scodix low migration polymer, Scodix PolySense 550, helped our decision to purchase a Scodix press, as we are such a large provider of food packaging.” All presses within the Scodix Ultra series work with PolySense 550 for digital enhancement applications requiring low migration for indirect contact with products such as food, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics, which represent a large proportion of the products Germany S.A.C.I.A.G produces packaging for. Approved by Swiss Ordinance, Scodix PolySense 550 makes various applications—including Scodix Sense™, Scodix Foil™, Scodix VDE™, Scodix Cast&Cure™ and Scodix Glitter™—viable for food packaging.

“Our ethos is about bringing our passion to every project we work on,” notes Himmelreich. “We want to develop great packaging at the best possible cost. Scodix digital enhancement allows all of our customers to achieve luxurious packaging for their brand, no matter the size of their production run, no matter the product.” The Scodix Ultra press was sold to Germany S.A.C.I.A.G, by Novaprint, Scodix’ partner in Paraguay, also representing the company in Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru and Uruguay. Novaprint Director Ariel Musri comments on this latest installation: “We’ve been serving the graphic arts industry in South America since 2004, and as such we have an excellent relationship with Germany S.A.C.I.A.G. When we talked to them about potential new technologies that could really add value for new and existing customers, while serving the increasing demand for shortrun jobs, we knew Scodix was the perfect solution.” Isaac Castiel, Scodix VP of LATAM adds, “Germany S.A.C.I.A.G is the perfect fit for Scodix, the technology compliments their desire to uniquely enhance offset products. We are also delighted to add Paraguay to the list of countries that operate a Scodix press. South America now delivers Scodix enhanced products from coast-to-coast, which is an inspiring achievement.” PW

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Nestlé Achieves ‘Paperization’ of Confectionery Packaging Transitioning from plastic to paper for 419 SKUs of its Smarties brand chocolate candies requires extensive R&D in new materials, new package designs, equipment compatibility, and recycling potential for Nestlé. WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

Plastic to paper conversion

Paper packaging design

Sustainable packaging

By Anne Marie Mohan, Senior Editor Two years in the making—from concept to launch— Nestlé’s introduction in June 2020 of its Smarties chocolate candies in fully recyclable paper packaging represents a world first for a global confectionery brand, the Swiss-based company claims. The project, which saw packaging for 419 SKUs of the popular sugar-coated chocolate candy moved from plastic to paper, involved greater complexity than even Nestlé anticipated when it first embarked on the journey. Challenges included developing a paper substrate that could provide the same functionality as plastic, while still being 100% recyclable and able to run at high speeds on the company’s existing packaging

equipment. Nestlé also had to reimagine many of its iconic packaging designs—which could not be reproduced with paper—with new structures capable of conveying the same joy and fun for which the brand is known. The project used as its starting point the work done on a fully recyclable paper wrapper developed at Nestle’s R&D Centre for Confectionery in York, U.K., in collaboration with the Institute of Packaging Sciences in Lausanne, Switzerland, for Nestlé’s new YES! fruit and nut bar. The YES! bar packaging was the first such structure to be able to run at 300 packs/min on a cold-seal flow-wrap machine.

Among the new formats are a hexagonal paper tube for the Smarties Giant Tube, a multipack of paper tubes held together with a label, a paper bag for small cartons of mini Smarties, and a stand-up pouch.

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To adapt the paper packaging material for Smarties, Nestlé called upon 50 R&D staff, along with the company’s global R&D network of 180 packaging experts worldwide. The first Smarties pack to be launched in the new paper packaging was for its popular sharing block, an 18-square chocolate bar filled with mini Smarties. According to Nestlé, 3.5 million Smarties blocks are sold each year. Given the scope of the plastic-to-paper project, the company shares that in total, the conversion of all SKUs to paper will eliminate more than 400 metric tons of plastic packaging, including more than 38 million plastic lids and plastic stickers, worldwide, based on 2019 annual volumes.

“We decided, why not make Smarties the first plastic-free confectionery brand. It felt very compelling and logical. But it was easier said than done, especially when we began to look at the details. We then understood that we had a massive challenge ahead of us. We are producing roughly 280 million packs per year. And at that time, 250 million of them were using plastic. Thus, we had to change 90% of our portfolio. Ninety percent meant we had to transition 419 SKUs, some 400 differ-

Conversion supports Nestlé’s global sustainability commitments In 2018, Nestlé announced its commitment to make 100% of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025 in line with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy (NPEC), a global initiative that seeks to address plastic waste and pollution at its source. As Rob Cameron, Global Head of Public Affairs for Nestlé SA, explains, currently 87% of the company’s packaging is already recyclable or reusable. In 2020, Nestlé announced another goal—to reduce its use of virgin plastic by one-third by 2025. “That sounds relatively straightforward,” says Cameron, “but there is a huge challenge for us in this, which is the availability of food-grade recycled plastic that we can use as feedstock for our packaging.” To close the 13% gap in making all its packaging recyclable and reusable and to reduce its use of virgin plastics, Nestlé has identified five action areas: 1. A reduction in packaging materials, especially virgin plastics 2. Reuse and refill models 3. Alternative materials that reduce Nestlé’s dependence on plastics, in particular those that facilitate recycling 4. Supporting infrastructure that helps shape a waste-free future 5. Driving behavior change within the company’s own operations, as well as with retailers, consumers, and suppliers According to Alexander von Maillot, SVP Global Head Confectionery & Ice Cream Strategic Business Unit, Nestlé SA, it was this 2018 global announcement that inspired the confectionery group to pursue new packaging for Smarties in order to advance the company’s sustainability goals. “We were sitting together and thinking, how can we step up with confectionery, and what can we do to set a good example?” he recalls. “And soon we started to talk about Smarties, as it is a brand so much linked to children, and therefore it was a perfect fit to take care of the future of our next generation.

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ent formats, shapes, and different types of packaging, to paper.” Adds Bruce Funnell, Packaging Lead from Nestlé’s Product Technology Center in York, “When we actually looked into the data, we found that plastic was used everywhere, albeit in a small ways sometimes, such as a sticker or an Easter egg fitment, the pouches, the bags, the windows in cartons—each one had to be tackled in a way to ensure that each of the problems could be solved.” 3138NV-half-page.pdf 1 3/10/21 10:01 PM

Savings are just the beginning.

Paper provides greatest circularity The main goal for the Smarties packaging, in fact for any packaging, says Funnell, is to contain, protect, and preserve the product—a job that plastic had performed exceptionally well for years. “We deliver Smarties in a way that the consumer can dispense and enjoy the product safely. Safety is our ultimate priority,” he says. “And when you look at plastics, they have been the ultimate choice for many years because they have great attributes. They’re strong, lightweight, and affordable. They do a tremendous job of protecting the food with a minimum amount of resources. And that’s why it’s used so widely.” The problem with plastic, however, is that many times it’s not recycled, or even worse, it becomes litter. “We believe that by moving to paper, Smarties can really help to make a difference and play a key role in Nestlé’s journey going forward,” Funnell adds. Paper was not the only substrate considered as a replacement for plastic, however. As Funnell explains, when making a packaging change, Nestlé considers all types of materials and end-of-life scenarios to make sure the package it designs provides the best value and supports the circular economy. One alternative was a compostable material. “On the face of it, compostable materials sound ideal because they break down naturally into the environment,” Funnell says. “But the challenge with compostable materials is twofold. First, for home composting, when we really look at the number of people who home compost, it’s very small. So the chance of the packaging actually getting composted is small. And then if we talk about industrial composting, the challenge there is that there are very few industrial composting facilities, and the risk is, if it goes into a conventional recycling system, it can actually pollute the recycling stream. So we have to be very careful how and where we use compostable materials.

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The redesign of three iconic Smarties packages was necessary in order to convert from plastic to paper.

FOCKE

“Our vision is that all of our packaging is recyclable or reusable by 2025. So paper, already having a very well established recycling stream, really answered that question and so provided a great vehicle for a circular design of a new package.” The goal was also to design a package that would provide a clear benPS 9 x 5_4375 1 31.08.20 efitAZto PMMI consumers. Says01RZ von vek.pdf Maillot, “People know this10:22 material [paper], and so it gives us a very easy and simple story, because Nestlé’s com-

mitment is also about helping to educate consumers on new behavior.” As desirable as paper is from a recycling standpoint, however, it does lack much of the functionality of plastic, acknowledges Funnell. It’s not as strong as plastic, it tears easily, it’s stiffer, and it lacks the oxygen and moisture barriers provided by plastic. It’s also a very open and porous structure, which poses a problem for printing graphics onto the packaging. Typically, Funnell explains, plastic packaging for a confectionery

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product such as Smarties comprises multiple layers, including an inner layer, a barrier layer (typically aluminum), a print layer, and a final surface layer for protection, between each of which is an adhesive layer. To move Smarties from this multilayer structure to a paper material required developing a cellulose structure and a proprietary, water-based coating that together could provide the needed functionality and recyclability. “By doing that, we created a material that can be easily separated and recycled, so we can recover the fiber, and we can reuse it,” explains Funnell. “And we can also recover the waste elements, which we can use either for further recycling, or we can use it for incineration for energy. So we can recover the vast majority of the material.” The final, proprietary paper structure was developed by the York R&D center in conjunction with Nestlé’s packaging engineers and scientists, its factories, its suppliers, and recyclers “to ensure not only that it could be used, but also that it could be recycled at end of life,” Funnell shares.

Nestlé ensures sustainable sourcing of fiber When designing new, more sustainable packaging, Funnell says Nestlé considers a package’s full supply chain, from raw materials through to end of life, to ensure the new material doesn’t solve one problem while creating another. “To do that, we use a lifecycle-based assessment tool that allows us to design our thinking around different packaging solutions to make sure we don’t create a problem in another area,” he says. “And then we consider all the environmental impacts.”

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For its fiber-based packaging, Nestlé works directly with its suppliers to ensure that all paper, pulp, and board comes from sustainable sources. Packaging for the new Smarties packs uses fiber from proprietary suppliers that is 100% traceable back to country of harvest. In addition, a minimum of 90% of the fiber volume is responsibly sourced within Nestlé’s definition, which reinforces the company’s specific commitments on deforestation and forest stewardship, rural development, and water stewardship. Nestlé uses certifications such as Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) to demonstrate compliance. Funnell notes that paper has the added advantage of being available at the scale needed for a company such as Nestlé. “The trees we need for tomorrow are planted today, and the trees we need for today were planted yesterday, so there is enough paper for us to make the change sustainably,” says Funnell. “And the fact that we recycle the material over and over again several times means that we keep the material in the loop. Whereas, if you consider plastic that is not recycled, probably the best case is that it will be incinerated for energy recovery and the worst is that it will be littered.”

New packs designed to delight customers Switching to more sustainable packaging often comes with tradeoffs. For Smarties, it was the shedding of some of its iconic packaging structures in favor of new ones that could more easily be produced with paper. “As a brand guardian, it’s really hard because we had to give up on core brand assets, something you never want to do when you really nurture and build a brand,” says von Maillot. One example is the Smarties Giant Tube, a paperboard tube holding 4.59-oz of the chocolate candy, with a plastic lid that could be removed with the flick of the thumb. The iconic tube was used for everything from a teaching tool to demonstrate a cylinder shape to students, to a range of games invented by children. von Maillot himself remembers using the empty tube as a telescope when he was young. “But we understood that we had to step it up,” he says. “If we wanted to move out of plastic, there was only one way—we had to change the shape.” The new package is a clever refresh, converting the cylindrical tube to a hexagonal shape. Designers were also able to retain the iconic opening mechanism, but with paper instead. Another redesign involved the packaging for multipacks of smaller Smarties tubes, which were formerly held in plastic pouches. Now, multipacks are made from a number of paperboard tubes connected by a perforated paper label, whereby individual tubes can be torn off the main package. “It’s a really innovative

connecting system, which is memorable and fun,” say von Maillot. For tiny boxes of mini Smarties—handed out at birthday parties, for example—Nestlé replaced the plastic pouch holding the tiny paperboard packs with one made of paper. “Not only does it look great, but it feels great, and I think it even sounds great,” says von Maillot. “It’s paper, yet it protects the product inside just the same way as plastic did before.”

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Another part of the redesign process was to tell consumers about the change on the packaging. Smarties has always been committed to helping parents inspire and educate children. According to von Maillot, many children have learned the names of colors and counting with the brightly colored treats and have learned things such as how to draw through on-pack activities. “We know that to meet our 2025 commitment, we have to help edu-

cate and encourage the right behaviors,” he adds. “And the communication on our packs is all about encouraging that behavior in an engaging manner, reminding parents and children that Smarties is working hard to do the right things.” On-pack messaging includes the copy, “Let’s be recycling heroes! Enjoy and recycle in the paper bin!” and “Paper from responsible sources.” The packaging also advises that the product uses only natural colors as well as sustainable cocoa.

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As noted earlier, another fundamental challenge was engineering the material to run on Nestlé’s equipment. Just as plastic has been optimized for packaging, so too has the packaging equipment been optimized to run plastic. “So to enable paper to fulfill its role, we really needed to bring some clever innovation to make that work, to run effectively and efficiency on our automatic lines,” says Funnell. Nestlé’s largest Smarties production plant is in Hamburg, Germany, where 20,000 tons of Smarties are produced each year. That translates to more than 20 billion pieces of Smarties going out from Hamburg to more than 50 countries, mainly in Europe, as well as South America and Asia. To accommodate the new paper packaging, Nestlé invested $10 million Swiss Francs (approximately US$10.8 million), much of which was used to install a new line for the hexagonal Smarties Giant Tube. According to Arturo Galván, Factory Manager of the Hamburg Chocolate Plant, some of the investment was also used to modify existing equipment for the paper bags, such as the vertical form/fill/seal machines used for the bags of mini Smarties. “Although we just changed the plastic material to paper, we had to guarantee that the parameters, including the temperature for sealing, matched perfectly, because if we take a very high temperature, we can burn the paper. And if the temperature is too low, we cannot guarantee that we’re sealing the pouch properly.”

The beginning of the ‘paperization journey’

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Since the introduction in mid-2020 of the Smarties Sharing Block in paper packaging, initially in U.K.’s Asda supermarkets, Nestlé has been rolling out various formats in the new paper packaging globally. Before the project, 10% of Smarties products were in paper packaging; today, the entire brand portfolio of 490 SKUs is packed in 100% recyclable paper. Among some of the other redesigned Smarties formats are a sharable, reclosable stand-up paper pouch; a paper carton for the travel retail-exclusive Smarties Music Maker product, formerly in a plastic tube; and the display trays used to hold Christmas and Easter hollow figures, which are now paper. According to von Maillot, Nestle is at the begin-

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Part of Nestlé’s goal is to change consumer behavior around the use of packaging. On-pack messaging for Smarties encourages recycling of the packaging after use.

ning of its “paperization journey.” After tackling the YES! snack bars and Smarties portfolio, Nestlé also introduced a new 100% recyclable paper pouch for its Nesquik All Natural cocoa powder in Europe. Currently, the company is looking at its ice cream packaging as the next target.

“It’s really a journey—it is step by step,” von Maillot says. “We need to look at what brands make sense. Can we protect the product enough by packaging it in paper? And then we will test and learn and roll out more products and brands with time.” PW

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Wireless Welcome in Manufacturing The use of wireless in manufacturing plants is still met with a good deal of skepticism today. Much of this doubt is based on experience with traditional wireless, which is simply not reliable because it’s neither fast enough nor scalable. WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

New communications protocol

Breakthrough in wireless

By Pat Reynolds, VP Editor Emeritus But now entering the industrial wireless field is an innovative company out of Israel called CoreTigo that could change a lot of this. At the center of its products is IO-Link Wireless—a wireless technology developed for factory automation applications. “We worked as part of the IO-Link consortium to create this deterministic, cable-grade wireless product that offers a level of reliability on par with the quality of wired IO-Link,” says Gabi Daniely, Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer at CoreTigo. IO-Link Wireless reportedly provides a deterministic latency of up to 5msec with a high reliability (1 e-9 Packet Error Rate) that is similar to IO-Link Wired, a million times better than other wireless protocols such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Zigbee. This level of reliability enables IO-Link Wireless to claim that it is perfectly suitable for industrial automation both for motion control and monitoring. CoreTigo notes that IO-Link Wireless is designed as a deterministic protocol. It is based on time and frequency slots and guarantees that each data packet will be delivered within a bounded delay. Among the packaging machinery OEMs who like what they see in this wireless communications protocol is Germany’s Protion. Its first offering is the Orboter, a transport track system that incorporates independent movers capable of moving around a track. A power rail de-

signed by Protion is what moves the movers around the track. But the movers are not “smart” in terms of communication because the power rail can’t communicate with the movers beyond motion control. So until now, the movers have only been capable of traveling from point A to point B around their track. And they do this very well. But the idea of including any kind of actuating device like a gripper or a vacuum

Based on linear servo track technology, the Orboter (left) has movers called “Probots” on which are mounted actuators like the three shown above. Thanks to IO-Link Wireless communication, the Probots are capable of sending and receiving data.

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suction cup has been ruled out because there has been no way to communicate with or control such devices. That’s where IO-Link Wireless comes in. Devices attached to the movers can communicate and be controlled wirelessly. A gripper, for example, can be equipped with IO-Link Wireless so that changeovers can be handled automatically via commands from the PLC, thus eliminating downtime and manual setup. This is crucial when changing from one package type or size to another. It also means that sensors equipped with IO-Link Wireless can be added to the movers for the purposes of SIDEL predictive maintenance. Go to pwgo.to/6066 for an animated video of a track system deploying this wireless communication system.

Buschulte makes is that it’s vendor agnostic. “Remember,” he says, “a packaging machine can include sensors from a variety of vendors, or actuators like mechanical grippers or vacuum pickers that come from a number of suppliers. If you don’t have to worry about proprietary software or drivers and you’re dealing with a standardized interface, it’s so much easier to proceed.” PW

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Early iterations of Protion’s Orboter have deployed the XTS linear servo motor track system from Beckhoff. Protion President Ranier Buschulte prefers the term “Probots” to “movers” when referring to the components of the Orboter. “Movers don’t have any intelligence or ability to communicate,” says Buschulte. “The Probot, by comparison, can include actuators and sensors that make it capable of sending outputs and receiving inputs.” Specific CoreTigo products that Protion is using in its Orboter include the TigoBridge SOM and the TigoAir SOM. Integrated into the Probots, these modules convert signals coming from sensors mounted on the Probot into wireless signals. These wireless signals are received by another CoreTigo product called the TigoMaster, a stationary unit near the PLC. Its job is to convert the signals into inputs suitable for the PLC. And when the PLC needs to send outputs back out to the Probots, it does so in reverse order: first to the Master and then to the CoreTigo modules integrated into the Probots and then to the actuators on the Probots. One last observation on IO-Link Wireless that

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Each of the following market-leading companies* participating in Packaging World’s 2021 Leaders in Packaging Program are named sponsors of PW’s Future Leaders in Packaging scholarship. This year’s recipient is Purdue Northwest (PNW), College of Technology. We appreciate the support of all participants on behalf of packaging education.

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Specialty Personal Care Brands Embrace Aluminum Bath and hygiene brands that target sustainability-minded consumers—ones who are less sensitive to price and more concerned about doing good—are landing on aluminum as an ‘infinitely’ recyclable plastic alternative. WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

Balance material property trade-offs A while back, Packaging World editors began noticing a spate of personal care products—largely soaps, shampoos, and conditioners—making a shift out of traditional HDPE or PET bottles and into aluminum bottles. These weren’t the biggest volume national brands or store brands; those making this switch have tended to be specialty brands meeting the needs of a specialty consumer. Product descriptors often include organic, vegan, animal cruelty-free, palm oil-free, and the like. These brands were asking themselves how to extend this “better ingredients, better materials” image to the package itself, and stand out on the shelf, and aluminum has turned out to be a favorite answer. A few reasons for that include the fact that consumers of these specialty brands value sustainability and do so more than the average person purchasing a store brand on price. Rightly or wrongly, consumers tend to perceive aluminum as more recyclable, and thus more sustainable, than plastic. Each brand we spoke to rattled off stats on recycling rates, and aluminum seems to consistently outperform plastic in terms of sustainability perception. Many of these brands tout the “infinite” recyclability of aluminum alongside consumer recycling adoption, noting no degradation from cycle to cycle like plastics can undergo. And several of these brands cited less energy required to recycle aluminum compared to plastics. And while aluminum is more expensive, these brands’ consumers are far less price conscious than the typical person, not to mention the products themselves carry higher margins. In many cases, aluminum bottles can run on the same plastic filling and packaging equipment that the brands already use, and may use the same closures or dispensers (often polypropylene, which is recyclable). We do hear rumblings about a global aluminum shortage, but that seems to be concentrated in the lowest-margin, highest-volume 12-oz aluminum cans used in beer and soda. Higher-margin, heavier-gauge aluminum bottles with closure threading don’t appear to be at risk of being too scarce, though brands are keeping a close eye. Finally, in food, glass is often another premium packaging go-to option for brands seeking to move away from plastics. But for slippery soaps in a barefoot-in-the-bathroom setting, aluminum’s shatter resistance is a must. These factors combined into a perfect storm shift for specialty personal care products’ move toward aluminum. What follows are a few such brands describing their packaging transition. —Matt Reynolds

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React to consumer sentiment

Masstige Hair Care Brand Moves to Aluminum for Full Line If Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Eva NYC had any doubts about making a switch from plastic to aluminum packaging for its full line of masstige hair care products, the 100% spike in orders in just the first two weeks of the new packaging’s launch must have reassured the company of the wisdom of its decision. Introduced in February 2021, the new packaging includes several sizes of a custom-shaped aluminum bottle, decorated with vibrant, shiny pastel graphics in billowing, abstract patterns. Topped with a range of matching pastel plastic caps, dispensing fitments, and trigger sprayers, the cans make a bright and spirited statement. “Eva NYC is a brand of beauty lovers based in Brooklyn with wild imaginations and an obsession with hair,” says company Brand Vice

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New Hand Soap and Sanitizer Clean Up with Aluminum Bottle Vibrant, colorful, and custom, new aluminum containers for hand-soap products and a sanitizer from Hand in Hand were among the first such bottles in the liquid hand-soap category when they were introduced in March 2020 and have played a major role in helping the brand expand distribution and grow 1,000% year-over-year. Inspired by a social mission, Hand in Hand was co-founded by husband and wife Bill Glaab and Courtney Apple as a vehicle to address the lack of access to clean drinking water and soap by children in underprivileged areas. For each Hand in Hand personal care product sold—including bar soaps, lotions, scrubs, body and hand wash products, and sanitizer—Hand in Hand donates a bar of soap and a month of free drinking water to a child in need, with a focus on Haiti and Cambodia. Says CEO Glaab, “In 2011, my wife and I read an article that mentioned that 5 million children die each year from water-related illnesses. What was most striking was that if these children had access to soap and hygiene education, these childhood deaths could be cut in half. That was our ‘Aha moment’: How could we use business to get soap into the hands of these children? From there, Hand in Hand was born—buy a bar, give a bar. To date, we have donated approximately 14.6 million bars.” Billed as “Sustainable Suds,” Hand in Hand products are made with 97% or more natural ingredients, are vegan and cruelty-free, palm oil-free, environmentally friendly, socially responsible, and made in the U.S. Until recently, the company had only used traditional packaging formats for its products: a carton for bar soap, a plastic tube for scrubs and lotions, and a rigid plastic bottle for body wash products. But awareness of the waste created by single-use plastics prompted Hand in Hand to look at aluminum when launching a new sanitizer and a line of hand soaps. Explains Glaab, “We chose aluminum because it is infinitely recyclable, whereas eventually, plastics break down over time.” Quoting Columbia University’s State of the Planet website, he adds, “There is also a large strain on the plastic recycling system in this country, with only 8% of plastic actually getting recycled.” Requirements for the new bottle included functionality and a great form, “since these bottles live in your home and become a part of your everyday life,” Glaab says. After research into potential suppliers for the new packaging, Hand in Hand Director of Brand Development Holly La Porte hit upon Trivium Packaging, which was able to take the company’s colorful, iconic look and translate it onto an

President Jane Moran. “We make products and tools with powerful ingredients and innovative technologies that deliver seriously proven results.” Despite its playful packaging appearance however, Eva NYC is all business when it comes to its company philosophy, ingredients, and packaging. Its consumable products, which include shampoos, conditioners, primers, hair and body mists, and other styling products, use powerful, plant-based ingredients that are certified vegan and GMO-free, certified cruelty-free by Leaping Bunny, and free of harmful ingredients.

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aluminum bottle, for a sleek, modern, and premium look that stands out on the retail shelf and on consumer countertops, without rusting. The custom, 10-oz bottle with shapely, rounded shoulders, is printed in a range of bright colors that align with the company’s established color palette. There are eight hand-soap SKUs, each of which is represented with its own color: e.g., purple for Lavender, orange for Citrus Grove, pastel green for Sweetgrass, etc. Hand sanitizer comes in a brushed aluminum. All bottles are printed with blue copy and the blue Hand in Hand logo, along with gold ink for the product description. Launched in Whole Foods in March 2020, Hand in Hand expanded outside the grocery sector when the pandemic hit, partnering with Target. The aluminum bottles at Target were such a hit, it drove interest from other large retailers, including Wegmans, Walmart, CVS, Kroger, Costco, Fresh Thyme, Kohl’s, and others. Glaab believes retailers’ interest in the product stems in part from the recyclability and sustainability of the packaging, which leads to consumer demand. The interest from retailers has resulted in rapid growth for Hand in Hand. “As a brand owner, we have grown 1,000% year-over-year, and we believe a large part of that is due to our continued innovation as market leaders,” says Glaab. “Aluminum certainly played a large role.” Hand in Hand is in the process of converting much of its existing packaging into aluminum and expects to have more than 20 SKUs available in the new packaging by mid-2021. —Anne Marie Mohan

“Effective products are key for us, and we always strive to give our customers a good hair day every day, while keeping out harsh chemicals across our entire lineup,” Moran says. According to the company, its decision to make a change in its packaging was based on the mounting issues around beauty care packaging. Citing 2020 insights from Marketing Tech, Eva NYC says that non-recyclable packaging is the biggest issue in sustainable beauty, with more than 120 billion packaging units produced annually on a global level. “With

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RE-FLOW ACCUMULATION CONVEYOR

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so many beauty products produced every year, mostly in plastic, we knew we had to do something about it,” the company says. “Only 9% of plastics actually get recycled, and we wanted to provide our customers an option to stop purchasing virgin plastics as they are the hardest to recycle. “[According to a report from marketing intelligence firm WGSN], 88% of consumers said they wanted brands to help them be more sustainable and ethical in their day-to-day lives, and yet 43% said that brands are actually making it harder for them. In fact, the report showed that high prices were the most common barrier for consumers to being more sustainable. Plus, our own consumer research showed that our customers are looking for products that are free of harmful ingredients, cruelty-free, and made with sustainable packaging—as long as those products will still be effective and give her a good hair day, every day.” Eva NYC selected aluminum because of its recyclability and due to consumer perceptions of aluminum versus plastic. “We chose aluminum because it is 100% recyclable, forever,” says the company. “Forever means aluminum is infinitely recyclable. This product can continue to be recycled, over and over and over again. It also takes the least amount of energy to recycle aluminum. In fact, aluminum is the easiest material to recycle in the U.S., as all curbside recycling facilities take aluminum. In as few as 60 days, the aluminum container you recycled can be back on the shelf, living its next life.

Watch a 5-minute video breakdown of the major trend and context takeaways gleaned from these four personal care brands’ move from plastics to aluminum at pwgo.to/6089.

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“[According to a study from Boston Consulting Group], aluminum was also perceived by consumers as two-times more eco-friendly and 1.4-times more recyclable than plastic, with plastic having the highest negative perceptions.” The new bottles are made from 100% aluminum, with some formats containing an amount of recycled material. Eva NYC worked with Trivium Packaging to create adjustments to the supplier’s stock molds to create packaging unique to the brand, customizing the artwork, base, finish, and neck for each SKU. Says Moran, it was also a priority for Eva NYC that the packaging forego plastic labels that could harm the environment, so the bottles are direct litho-printed. The custom gradients used in the artwork, which was designed by Eva NYC’s in-house creative studio, use between five to eight colors, depending on the SKU. With the change, 93% of Eva NYC’s packaging is now plastic free, with the balance comprising complex closures, such as caps and triggers, made from polypropylene. Says Moran, “We are in the process of researching and identifying alternative pump materials, as our goal is to move away from plastic components entirely.” In the meantime, however, the company has partnered with TerraCycle, so that consumers can recycle their pumps, caps, and triggers, as well as older Eva NYC plastic packaging, for free. Although it’s easier for consumers to recycle the aluminum through their own curbside recycling system, they can also choose to send the entire package—aluminum bottle and pump—to TerraCycle as well for recycling. Of the news of a shortage of aluminum cans resulting from the pandemic, Moran says the company is aware of the supply chain issues, but through careful demand planning and close communication with its supplier, the company is confident its inventory is not at risk. “We are continually monitoring the situation to make sure we can secure enough aluminum to meet our demand,” she says. And, the demand is high, as noted, with a huge boost in orders upon the introduction of the cans last February. “Our customers have communicated to us how thrilled they are with our new 100% recyclable packaging and Eva NYC’s commitment to sustainability and the environment,” says Moran. “We’ve received an influx of positive feedback on social and through customer service, praising the switch to aluminum packaging and the ease of recycling, the fun and playful new design, and the ease of understanding our key benefits on packaging front and center.” Eva NYC’s complete line of products is available nationwide at Target, Ulta Beauty, Sally Beauty Supply, and some other mass merchandisers, and is sold online on its own site and its partner sites. —Anne Marie Mohan

www.nerconconveyors.com 844-293-2814

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Aluminum Bottles, Aromatherapy Scents Elevate the Hand Wash Category In February 2021, Raw Sugar Living, a Sarasota, Fla.-based aspirational lifestyle personal care brand, expanded its line of clean, premium, and healthy living products with an elevated hand soap line, the Raw Sugar Hand Wash Therapy collection, packaged in recyclable aluminum bottles. Raw Sugar Living was launched in 2014 and since then has mainstreamed premium-quality and vegan-friendly personal care products, including those for the body, skin, and hair, recognizable on-shelf by the company’s signature Bamboo Tops & White Bottle packaging. “Developed around our core belief that a person is only as beautiful As company co-founder and CMO Donda Mullis explains, Raw Sugar as you make them feel, our products are made with certified organic exLiving has a rigorous screening process to guarantee the quality, sourctracts, plant-derived ingredients, eco-friendly packaging, and sustainable ing, and safety of the ingredients it uses. “This is why we developed our bamboo tops—all branded with the ‘Living Purely Unfiltered’ tagline and own ‘FREE OF’ Policy & Validated Safety Protocols, to ensure we use the personalized with a Sugar note [love note] about loving the skin you’re highest quality ingredients in all of our products,” she says. in,” shares Ronnie Shugar, co-founder and CEO of Raw Sugar Living. Along with its focus on product quality, Raw Sugar Living is also very A key differentiator, and gamechanger, says Shugar, is that the prodmindful of the sustainability of its packaging. “We want to keep our ucts are made with ingredients processed through a ColdPress Technolplanet pretty and healthy, which means doing our part to move recyogy™ that preserves more of the whole fruit and the whole plant to nour21_0787_Packaging_World_MAY 4:01 PM 04/14/21 1 v2.5 says Mullis. “We are cling beyond thePrint: kitchen and intopage the bathrooms,” ish skin. He adds, “Think of a superfood smoothie, but for theMod: skin!” April 14, 2021

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delighted to see the beauty and self-care industry as a whole start to move towards more sustainable packaging. It’s why we are making a concerted effort to use less virgin plastic and design packaging that is more planet-friendly, biodegradable, and recyclable.” With its Hand Wash Therapy, Shugar says Raw Sugar Living wanted to elevate the category, with innovative, clean formulas, “mood-boosting” aromatherapy, essential oils, and sustainable packaging. The company chose aluminum because of its high recycling rates compared with those of plastics. “Aluminum has the benefits of being a material that is recycled at a much higher level and is 100% recyclable,” he says. “Also, it is most likely to be reused by the consumer, which creates the possibility of refill options and even fewer unused materials in the packaging cycle. It also reduces overall the eco-footprint as a material.” The package used by the Hand Wash Therapy collection is a custom, 12-oz brushed aluminum bottle from a proprietary supplier. The bottle uses the aluminum as the backdrop against which is printed its branding, color-coded copy that differentiates each of the three scents, and a stamp-like icon reading, “Sustainable Eco Bottle.” The bottle is printed in five-color offset with a 100% biodegradable, non-toxic, food-grade ink; a proprietary coating is added to protect the graphics. The bottle’s dispensing pump uses a collar made from the company’s signature faux bamboo material. As with much of Raw Sugar Product’s other packaging, the bottle also provides copy on the company’s social give-back program of keeping the world a happier and healthier place. “Through the Raw Sugar initiative, we have donated millions of bars of soap and hand sanitizers—and counting,” shares Mullis. “We are dedicated to the belief that clean and healthy personal care products should be more accessible and affordable to all— it’s that simple.” The Hand Wash Therapy collection, in three aromatherapeutic scents, is available exclusively at Target stores nationwide, as well as online at Target.com. —Anne Marie Mohan

Organic Baby Products Brand Goes All-In for Aluminum Nature’s Baby Organics is another recent entry in the shift away from plastic, and toward aluminum, for packaging of personal care and bath products. The brand produces what it calls, “hypoallergenic, green, gluten-free and cruelty free,” shampoos, conditioners, soaps, lotions, and other similar products designed “to eliminate (or minimize) the use of harsh or suspect chemicals in your baby’s bath and skincare routines by formulating products with highest quality and effective natural and organic ingredients.” The company says it has taken its eco-friendly commitment one step further with the release of aluminum packaging options for seven of its best-selling products. “Nature’s Baby is committed to create formulas that are effective, eco-friendly, and safe for children and our environment and this commitment extends to our packaging. We’re happy to announce this switch to aluminum—a material we can feel good about putting on the shelf, in our customers’ homes, and into the recycling bin,” says Nicole Williams, Operations Manager, Nature’s Baby. Part of what attracted the brand to aluminum packaging is that the material is 100% recyclable for an infinite number of cycles and it’s typically made of 68% post-consumer recycled (PCR) materials. The high PCR content is important since it takes just 8% of the energy to produce recycled aluminum as it does to create new aluminum, leaving far less used waste in landfills. While pricier than plastic or glass, aluminum is also lightweight and shatterproof, a positive feature in bathroom settings where slippery soaps are involved.

Aluminum Can Shortage Provides Market Opportunity The aluminum can shortage brought on by supply chain issues and a change in buying patterns due to COVID-19 has affected product offerings and time-to-market, particularly in the beverage industry. Some large manufacturers have had to discontinue lesser-performing products to ensure the availability of packaging for top performers, while smaller companies have been hit hardest by the shortage. One craft brewer in Minnesota, Surly Brewing Co., has resorted to reusing discontinued cans by rewrapping and filling with product. According to “Quenching North America’s Thirst for Cans,” by Rabobank, demand will continue to grow, and there will continue to be a need for investment to increase supply. The report states that PET substitution had for many years caused a flat demand for cans. But demand had started to shift

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upward over the last two years, brought on by design innovations in the areas of closures, printing capabilities, and can sizes. Consumer preference for smaller portions, convenience, and sustainability were also increasing demand, as was an improvement in services such as mobile canning and smaller offtake in volume that attracted smaller players such as craft brewers. In 2019, shipments of beverage cans increased by 3%, rising to about 100 billion cans per year. COVID-19 tipped demand into overdrive with consumer stockpiling and stay-at-home orders that moved social drinking into the home, creating changes to formatting such as kegs to canned beer. The report states, “According to CMI (Can Manufacturers Institute), beverage can demand (volumes) grew an impressive 8.3% YOY in Q1 2020, which is a record growth rate, with non-alcoholic beverage cans leading

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The legacy bottle that preceded the pack design for this cross-section of products was a PET container with a pressure-sensitive label. “PET is one of the best-recycled types of plastic, but it is only recycled at 29% [2018],” Williams says. “Most recycling facilities do not make enough money in recycling plastic, whereas, aluminum is 100% recyclable and provides a much higher value to recycling facilities ($1210 per ton for aluminum versus $237 per ton for plastic). Aluminum weighs more than plastic, but just slightly as it is one of the lightest metals available. Also, plastic recycling cycles are limited but aluminum can be recycled over and over again with virtually no loss. Bottom line, 100% recyclability and greater incentives for recycling aluminum makes it an ideal sustainable container.” No automation needed to be replaced with the switch from PET to aluminum, which was good news for Nature’s Baby. The existing filling line is capable of handling the new aluminum bottles with limited adjustments. Also, the company’s existing pump closures were exactly the same size and work fine for the threaded aluminum, so there were no manufacturing issues. The closures are a hybrid of PET and aluminum, and require a bit of consumer education to ensure proper recycling. “On our website and on Amazon, we encourage customers to remove the pump prior to discarding of the bottles,” Williams says. “On the label, due to real estate [space] constraints, we just ask customers to reuse the bottle or to discard it in the proper recycling bin.”

over alcoholic beverage cans (+9.3% and 6.7%, respectively).” Ball Corporation, Crown Holdings, and Ardagh Group all reported strong demand and sold-out supply in 2020 for Q1 and Q2. Ball said that it expects annual growth of 4% to 6% over the next five to seven years, and Crown expects shipments of beverage cans in North America to increase by 10% during 2020. Ardagh reports a 20% increase in specialty cans in the region. While previous flat market conditions caused the closure of 15 North American plants between 2015 and 2019, there is now new investment activity—particularly for beverage cans—with many plants expanding production lines and four new plants that are expected to be operational by 2021. These new plants will add approximately 8.3 billion units of beverage can capacity, with CBS News reporting in February that there will be 12

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The company sources the aluminum bottles from unnamed vendors in the U.S. and China. “I believe that most aluminum bottles in the market are originally from China as the U.S. aluminum manufacturers are mostly making beer and soda cans and not shampoo and lotion bottles,” Williams says. This indicates that unlike the AB-InBevs and Miller-Coors of the world, the ongoing aluminum shortage isn’t affecting Nature’s Baby like it might more volume-oriented, commoditized aluminum can users. Currently, the brand is using flexographically printed pressure-sensitive labels. But as the new line takes off, Williams intends to switch to silk-screening the labels for a higher-end feel. Nature’s Baby been working with the company Action Packaging and Design for over 10 years to produce its labels. “This is a permanent switch from plastic to aluminum,” Williams says. “That includes our shampoos, conditioners, and lotion. Due to pricing issues, we cannot replace our 16-ounce plastics with aluminum. It just costs a lot and will price the product out of the [consumer] comfort zone as compared with similar items in the market. “For now, we have just replaced everything in eight-ounce sizes, even though the price of the aluminum bottles are four times the cost of plastic. We absorbed that cost in our margins,” she concludes. “However, we are currently looking into wheat straw plastic bottles to replace our 16-ounce plastic containers in the future. Wheat straw plastic uses 50% less plastic than other plastic containers. The problem we are facing is that the other 50% of wheat straw container is made with polyethylene, which we don’t like.” Nature’s Baby has made the switch to aluminum packaging for three of its most popular shampoos, three conditioners, and one baby lotion. This range includes the 8-oz versions of their Vanilla Tangerine, Coconut Pineapple, and Lavender Chamomile Shampoo & Body Wash ($11.95) and Conditioner & Detangler ($12.95), as well as the 8-oz Face & Body Moisturizer ($12.95). —Matt Reynolds

billion total units available in 2021. A new entrant to the North American market is Canpack Group. A Poland-based company with 33 plants across Europe, North Africa, Middle East, Asia, and Latin America, Canpack is building a plant with a 1-billion can capacity (with room to expand to 3 billion cans) in Olyphant, Pa., which is expected to be operational in 2021. Canpack’s entry, while sizeable, is not expected to saturate the market. The report suggests that “it would be wise to critically monitor demand developments in the coming 12 to 18 months before making further sizeable investment decisions,” but also says that under the most optimistic demand scenario, there may be room for the equivalent of up to 25 additional “Canpack-size” plants in the market. —Kim Overstreet

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Spicing up Sauce Packaging When demand outstrips food packaging capacity, new equipment is the best solution. But when product viscosities vary and flavors are superb, not just any machinery will do. WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

Filling accuracy

Handling varied viscosities

By Pat Reynolds, VP Editor Emeritus in product quality, sourcing equipment capable of achieving production consistency at high throughput would be no easy task. Eventually, the search led Yellowbird Foods’ COO Kevin Uplinger to equipment made by Shemesh Automation. The independent consulting firm Cougar Packaging played a key role in equipment selection. “I’ve worked with them for a number of years now, and they were the ones who got me going over to Israel and seeing some of the equipment made there,” says Uplinger. “In the case of Shemesh, the quality is impressive, and the cost makes them an even more attractive option.” With more than 30 years’ experience delivering high-end turnkey packaging lines to manufacturers all over the world, Shemesh was able to deliver a sauce filling, capping, and labelling solution that offered Yellowbird Foods an enhanced throughput of up to 100 containers/ This double-station capper is specifically designed to provide accurate, leak-free capping. min while also ensuring the highest standards in product consistency, hygiene, and efficiency. Yellowbird Foods has experienced rapid growth since it debuted at a The line includes Shemesh’s flagship equipment: STRATUM II and local farmers’ market in 2013. Its rise to the top came as management THORO II. The STRATUM II is an advanced in-line automatic filling sysbuilt a reputation for quality, from their meticulous production methtem featuring servo-driven pistons and servo-driven diving nozzles that, ods to every flavorful ounce of the final product. coupled with special software features, allows a synchronized filling The Austin, Tex.-based sauce maker’s products are famous because profile that reduces foaming and splashing in filling a variety of product they’re packed with fresh fruits and vegetables to create sauces that are viscosities. And the THORO II, a robust servo-driven double-station capsmoother but also more viscous than standard sauces. The firm also per, is specifically designed to provide accurate, leak-free capping. The prides itself on consistency of flavor, meaning every PET bottle of sauce two machines were just what Yellowbird management was looking for. packs a punch with signature bold and spicy flavours. All of which has The capacity and speed of each unit makes it possible to handle made Yellowbird Foods a top 10 sauce supplier on Amazon as well as a each product variety with minimal downtime between runs. By obviatseller through more conventional retail channels. ing the need for multiple production lines, Yellowbird Foods was able The dramatic increase in demand for Yellowbird Foods’ product to avoid costly capital outlays. In addition, the equipment has a modest recently necessitated an upgrade from the semi-automatic dual-head footprint and minimizes utility consumption. filler that the firm had in place. But with such meticulous standards

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one integrated module could easily divert, transfer and sort multiple package types?

The liquid filling system capably handles a wide range of product viscosities.

Three bottle sizes Yellowbird Foods fills 2-, 8-, and 16-oz PET Boston Rounds on the new line. As new equipment was explored, says Uplinger, throughput was a key priority. “I needed at least 60 bottles per minute, and Shemesh definitely delivered,” says Uplinger. “We’re running our smallest size at 100, our medium at 80, and our largest at 60.” Bottles are manually removed from corrugated shippers and placed on an infeed table leading to the filler. The STRATUM in-line filler has six nozzles, though Uplinger says it can easily be upgraded to 10. When asked if he considered a rotary, as opposed to in-line, filling system, he answers in the affirmative. But the nature of the product made in-line a better option. “I know rotary fillers tend to be faster, but a lot of them are gravity-fed,” he says. “Our product can’t be gravity-fed, it’s got to be a heavy piston-fill because of the viscosity.” As for filling accuracy, Shemesh pegs it at plus or minus 0.25% liquid volume. A short distance down from the filler sits the double-station intermittent-motion capper. As bottles exit the filler, a swing gate moves back and forth to divert bottles into two lanes. Each lane leads directly into a large star wheel that captures bottles two at a time and brings them beneath a chute filled with “witch-hat “style dispensing caps that are injection-molded of polypropylene. Each time the star wheel advances, two caps get seated on two bottles and the two bottles ahead of them have their caps torqued down. In one final station, two analog sensors measure the height of each cap. If anything is outside of a predetermined spec, that bottle is rejected.

Watch a video of the capper in action at pwgo.to/6065.

Divert and transfer module Very small packs? Polybags? Not a problem for ModSort® divert and transfer conveyor modules! The ModSort module can do left and right sorting on the ﬂy for a wide range of package types and sizes. It is safe, quiet, versatile and cost effective. To learn more and schedule a meeting with one of our experts, visit: ModSort.com Creating a better tomorrow™... Regal, Creating a better tomorrow, ModSort and System Plast are trademarks of Regal Beloit Corporation or one of its afﬁliated companies. ©2019, 2021 Regal Beloit Corporation, All Rights Reserved. MCAD19047E • Form# 10307E

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One other feature of the capper that Uplinger notes is that the caps are sorted and oriented on a disc sorter designed especially for this particular witch-hat cap. “With a vibrating sorter, which is more commonly seen in our industry, you barely hit them and they’re out of whack,” says Uplinger. “Then it could take you days to get them back into the right vibration.” An ink-jet coder from Domino puts lot and date code information

on the shoulder of each bottle. Then comes an induction sealing system from Enercon. At this point bottles are ready for a wraparound, pressure-sensitive, paper-plus-matte finish label that is applied by a Shemesh LWA Series Labeler. Shemesh has for some time used labelling heads made by Herma, and as of this year it has been integrating the new H-500 model. “It’s the most advanced servo-driven label applicator out there,” says Bob Green, Sales Director North America at Shemesh Automation.

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Case packing currently is done manually, and the cases are taped closed. But Uplinger says that endof-line automation is now being looked at, especially since the cost of end-of-line robotics is coming down the way it has been. “A robotic case packer I specified for a previous manufacturer back in 2013 was like $2.1 million,” he notes. “Today you can get something comparable for $60,000.”

An important decision According to Uplinger, “Our significant growth in recent years made it essential for us to increase our production capabilities in order to address the demand for our sauces. Selecting the manufacturer for such a line is one of the most important decisions you can make. Of course, enhanced production capacity is important, but even more so is the integrity of our product. Ensuring that our selected manufacturer understood the importance of maintaining the quality of our sauces throughout the packaging process was absolutely paramount. “The experience Shemesh has demonstrated during their 30 years of serving premium food brands played a big role in our decision to work with them on the project. I’m delighted to say that we made the right choice, as Shemesh has delivered on all fronts. From the efficiency of the process to the quality of the final 4 Barten Lane, Woburn, MA 01801 T 781 933 3570 | F 781 932 9428 sales@vacuumbarrier.com

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on quality. I believe these shared experiences and values, together with our depth of experience in providing such high-quality machinery to some of the world’s biggest names, has helped to make this partnership the success it has been. I’m incredibly proud to see the impact Shemesh machines are already having at Yellowbird Foods—helping them to meet the demand for their amazing product while also reducing waste, utility consumption, and changeover time within an ergonomic production center footprint.”

This machine applies a wraparound, pressure-sensitive, paperplus-matte finish label. Inset right shows the impressive range of flavors offered. product, we couldn’t be happier. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Shemesh to any other manufacturer who wants to increase their production capacity without compromising on product quality.” Shemesh’s Green says Yellowbird Foods and Shemesh have a number of things in common, “from experiencing rapid growth in a relatively short space of time to our mutual determination to never compromise

As for the rapid growth of Yellowbird Foods that Green mentions, Uplinger puts it all in perspective. “Four years ago we were making product in 40-gallon kettles. Now we run 750-gallon kettles all day long.” PW

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By Dr. R. Andrew Hurley, PhD, Contributing Editor

Old-School Prototyping Speeds Modern Workflow I’ve been teaching package design at Clemson University since 2007. Over the years, I’ve noticed a change in how students mentally approach the prototyping phase of the design process. When I started my academic career, students were quick to grab paper, film, or board, pull out their rulers, then measure, cut, and prepare physical prototypes on the manual cutting and creasing tables. Through this process, students “worked” the substrate and were able to craft highly functional and custom structural designs without the need for software. The pain in this process, back then, was converting that physical design into a digital design. Today, 14 years later, the pain has shifted. All students are introduced to the Adobe Creative Suite in their first year; in fact, most general education courses involve projects that develop graphic design skills. Nearly all packaging students are competent in 2D and 3D design by the time they arrive in my classroom. All have learned to quickly generate parametric standards with a few clicks. But when it comes to a custom structure, a lot of students struggle during the conceptual phases of the design process. Designing, for many, begins and ends on a screen; the default is no longer to work the substrate. I’ve noticed, as well, that designing on a screen can limit creativity. You can fold a sheet of paper in an instant, but redesigning and rendering a simple fold in software requires many more clicks. The screen encourages the development of inserts and dunnage that look great, but if crafted crudely by hand, would quickly show the designer how impractical that solution would be. That kind of interaction between substrate and product is an experience I have yet to see emulated well on a screen. So, with changing times, I’ve had to redefine and reintroduce the “old-fashioned” ways and have developed a process that enables students to reap the benefits of both digital and physical worlds through a five-step process. 1. Inspiration, market research, and brainstorming: While this article is not about conducting market research or generating 100 ideas, those are a big part of my class. Understanding the competitive landscape and inspiring package designs is essential to aligning work to a vision. Without an understanding of the current state, students struggle to justify their visions for the future state. 2. Sketching: Not everyone is competent in sketching out 3D designs. I’ve watched students overinvest in perfecting dimension in their sketches. I suggest thinking about panels. Sketch out rectangles that represent the panels of your package and stack them up. All you need is paper and pencil and a few ideas. I encourage students to go back to their market research and ensure that all required visual elements have a home on the initial sketches. Colored pencils go a long way as well, and make it a little more fun.

3. Hack prototypes: During this stage, you use the most basic of tools and supplies—a flat substrate (paper, film or sheets, or cardstock), scissors, and tape (lots of tape)—to create 3D rudimentary prototypes of the sketches created in the previous step. You will literally hack the pieces together. This should be a “fail fast” process: Don’t cut a dieline, instead cut all the individual pieces that make up the dieline. Need a cube? Cut six pieces of paper and tape them together. Now is not the time to worry about straight lines, dielines, production costs, or anything like that. You are simply taking the best of your sketches and bringing them to life. Creating this hack prototype allows you the chance to begin to see what will work and what won’t and what might work better if only this tweak were made. You begin to see how your prototype takes up space in three dimensions, and you become familiar with it in a way you won’t ever be able to if you go straight to the computer. I encourage students to create at least three different hack prototypes; they need to have those prototypes with them to be most effective in the next step. 4. Digital prototype: With a hack prototype in hand, carefully cut it apart and lay it flat. You now have the template to translate the physical design into a digital one. At this point, it may be easier to generate a parametric standard and then modify it—a relatively simple task once the layflat hack prototype is measured, because you’ve already done the majority of the hard work in constructing it. By pulling the visuals collected in the market research and sketching phases, you already have an idea of how they should be placed on each panel without having to play and adjust them to get them facing the right direction on the completed rendering. 5. Continuous sampled iterations: At this point, most packaging folks will send files to be UV printed and sampled on a digital cutting table. There’s nothing wrong with that, but you can also simply print the dieline to scale on multiple sheets of printer paper and trace it onto the chosen substrate. I’ve seen a few savvy packaging sales professionals simply scale the design down for their home printer, print on cardstock, cut it out with scissors (or ruler and craft knife, if you want more precise cuts and creases), and use small bits of tape to hold it together. Regardless, the point here is to fine-tune the design, ideally at proper scale and on substrate. I encourage students to hold off on UV printing until they’ve worked out the kinks through unprinted blanks sampled on the digital cutting table. Once students hand me their first beautifully crafted and printed project, I hold it in my hands, extend my arms straight out, and drop it on the ground. There is no computer program (yet) that simulates this real life situation and the learning that comes from it. Bottom line, the goal is to reintroduce the traditional idea and practice of “working the substrate” through a process that does not make students feel it is redundant with their digital design skills. PW

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Dr. R. Andrew Hurley is an Associate Professor at Clemson University. He can be reached at me@DrAndrewHurley.com.

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INDUSTRY WATCH

Companies Paxxus, Inc. was certified as a Women’s Business Enterprise by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC).

The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) and Eastman announced a global MOU that will enable ELC to reach its 2025 sustainable packaging goals.

Pacteon expanded its portfolio and packaging line integration capabilities with the acquisition of Phoenix Stretch Wrappers.

Elevate Packaging announced its PURE Labels MC White compostable pressure-sensitive adhesive labels are BPI certified.

Allied Electronics & Automation and Siemens partnered to offer SIRIUS modular solutions to help build industrial control cabinets.

Wellspring Capital Management, a New York-based private equity firm, acquired Rohrer Corp., a retailpackaging designer and manufacturer.

Scholle IPN completed the acquisition of Bossar. TricorBraun Flex, the flexible packaging division of TricorBraun, partnered with standardized recycling labeling system How2Recycle, enabling TricorBraun Flex to offer additional recyclable packaging options for customers.

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People Ray Bodamer was promoted to Vice President of Filling and Packaging Operations for Formulated Solutions. NCC Automated Systems named John French Director of Systems Engineering, and Tom Luft joined the company as Director of Sales and Applications Engineering. Samuel Frist joined Domino North America as Digital Printing Service Engineer. Spartech announced the following organizational changes to its McMinnville, Ore., location: Jeff Freeman was promoted to Plant Manager, Jason Bell was promoted to Quality Supervisor, Alberto Martinez was promoted to Shift Supervisor, and Mike Kirby announced his retirement after 42 years with the company. Stan Blakney was named President of Global Operations for Paper Converting Machine Co. (PCMC) — a division of Barry-Wehmiller. In addition to leading the company’s U.S. business, he now will assume leadership of operations in Italy and Serbia.

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Cama North America named Greg Kaye Aftermarket Manager, added Stuart Kenney to its sales force as Regional Sales Manager for the Southeast region, and hired Kim Magon-Haller as Business Development Manager. Steven Voorhees, former CEO of WestRock, received the Paperboard Packaging Council’s 2021 Robert T. Gair Lifetime Achievement Award. Carol Lowe, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of FLIR Systems Inc., joined the Board of Directors of Novolex.

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Richard Kelsey was named CFO of Constantia Flexibles.

LOOKING BACK. PRESSING FORWARD. ALWAYS INNOVATING.

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Visit the link below each item for more info.

TECHNOLOGY

Cannabis Jar Filling System Spee-Dee’s automated cannabis jar filling system can fill up to 40 jars/min. A dual tare-gross weighing system checks jar tare weight and gross weight.

Elevate Your Packaging Career Become a Certified Packaging Professional! “IoPP’s Certified Packaging Professional (CPP) program is the only designation you can obtain to indicate your commitment to the packaging industry. Once I earned my CPP, not only did I receive executive recognition at work, I also received a promotion shortly after. Becoming a Certified Packaging Professional gave me the professional advantage I was looking for.”

Spee-Dee pwgo.to/6044

Recyclable Pressure-Sensitive Tape Sealstrip introduces VerdeSeal recyclable p-s tape designed for use with its easy-open and resealable product lines.

Sealstrip pwgo.to/6072

Recyclable PE Produce Packaging Printpack launches the Preserve PE line of recyclable laminated PE film for fresh produce that is pre-qualified by the How2Recycle organization.

Printpack pwgo.to/6073

Checkweigher Hardy Process Solutions’ Hardy Caseweigher series comprises fully automated checkweigher scale systems designed to continuously weigh larger items while in-motion.

Charlotte Edwards, CPP; Senior Packaging Engineer, Just Born Quality Confections; IoPP Member since 2015

Hardy Process Solutions pwgo.to/6042

Get the recognition you deserve for your packaging expertise – become a CPP! Visit www.iopp.org/certification

Need help prepping for the CPP exam? Our Fundamentals of Packaging Technology course can help! Available in person (this fall!), online and in-house. Visit www.iopp.org/fundamentals to learn more.

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Secondary Packaging System for Bars PMI Kyoto Packaging System offers a high-speed end-of-line bar packaging system for cartoning and case packing flow-wrapped products such as candy, granola bars, frozen ice cream sandwiches, and more.

PMI Kyoto Packaging System pwgo.to/6070

4/20/21 10:23 AM

AD INDEX Search Packworld.com for additional information on any of the advertisers listed or visit their website directly ADVERTISER WEBSITE PAGE

ADVERTISER WEBSITE PAGE

AmbaFlex Inc. www.ambaflex.com

Material Transfer & Storage www.materialtransfer.com

Avery Dennison Corporation www.averydennison.com

Nercon www.nerconconveyors.com

Bartelt Packaging LLC. www.barteltpackaging.com

Norwix Inc www.norwix.com

25, IBC

Bell-Mark Sales Company www.bell-mark.com

P.E. North America www.penorthamerica.com

BestCode www.bestcode.co

Packaging World www.packworld.com

Boutwell Owens & Co., Inc. www.BoutwellOwens.com

PFlow Industries www.pflow.com

Buskro, Ltd. www.buskro.com

PMI KYOTO Packaging Systems www.pmikyoto.com

BW Integrated Systems www.bwintegratedsystems.com Targeted Cover CTM Labeling Systems, Inc. www.ctmlabelingsystems.com

EAM-Mosca www.eammosca.com

Econocorp Inc. www.econocorp.com

ELPLAST America Inc. www.elplastamerica.com

Eriez Magnetics www.eriez.com

Focke & Company www.focke.com

Heat and Control, Inc. www.heatandcontrol.com

High Tek USA hightekusa.com

ID Technology www.idtechnology.com

Institute of Packaging Professionals www.iopp.org

IPG (Intertape Polymer Group) www.itape.com

ITW Air Management www.paxtonproducts.com

Kaufman Engineered Systems Inc. www.kes-usa.com

KHS AG www.khs.com

Krones, Inc. USA www.krones.com/en/

Label-Aire, Inc. www.label-aire.com

PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies www.pmmi.org

Pneumatic Scale Angelus www.psangelus.com

Regal Beloit Corporation www.regalbeloit.com

Robatech USA ww.robatechusa.com

Sidel Inc. www.sidel.com

Siko www.siko-global.com

SKC Films, Inc. www.skcfilms.com

Sonoco Products Co. www.sonoco.com

The Box Maker, Inc. www.boxmaker.com

Uline www.uline.com

Universal Labeling Systems, Inc. www.universal1.com

Vacuum Barrier Corporation www.vacuumbarrier.com

Valco Melton www.valcomelton.com

Van der Graaf www.vandergraaf.com

12a

WestRock www.westrock.com Yamato Corporation www.yamatoamericas.com

IFC, OFC 8

40, OBC

Connect with a Leaders in Packaging supplier and support packaging education!

www.packworld.com/leaders

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PROFESSIONAL PERSPECTIVE

By Camille Chism, CCPL, Fellow

Five Ways to Drive Design and Meet Sustainability Goals Packaging is in the consumer spotlight, driving companies to rethink their strategies for sustainability. Significant emphasis has been put on sustainability due to the rise of single-use packs, e-commerce, and personal protection equipment due to COVID-19, so the push for sustainable packaging is strong. Stories about marine life choking on plastic packaging are popular in the news and cringeworthy to the packaging industry. Therefore, more time, thought, and talent need to go into developing sustainable packaging, based on consumer-driven wants and needs. Since it is important to rethink packaging, where can organizations begin this process? One of the first steps is to define the most important aspects of sustainability during the planning and design process. This is important because sustainable packaging can be complex and convoluted. What does sustainability mean to consumers vs. manufacturers of packaging? Are they the same? The focus on sustainable packaging is holistic and incorporated throughout the entire supply chain. No matter where your organization is on the sustainable packaging journey, here are five thoughts to help drive packaging designs that meet your organization’s sustainable goals: 1. Develop realistic and robust criteria. • What aspects of sustainability are most important to you? • Develop questions to ask your suppliers and end-users. • Continuously seek ways to make packaging more sustainable. 2. Create a strategy and set sustainability goals based on what is most important to you and your organization. Develop a mission statement, rank, set metrics, and track progress. It takes research to determine what is most important and attainable, but it is well worth the effort. Make sure you have a packaging subject matter expert to focus on sustainability involved in this process from start to finish and to include stakeholders across the supply chain. Some elements to consider as metrics are developed: • Carbon footprint—the simplest description comes from the dictionary. “The amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere as a result of the activities of a particular individual, organization or community.” Use a robust and standard calculation that incorporates carbon dioxide produced through the entire lifecycle for analysis of each package. The impact of fossil fuel usage will be captured here. However, there may specific elements you will track as metrics of your sustainability goals. • Energy use—Quantify energy requirements to manufacture the packaging and include raw materials. • Materials—Understand the difference between renewable vs.

non-renewable materials. Examples are sand, water, wood, air, and petroleum. • Circularity—What is most important to you? Can you successfully incorporate increased recycled content, ensure your packaging will be recycled in a well-defined manner, or use packaging that is recyclable? Will your organization be part of this process or will recycling be dependent solely on customer participation and availability of recycling facilities near the end user? • Composting—What elements remain once the packaging is composted? Do your target customers compost or have access to the space and materials to compost the materials? • Transportation—How much, what distance, and what types of transportation are required from cradle to grave? A heavier, voluminous pack will increase the carbon footprint. • 3Rs & 1U—Understand the differences between reduce, reuse, recycle, and upcycle. Prioritize these options based on set organizational goals. Understand what packaging is most commonly recycled and which packages are recyclable but difficult to collect, clean and process. • Waste—Understand waste and how much packaging will realistically end up in a landfill. This includes discarded waste, including recyclable or compostable packs that escape the intended stream and end up in a landfill. Most landfilled products will not break down, no matter what the material is. • Cost differential—Cost most likely will increase to implement the chosen packaging. Will the company, consumer, or a combination of both, be willing to absorb the cost? 3. Beware of using jargon and conflicting information as you make decisions and set sustainability goals. Greenwashing is the practice of touting cost savings or material choice as a sustainable initiative when it is basically a cost savings. This includes changes such as coatings, laminates, inks, minimized use, and recyclable material without a mature recycling plan. 4. Most importantly, determine where your company stands on the sustainability spectrum and where you want to be in the long run. Develop a Lifecycle Assessment to capture valuable information as the packaging is reviewed. 5. Implement your packaging. Find the best partners to design, test, and deploy your packaging so you can clearly declare how and why it meets your sustainability mission. These suggestions should help companies that are constantly saying their packaging is sustainable to further define what sustainability really means to them. PW

Camille Chism is Principal at Indigo Packaging & Consulting and an IoPP Certified Packaging Professional Lifetime and Fellow. For more information on IoPP, please visit www.iopp.org.

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Flexible Coding Solutions for Form Fill Sealers eale Lowest cost solution available No traversing or ribbons to deal with Millions of prints before cartridge change Expandable design – 1 to 20 lanes Fits new and retrofit FFS machinery

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sales@norwix.com www.norwix.com/isp1 860-823-3090

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