Packaging World November 2022

Packaging World designers and editors had fun mapping out Minnesota to illustrates the new MBOLD coalition, which is taking square aim at a truly circular recycling system for lms, both consumer and agricultural. The project is still in its infancy, but it is getting all the correct stakeholders involved— CPGs, retailers, MRFs, converters, and agricultural entities—to increase the amount of PCR lm for use both in back-of-house operations, to primary packaging, and eventually, in foodcontact applications.

30 COVER STORY

Circular Economy for Flexible Films Aspires to Food-Grade Film-to-Film ‘Holy Grail’

The MBOLD coalition catalyzes a new ecosystem of stakeholders to support a circular economy for exible packaging and lms in the Upper Midwest.

38

Starbucks Elevates Coffee Art with New Bag Graphics

In the rst new packaging design for its core whole-bean coffee roasts in a decade, Starbucks takes its storytelling strategy to new heights, with evocative artwork that richly conveys each variety’s heritage, distinctive avor, and quality.

42 AUTOMATION Long-Charge AMRs Safely Plug Labor Drain

Mauser Packaging improved operator safety conditions and automated out hard-to- nd labor, all the while improving throughput to the tune of 600% in one location, thanks to the new AMRs’ fast and long-lasting charge.

44 EMERGING BRANDS

New Nozzle Technology Creates a ‘Whipnotic’ Experience

Whipped cream topping gets ipped on its can with new Whipnotic dairy topping that features a patented aerosol can nozzle that swirls fresh fruit juices and avor essences into the product during dispensing.

48

App Keeps Athletes Hydrated via Wearable Sensor, Smart Bottle, & Re ll Pod System

PepsiCo’s Gatorade Brand unveiled a new smart hydration system for health and tness consumers that features a durable bottle, a recyclable re ll pod, a wearable patch, an LED closure, and a smartphone app to interact with the athlete.

Illustration by E.J. Luden

EDITORIAL

Matt Reynolds Chief Editor

Iris Zavala Managing Editor

Anne Marie Mohan Senior Editor

Sean Riley Senior News Director

Mike Prokopeak Senior Director, Content & Brand Growth Pat Reynolds, Sterling Anthony, Eric F. Greenberg, Ben Miyares Contributing Editors

ART

David Bacho Creative Director

AUDIENCE & DIGITAL

Elizabeth Kachoris Senior Director,

ADVERTISING

Wendy Sawtell Vice President, Sales

Lara Krieger Production Manager

and

wsawtell@pmmimediagroup.com

lkrieger@pmmimediagroup.com

Kelly Greeby Senior Director, Client Success & Media Operations

Krepelka Director, Digital

PMMI MEDIA GROUP

David Newcorn President, PMMI Media Group

Sharon Taylor Director, Marketing Amber Miller Senior Marketing Manager Janet Fabiano Financial Services Manager

Joseph Angel Founding Partner and Executive Vice President, Industry Outreach, PMMI Lloyd Ferguson Founding Partner

Packaging World • PMMI Media Group 401 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1700, Chicago, IL 60611 Phone: 312/222-1010

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Parallel Trends Overlap, Intertwine at PACK EXPO

After a four-year, pandemic-induced hiatus, PACK EXPO International was back in Chicago in late October, 2022, and the top trends weren’t hard to spot. Sustainability, e-commerce, and robotics/automation as a means to stand-in for hard-to-find labor, could be found everywhere on the show floor.

But these trends are increasingly overlapping. I can’t so easily distinguish a sustainability-minded product launch from an e-commerce or fulfillment center-aimed piece of tech. They’re often one in the same these days, pulling double duty, or at least display attributes of both. Case in point: curbside recyclable padded paper mailers as part of on-demand semi-automatic bagger solutions serve two masters in sustainability and e-comm. Entries from PAC Machinery via its Fiber Flex preopened mailer and Rollerbag R-3200 automatic bagger, Pregis and its Sharp Max-Pro 18 bagger with Evertec padded paper mailers, and Sealed Air Autobag machines with paper mailers made from post-consumer fiber, are three examples I saw.

Speaking of paper, I’ve found myself spilling quite a bit of ink in recent months on a transition from plastic to paper(board) packaging wherever the application—and price point—would allow it. But flexible film materials suppliers and converters are among those exhibitors that have made the greatest strides since we saw them last in Chicago. There are too many to name, but I saw advancements from the likes of ProAmpac, Amcor Flexibles, Berry Global, Clysar, Pregis, and others, all demonstrating new, more sustainable entries into the films and flexible packaging categories. With a few notable exceptions around compostability, bio-based plastics, and oceanbound plastics, the lion’s share of these advancements came within one (or both) of two categories. The transition from multilayer coextrusions or laminations to monomaterial structures was one key area of advance, with the goal of achieving recycle-ready status or even true recyclability through How2Recycle. The other was the usage of higher and higher PCR contents as more and more feed stock slowly but surely comes available.

Four years ago, advanced (then typically called chemical) recycling was a hopeful but distant silver bullet/magic wand technology. Yet evidence of its progress was more apparent than ever at PACK EXPO International. Once again blending the lines between different parallel trends, UBM Raflatac was demonstrating a nifty application that it says is “the world’s first certified label material to fight ocean-bound plastic pollution” (plastic materials certified to have been recovered and recycled from rivers or coasts prior to their transition to ocean microplastics). These materials tend to be highly degraded and difficult to recycle, at least by traditional mechanical methods. But advanced recycling from category specialist SABIC was used in this application, resulting in either 85% or 90% (depending on transparent vs. opaque) ISCC PLUS-certified chemically recycled material on mass balance approach. Another pet-food pouch collaboration between Printpack, ExxonMobile, and Pregis was made using advanced recycled materials, exemplifying continued progress in this category.

Switching from materials to automation, independent movers or pucks using linear-servos, usually on looping, track-style systems, could be found both in their supplier’s booths and on equipment in several OEM’s booths. One all-new entry in this category (not exactly in the continuous track system mold, but related) was Syntegon’s splashy new IDH (Independent Direct Handling) system. From an infeed, it gently collates and tray-packs variably placed products like biscuits or cookies, either on-edge in a slug or stacked in-line, via independent, parallel pickers with vacuum EoaTs. It’s more easily viewed in 10 seconds than described and contemplated in text, so check it out at pwgo.to/7751

And even more overlapping trends could be found at the intersection of e-commerce and workforce. Pick-and-place robots with vision systems capable of handling high-mix, variable product environments, previously the realm of human labor, were the name of the game here. Targeting e-commerce and fulfillment in pharma, electronics, and CPG markets, among others, one example from ABB and Banner, and Osaro, Cognex, and Fanuc were decidedly on-trend(s). PW

mreynolds@pmmimediagroup.com

BUILT TO PERFORM

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Newman’s Own Personalizes Pizza Boxes

Newman’s Own food company, founded by beloved actor and racecar driver Paul Newman, is renowned for its philanthropy; 100% of its after-tax pro ts are donated to the Newman’s Own Foundation, a private non-pro t created to nourish and transform the lives of children facing adversity. Since 1982, when the company was launched, more than $570 million has been donated to children’s causes.

With its new packaging design, the rst examples of which debuted in September, Newman’s Own is bringing the impact of the brand to life by featuring pro les of some of the children who have bene tted from the company’s mission. Now included on the back of the packaging for four of its Thin & Crispy pizza varieties are photos and stories of six of the children who have attended Paul Newman’s SeriousFun Children’s Network (SeriousFun) camps, a community of adaptive summer camps for kids with serious illnesses.

“Newman’s Own does radically good work in its commitment to give away 100% of pro ts to help children who face adversity,” shares Nicole Malcolm-Manyara, chief marketing of cer of Newman’s Own. “The purpose of the new packaging, notably featuring the stories of kids it supports through its grantee partners, is to communicate the brand’s focus on helping kids and to help consumers better connect with the radically good impact they have when they purchase Newman’s Own products.”

The children highlighted include siblings Sarah and Akeem from New York, who appear on the box for Italian Sausage & Uncured Pepperoni Pizza; Clayton from North Carolina on the Uncured Pepperoni Pizza box; siblings Gabe and Angelica from Florida, on the Margherita Pizza box; and Sophie from Ohio on the packaging for Four Cheese Pizza. Accompanying each story is a QR code consumers can scan to access video interviews with the children featured on-pack. Through next summer, Newman’s Own will roll out the rest of its pizza packaging as well as packaging for other product categories, primarily lemonade, cookies, coffee, and dog treats, with more pro les, as space allows.

The personalized packaging is part of a larger initiative by Newman’s

Own that involved redesigning the packaging for its entire portfolio. According to Malcolm-Manyara, the company’s primary objective in changing the packaging was to modernize the brand and make it more relevant to shoppers in today’s retail environment. Working with Newman’s Own on the project was creative consulting agency Turner Duckworth and illustrators Helen Green, who refreshed the image of Newman in the brand logo, and Fanny Gentile, responsible for the ingredient imagery and backof-pack illustrations.

The new design has been updated with a primary color palette that is said by Malcolm-Manyara to be a bright, optimistic take on the original brand colors. “The teal on-pack is distinctive, unexpected, and fresh, complemented by a sunshine yellow to bring contrasting color into the primary palette,” she explains. “The secondary palette is fresh, vibrant, and expressive. It is inspired by natural ingredients and food to celebrate Newman’s Own delicious products. Its feel-good illustrations, inspired by ingredients in its food products and the passions of kids featured on the back of pack, provide additional interest, playfulness, and connection to both Newman’s Own delicious food and the children featured on pack.”

The typography has also been refreshed, with modern fonts that were selected to better resonate with younger consumers and stand out on shelves. “The two main fonts on packaging are Reckless and Fellix,” Malcolm-Manyara explains. “Reckless is a gregarious serif that brings friendliness and human-like warmth to type, while Fellix is a geometric sans font that complements Reckless and allows for harmony in applications.”

Since the pizza boxes were unveiled in September, Malcolm-Manyara says that consumer feedback to the new design has been very positive. “As a few examples, one consumer said ‘Your new branding is so fun! We (hear emoji) all your products!’ One even quipped, ‘Did Mr. Newman recently get super-hot, or do I need to get out more beyond the grocery store?,’” she shares. “Of course, we think everyone would agree Paul Newman was always very good looking, but we appreciate the sentiment in regards to the new logo.” —Anne Marie Mohan

More PCR, Less Weight in Pantry-Sized Mars Candy Jars

Snack and treats leader Mars, Incorporated tapped Berry Global Group, Inc. to launch its popular pantry-sized treats in injection-stretch-blow-molded PET jars that have been optimized to be lighter weight and include 15% post-consumer resin (PCR). With the shared mission of creating more sustainable packaging solutions, Berry and Mars will launch the new jars for the M&M’s, Skittles, and Starburst brands later this month.

As part of Mars’ ongoing commitment to sustainability, the company is investing hundreds of millions of dollars to reimagine and redesign its packaging. “At Mars, we want to contribute to a circular economy where packaging material never becomes waste, but is recycled, reused or composted,” says Justin Comes, VP of R&D, Mars Wrigley North America. “We have set an aggressive, science-based strategy to innovate our packaging and this change to 15% PCR for these large-format jars is a signi cant step towards a more sustainable future.”

The easy-grip square jars are produced at Berry’s manufacturing facility using a single-pellet, food-grade resin to assure a clean, consistent substrate sourced from mechanical recycling. With a history of results in light-weighting, Berry approached Mars with the new concept including PCR. Berry brought its problem-solving and technical expertise to the table to help Mars make progress toward their sustainability goals. In addition to the inclusion of PCR, the jar is also widely recyclable.

“By leveraging our material science expertise and technical resources, we proactively created a solution for Mars without disruption to product performance. Through partnerships and creative thinking such as this, customers look to Berry for unique solutions to their sustainability challenges,” says Brian Hunt, an EVP and general manager for Berry Global’s Consumer Packaging North America Division.

The jars, which come in 60-, 81-, and 87-oz sizes, offer the same look and feel of their predecessors and will eliminate approximately 300 tons of virgin plastic per year, according to the company.

For the 81- and 87-oz jars, Berry reduced the weight by 10 g per jar, saving 374 metric tons of CO2 per the Association of Plastics Recyclers. According to the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Equivalency Calculator, that’s equivalent to 42,084 gallons of gasoline consumed, 45,494,350 total smartphones charged, or 72.8 homes’ electricity use for one year.

Berry notes that the jar runs seamlessly through Mars’ existing production and distribution systems. —Matt Reynolds

www.nerconconveyors.com 844-293-2814

Anna is the proud owner of a thriving plant-based food company. To meet retailer demands, she needed traceability codes on flexible packaging but was unsure where to start. As demand for her product grew, Anna knew she needed the expertise to hit the ground running.

Anna discovered Domino’s effective lasers for flexible packaging, and now she relies on our understanding and experience. She also values working with a partner who understands how to support her sustainability goals. Anna came for the lasers to reduce the risk of coding errors while driving sustainability and left with peace of mind.

Redesign Differentiates Nestlé Drumsticks from Imitators

The Nestlé Drumstick brand of ice cream sundaes has been a household name for nearly 100 years, since 1928. But more recently, competitors—including many private labels— have been encroaching on the iconic brand’s turf, imitating the lineup and visual brand cues, and creating a homogenous sea of blue on the shelf, according to the company.

That’s why the brand team at Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nestlé, determined that it needed to redesign the entire portfolio. Its goals were to refresh the brand, bring its values and personality to life, drive differentiation, and tap into the strong emotional connection consumers have with the brand. They called on creative agency Chase Design Group to work with them on this icon in the ice cream category and leader in the $3.6 billion all-family snack category.

“Thanks to the redesign, our packaging now re ects a bolder personality that differentiates us from competitors and will be carried through on future innovations,” says Elmer Gonzalez, brand manager, Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream.

Melinda Turner, senior account director at the Chase Design Group, says she looked for ways to break through the sea of blue by strengthening the assets the brand could own and focusing on its values: adventurous, original, and energetic. Unique pattern illustrations, customized for each avor/texture/coating, help highlight the adventurous eating experience.

“The iconic logo was maintained but positioned in an upward angle on the package to bring more energy to the brand,” Turner says. “Vibrant product photography, more authentic to the product experience and secondary typography were designed to reinforce the bolder appearance and enhance appetite appeal.”

Adds Jon Arriaza, senior design director, Chase Design Group, “While the blue background color was a critical part of the Drumstick brand and category cue, we moved beyond to differentiate it with photography, texture, patterns, and clever copywriting that de nes the unique aspects of the eating experience. To further distinguish the various avors, colorful, bold, simple repeat patterns that highlight the new cone illustrations were developed for the inner wraps. The new brand design system was then applied across the spectrum including merchandising and digital assets resulting in a fun, playful experience from shelf to consumption.”

All 23 SKUs are rolling out to major supermarkets and groceries nationally. —Matt Reynolds

Loop Comes to Walmart InHome

Walmart Inc., and Loop, the circular reuse plat form developed by TerraCycle, announced that Loop has joined Walmart’s InHome gro cery delivery service in select cities. Customers in the metro areas of Bentonville and Rogers in Arkansas can purchase a limited assortment of products in re llable, reusable containers and have them delivered to their home through Walmart+ InHome.

“Identifying models that can make shop ping easy, convenient, affordable, and sus tainable is a core part of how we pursue our commitment to becoming a regenerative busi ness at Walmart. By leaning into reuse with Loop and so many of our brand partners, we see a unique opportunity to help our custom ers eliminate packaging and single use plastic from many of their regular purchases,” says Corey Bender, VP, merchandising for House hold Essentials, Walmart U.S.

The new Loop assortment includes a com bination of well-known food and household products from a range of brands, including Gillette, Clorox, Cascade, Kraft Heinz, Seventh

Generation, and Love Beauty and Planet, with more brands being added to the Loop product portfolio in the coming months.

Walmart+ InHome allows customers to have fresh groceries, everyday essentials, and more delivered to the location of their choice: from dropped off at their doorstop, to un packed directly into their kitchen or garage re frigerators, all done by highly trained Walmart associates. For customers looking to try out this ultra-convenient and highly personalized service—all while enjoying the added bene t of Loop—they can visit www.inhome.walmart. com to sign up for a 30-day free trial today.

Loop is one of the rst platforms to partner with brands and retailers to offer consumers a way to go from single-use packaging to one that is reusable. After consumers use the products, they place the empty containers in a designated spot inside or outside their home for a Walmart associate to retrieve them. From there, the con tainers are sent to Loop to be sanitized, then returned to participating brands to be re lled and returned to the store for future purchase.

“Loop was designed from the ground-up to reinvent the way we consume by learning from historic circular and sustainable models, while honoring the convenience afforded by our single-use consumption of today,” says Tom Szaky, founder and CEO of Loop and TerraCy cle. “Walmart and Loop have come together to create a simple and convenient way to enjoy a wide range of products, customized in brandspeci c reusable packaging, with the conve nience of in-home delivery.” —Matt Reynolds

Where formulations take ight.

45 years of expertise in contract lling sensitive formulations into unique, single-dose ampoule packaging.

Monomaterial VSP

Retains Rustic Appeal, Helps Save Bacon

Austrian bacon producer Handl Tyrol switched to a new monomaterial polypropylene (PP) high-barrier packaging solution for bacon that retains the brand’s characteristic rustic wood appearance. The lm ensures safe vacuum packaging and offers excellent protection to extend shelf life and prevent food waste, the company says.

“This packaging is certainly eyecatching, while providing excellent product protection. It works with in existing recycling guidelines for retailers across Europe and is a great example of more sustainable packaging with no compromises: it still provides the highest level of food protection which of course is always our priority,” says Daniel Maier, head of pro curement, Handl Tyrol.

The new material for vacuum skin packing (VSP) replaces a multilayer lm based on PA,

and PE without barrier. This new monomaterial pack looks exactly the same as the incumbent. In fact, one of the main requirements of the project was that neither the look nor feel be sacri ced by switching to the new PP lm. Supplier Mondi was up to the task.

So why the change to a new material? “First and foremost is the qual ity of our product,” a Handl Tyrol spokesperson told Packaging World “Packaging is an important part of this. We always strive to make our packaging as environmentally friendly as possible and have found the combination that unites these goals in the provided PP lm.”

The product is vacuum-packed on an existing thermoformer, so no new equipment was re quired for the material change. The vacuum pack is labelled automatically with a thick, exible PP laminate. The backing, a roto gravure-printed rollstock that is also PP, is printed on both sides in sandwich. On the outside, a special lacquer is applied to create a haptic effect.

The new lm is recyclable in existing recycling streams in Europe for mixed polyole ns and keeps the bacon fresh, the company says, providing a “second skin” that seals securely with both a high-barrier top and bottom lm. The packaging has been de signed to look like a wooden chopping board, providing instant onshelf appeal and brand recognition.

Interactive Can for RTC Cocktail Encourages Social Connections

California-based designer and entrepreneur Holly Riddel is on a mission to inspire people to look at one another with kindness, curiosity, and an open mind and heart. Integrating her passion for bringing people together with products designed to facilitate that connection, Riddel recently launched the 0.2 Meet Your Destiny brand, which includes a unisex fragrance that “evokes the emotional high of love and connection” and her most recent introduction, a ready-todrink cocktail with an interactive can that creates opportunities to connect.

According to Riddel, the 0.2 brand name, as well as the name of the company she founded to produce the products, 0.2 SIPS LLC, is re ective of her mission. “0.2 stands for the one- fth of a second that scientists say it takes to make an instant connection with another, to feel that rush of excitement, and to experience an instantaneous chemical reaction in the body and brain,” she explains. “Meet Your Destiny [canned cocktail] is meant to elicit that feeling, that sensory rush of pleasure, in a drink.”

Made with six-times-distilled vodka and allnatural ingredients, the RTD canned cocktail includes light notes of bergamot tea, mint, orange, fresh ginger, and a touch of pure honey. Differentiating Meet Your Destiny from other canned cocktails on the market, Riddel says, are its premium ingredients, no- zz drinking experience, and interactive packaging.

Meet Your Destiny comes in a 12-oz aluminum can from Ball; the generous, 12-oz serving size is meant for sharing. On the back of the can, copy reads, “A glance happens in 0.2 seconds and life can change. Make a friend or meet the love of your life—but don’t miss the moment.” Underneath that are two options, “Let’s be friends,” or “Maybe a date?” with checkboxes next to each. Beneath that, the can reads, “I’m @” along with an area to write-in contact information.

On the importance of personalized packaging to the Meet Your Destiny brand, Riddel says, “We are dedicated to bringing people together by inspiring interaction and excitement around the possibilities of connection. We are meant to be social. If

Working closely with Handl Tyrol, Mondi employed its collaborative EcoSolutions approach to ensure the pack format was optimized for the manufacturer, product, end user, and environment. The monomaterial PP packaging was also shortlisted for the Green Packaging Star Award 2022.

“33% of the world’s food is lost or wasted every year, and this ac counts for 7% of GHG emissions,” says Jan-Mark Wilke, Mondi’s business development manager, Fresh Food for Consumer Flexibles. “Sustainable packaging can play a vital role in minimizing food waste. It reduces the environmental impact of the food industry by preventing food from spoiling before it reaches the table. With our monomaterial PP packaging for Handl Tyrol, we have been able to deliver another fresh food packag ing solution that protects the product effectively and can be recycled into existing recycling streams for mixed polyole ns. On top of that, it has an impactful design that incorporates the packaging and re ects the consumer use.” —Matt Reynolds

Time to rethink end of line palletizing

Introducing the RI20 palletizer, combining productivity, flexibility, and simplicity.

1. The RI20 control system focuses on usability and intuitiveness. The operator is in full control of the palletizer – for straightforward, easy installation and configuration.

2. A non-bolted installation allows for mobility, meeting the growing demand for flexibility in production.

someone is shy, our can and cocktail can help.”

The front of the can is noteworthy as well, with its evocative, eye-catching design. Created by a team in Japan, the design comprises a white background against which is a dynamic circle of pink, orange, and red colors overprinted with the brand name in metallic gold. Explains Riddel, “The circle is inclusive, and inside of it are two images to portray two souls coming together. The colors represent lust and love and are meant to be very sexy.”

Meet Your Destiny was launched at the end of Q1-22 and is available in California at retailers that include Total Wine & More, at hotels and resorts, including Loews Santa Monica and Rowan Hotel Palm Springs, and on-premise at a number of popular night spots.

—Anne Marie Mohan

3. Thanks to an advanced safety system and two pallet positions, the operator can exchange a full pallet without stopping the palletizing process.

Setting the standard for end-of-line robotics. Email us at info.us@ȋexlink.com or visit us at ȋexlink.com to find out more about the RI20.

Certi ed Cruelty-Free Biolage Adopts 100% PCR Bottles

Biolage Professional, a salon haircare stalwart since 1990, announced that its signature bottles (excluding the cap) are now made from 100% PCR (post-consumer resin) HDPE plastic, replacing the virgin HDPE used in the legacy bottle. The company says its new PCR white signature bottles, which are extrusion blow molded by bottle supplier Alpha, will save over 30 tons of virgin plastic every year.

Labels are applied to the bottles during lling at Biolage’s Florence, Ky. plant. Resource Label Group Canada supplies Biolage with the exographically printed labels. The front labels use three colors plus a satin varnish, with a single color printed via silkscreen. The back labels are printed in two colors plus a satin varnish.

The PP caps are the same composition and structure as the brand’s previous, they just use different colors.

Packaging is often the center of the sustainability story, but brands often look through an even wider lens, often called an ESG (environmental, social, governance) approach. Packaging is included here, but so are externalities like human rights, child labor, and legislation. That’s why it’s also important to note that, alongside the move to PCR bottles, Biolage’s product formulas will also be certi ed as cruelty free and vegan (no animal-derived

ingredients). The formulas were vegan to begin with, so they remain unchanged, only now they are certi ed as such.

The brand has also been given the Leaping Bunny stamp of approval by Cruelty Free International, a leading organization working to end animal testing. Leaping Bunny requires brands to forensically investigate their entire supply chain, including all raw materials and individual ingredients, for any cases of animal testing. Approval must be given to the brand’s entire portfolio— individual products or items cannot be approved in isolation. This was a stringent process and consumers can buy all Biolage products with complete con dence knowing that they meet the Leaping Bunny’s strict criteria.

“We are so excited to nally announce this brand renovation,” says Aurelie Croze, assistant vice president of Biolage Professional. “We’ve been working tirelessly to revamp our brand’s look and feel and to meet consumers needs in wanting vegan, cruelty-free, and sustainable beauty products. Receiving a Leaping Bunny certi cation from Cruelty Free International, one of the premier organizations leading the charge against animal testing throughout the supply chain, is such a proud moment for the brand. We can’t wait for the new era of Biolage Professional.”

Altogether, these packaging and social commitments are

Design.

highlighted in the new sleeker look of the brand. The entire Biolage portfolio will also feature the Biolage AromaScience™ fragrance, made of a unique blend of fruits, owers, and spices that the brand is known for.

According to GlobalData, 35% of consumers actively look for cruelty-free claims on beauty products. Additionally, according

to the Global Cosmetic Industry and SurveyMonkey, 20% of consumers look for sustainable packaging, and more than one-third of consumers are willing to spend more for products that are better for the environment than cheaper, less eco-friendly options. Biolage Professional wanted to move in this direction with cruelty-free, vegan formulas and sustainable packaging because they know that more and more, consumers want to support a brand that commits to sustainability.

“I was so excited when the Biolage Professional team told me they were taking this huge leap,” says Biolage Professional Global Ambassador and Celebrity Stylist, Sunnie Brook. “I’ve been a fan of the brand’s unique portfolio for years, and I couldn’t be more excited for these iconic formulas to now of cially be certi ed vegan and cruelty-free and for the new sleek, professional-looking, and sustainable packaging. I know consumers and professionals alike are going to appreciate Biolage’s efforts to move the haircare industry toward a more responsible future.”

Biolage enacted its vegan, cruelty-free and 100% PCR claims as of August 1, 2022, and the updated packaging has begun to roll out across salons and retailers including ULTA Beauty, Amazon, JCPenney, Hair.com, with all new packaging being phased in by the end of 2022. —Matt Reynolds

INSPECTION SYSTEMS

The Raptor is a highly accurate, fully integrated checkweighing system, specifically designed for high care food production environments.

The Raptor is employed to verify the weight of each product and reject non-conforming packs. The system has been designed, engineered, and constructed to the highest care/food grade engineering standards. It is capable of processing packaged products up to 8 kg.

Checkweighing System

The number of jobs that will be lost when JBS shutters the corporate headquarters and manufacturing facility for its Planterra plant-based meat brand, effective Dec. 20

“The main purpose of our digital transformation is to help create superior solutions for daily problems of millions of consumers around the world, while generating growth and value for all stakeholders. We do that by leveraging data, AI, and automation with agility and scale across all dimensions of our business, accelerating innovation and increasing productivity in everything we do.”

–Vittorio Cretella, chief information of cer of Procter & Gamble, in an article from CIO, “P&G turns to AI to create digital manufacturing of the future”

“If this proposal moves forward, it will run directly counter to the administration’s environmental goals to reduce emissions. This proposal would not only cost taxpayers millions and millions of dollars, it would force the use of products and materials that will have a much larger environmental footprint than the plastic products the administration would be looking to phase out.”

The percentage of respondents to a study conducted by Blue Bite on consumer usage of QR codes and NFC tags who said they would be more likely to buy a product if they learned more by connecting with the packaging

–Matt Seaholm, president and chief executive of cer of the Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS), in a release from the association, “PLASTICS Files Comment with General Services Administration, Opposes Rulemaking Banning Federal Purchase of Single Use Plastics”

The metric tons of chemically recycled plastic that 13 major brands are calling for by 2030, in a letter of intent from the members of the Consumer Goods Forum’s Coalition of Action on Plastic Waste

“We found that, for young adult drinkers in Scotland, alcohol packaging can capture attention, create appeal, and help shape perceptions of the product, drinker, and drinking experience. Five main themes emerged from our data: the ubiquity of alcohol packaging; its appeal and ability to catch attention; its association with particular occasions and activities; its ability to inform perceptions; and its engagement of both visual and non-visual senses—taste, touch, sound, and smell.”

–Daniel Jones, of the Institute for Social Marketing and Health (ISMH) at the University of Stirling in Scotland, in an article from BeverageDaily.com, “Study assesses in uence of alcohol packaging on young people”

2The number of enzymes discovered by Spanish researchers in worm drool that can be used to break down polyethylene, with one hour’s exposure to the saliva degrading the material as much as years of weathering

“The economic and environmental bene ts that a modern, highperforming nationwide deposit return delivers are well-documented: 188 billion additional containers recycled each year; more than 150,000 additional direct and indirect jobs created; and a carbon impact equivalent of removing 2.4 million cars from the road annually. These are only possible with a 90 percent collection rate and adhering to clear guiding principles. We at Reloop are committed to supporting responsible, effective policy, and efforts such as this bring us all one step closer to that objective.”

–Elizabeth Balkan, director at Reloop North America, in an article from Recycling Today, “Survey shows bipartisan support for recycling refund programs”

It’s Your Label.

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How General Mills Manages its CM/CP Suppliers on Sustainability, ESG

By Matt Reynolds, Chief Editor

Like most large brand owners, General Mills has made a variety of sustainability-minded commitments that it has pledged to meet within a speci c timeframe. It has done so both because it’s the right thing to do ethically, and for more practical reasons. After all, ecologically friendly operations translate into a sustainable business model that will remain pro table long into the future.

Climate change in particular threatens the long-term ability for General Mills to do business. That’s why decarbonization is a pillar of the company’s sustainability commitments. It has a 30% absolute goal to reduce its emissions end-to-end, scopes one through three, by 2030 from its baseline. It then aims to be net-zero on emissions across all of its value chain by 2050.

“Since our products are rooted in the Earth, we have a unique bond with Nature. Threats to Nature are threats to our business, threats to our existence as a food company,” Mark McCullough, Global Impact—director, operations integration, General Mills, said in an October F4SS supply chain conference that Packaging World attended. “We are taking the outputs of farming communities across the Earth and transforming those into something that’s delicious and convenient for consumers, then we market it to them. If the front end of the business, the upstream, agricultural part of our sector breaks down and the natural resources that we depend upon decline, we know that our business can be challenged. This is why General Mills, and its peers, are focusing on this.”

There’s also plenty of external pressure from ESG (environmental, social, and governance) sources that are shaping brands’ attitudes toward sustainability. Regional governments are rolling out EPR (extended producer responsibility) laws that will shape brand behavior. On the heels of massive investors like Blackrock saying that sustainability is a major factor in selecting where it will place its bets, investors are increasingly asking for companies’ sustainability bona fides. And we can’t forget consumer behavior; among General Mills companies, products that are marketed as more sustainable are growing at a rate that’s seven times faster than standard products.

“And the last one is retailers, the customers of our business,” McCullough said at the event. “Our retail customers have set lots of goals and they expect the players up the value chain to help them meet those, whether that’s on carbon emissions, regenerative

agriculture, or other things. As one example, Walmart has a 15 billionacre regenerative agriculture goal and they’re looking to companies like ours to help them meet it.”

Clearly, it’s in General Mills’ interest to proceed down a sustainable path. But while the company’s brands are the outwardfacing products that consumers deem responsible for carbonheavy value chains, what can the company do to impact sustainability, particularly decarbonization? Where it sits on the value chain, operations within the four walls of the Minneapolis-based company and its many facilities aren’t responsible for much of the carbon footprint that the overall value chain leaves. By its calculus, the company only directly contributes about 8% of greenhouse gasses in its value chain. That leaves more than 90% of the value chain’s emissions that come from scope three, which means emissions that General Mills does not directly have control over.

Most the carbon footprint of the value chain—61% of it in fact— comes from the upstream agribusiness that grows the crops and raises the livestock. And 22% of GHG emissions occur downstream from General Mills plants and facilities, such as in distribution, warehousing, and retail.

Naturally, the company has started with its own 8%, and in parallel has rolled out programs aiming to limit the 61% of value chain emissions upstream in its agricultural sourcing. And the downstream carbon emissions are being addressed in concert with retailers.

Interestingly, that leaves a small but significant sliver, a 9% swath of carbon emissions, in a unique part of the value chain. That’s in contract manufacturing and packaging (CM/CP).

“We are very invested in helping our partners reach their climate goals as well, in order to see the full decrease in our emissions we need to see to achieve our goals,” added Jessica Jubara, senior climate manager, General Mills, at the F4SS conference.

Mark McCullough, Director, Global Impact - Operations Integration, spoke at the recent F4SS supply chain conference about comanufacture/co-packer management techniques related to his company’s stated sustainability and ESG goals.

Sustainability is an area of increasing importance and focus for General Mills. We are looking to our co-manufacturers to help us deliver our sustainability goals across our people and planet ambitions.

Packaging World caught up with McCullough after the event to see how his company strategically approaches sustainability and data reporting with its CM/CP suppliers.

Packaging World:

Roughly how much does General Mills work with contract packaging and packaging suppliers (CM/CP)?

Mark McCullough:

Roughly 25% of our nished product production comes from co-manufacturers, versus production at owned facilities.

Do you see any coming changes in the number/volume of upstream partners you work with for packaging operations? If a change, why?

As we work to scale our execution of our recyclable packaging commitment, we will continue working with existing suppliers and potentially need to engage new supply partners. In some cases, new technology will be needed and our access to this will be unlocked by working with new suppliers, particularly leveraging partnerships with suppliers further upstream ( lm producers, etc.)

What do your procurement or sourcing organizations look for in a CM/CP partner?

Our sourcing team seeks holistic value from co-manufacturers which spans cost, quality, service, capacity, innovation, and sustainability performance. Based on our diverse needs across many product platforms and food categories, we work with a broad set of co-manufacturers.

Does the sustainability profile of the CM/CP vendor factor in with the partnerships you choose? Could it be a differentiator?

Sustainability is an area of increasing importance and focus for General Mills. We are looking to our co-manufacturer and co-packager partners to help us deliver our sustainability goals across our people and planet ambitions.

Do you participate in programs that report, track, and over time, limit greenhouse gas emissions? Do you report this information to your retailer customers? How do your own, in-house packaging operations fit in to this reporting?

General Mills tracks and reports its scope one through three emissions in accordance with guidelines of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. We report our emissions to CDP [formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project] and other raters and rankers, as well as directly to various customers through their bespoke reporting activities.

Do you ask your upstream CM/CP suppliers to participate in ESG programs that report, track, and over time, aim to limit greenhouse gas emissions?

Today, General Mills does not require co-manufacturers to participate in programs that report, track, and reduce their emissions over time. However, we support our suppliers in this and look to require these activities in the future.

Do you use platforms that help stakeholders track sustainability and emissions, such as EcoVedis, CDP, S-LoCT, or others?

General Mills reports on various elements of our climate ESG work and performance into CDP. We also sponsor select suppliers in a decarbonization training program called Supplier Leadership on Climate Transition (S-LoCT) that is managed by Guidehouse.

How do you differentiate between self-reported data and third-party audits?

Is one more valuable than the other?

We nd both methodologies valuable. We have General Mills audits for areas like food safely and regulatory compliance, and we use third-party audits for other elements such as Responsible Sourcing against SMETA [Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit] protocol. We take into account internal expertise and resourcing in the decision to audit ourselves versus using third-party audits.

continued from page 19

That’s a good segue to the next question. We often focus on the environmental (E) side of ESG, but there are also social (S) impact elements that are relevant to human rights abuses, child labor, etc.

Do these social elements come into play in your own packaging operations? How do you ensure your CM/CP suppliers meet the standards you hold yourself to?

General Mills has a Supplier Code of Conduct that lays out our expectations and requirements of suppliers on the topics of Human Rights, Health/Safety, Environment, and Business Integrity. The Supplier Code of Conduct applies to all our suppliers and their suppliers. Compliance to the Supplier Code of Conduct is mandatory and monitored via our Global Responsible Sourcing Program.

Do you use audits like SMETA to track your CM/CP partners’ performance in this arena, or any other platforms? Again, who pays for this?

As mentioned earlier, General Mills pays for these audits for our own facilities, and asks suppliers to pay for their own audits. Audit results can be shared with all customers and are good for three years.

What advice would you give to fellow brand owners and CPGs seeking to bring their upstream packaging partners closer in line with their sustainability goals?

Incorporate ESG performance into [your] purchasing decisions and set them as requirements for doing business with the organization. PW

By Eric F. Greenberg, Attorney-at-law

Oh, Those Wacky Food Labels

This month, we’ll look at two agencies’ efforts to update food labels: The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s “bioengineered” foods regulations (and the punch in the nose the agency got from a federal court about them), and the Food and Drug Administration’s proposal to update its de nition of foods that can claim to be “healthy.”

1. BIOENGINEERED RULES: Regulatory agencies sometimes go astray. For example, FDA recently posted an announcement titled, “FDA Releases Food Safety Prevention Strategies.” Now, lots of folks have a lot of opinions about what agencies do that’s right and wrong, but clearly, at a minimum, at least one of them need more grammar police.

A more substantive example is the USDA, and how it went astray according to a federal court. Here Congress had passed a law that instructed USDA to make a batch of rules for when and how foods should reveal that they contained what used to be referred to as “genetically modified organisms,” and the rules USDA came up with allowed such disclosures to be made via an electronic or digital link— that is, a QR code—on a food label. Was that adequate disclosure?

No, said a federal court in California in September. The regulations were challenged in court by consumer advocacy groups. The court said many parts of them were valid, including their adoption of the relatively new terminology referring to these foods as “bioengineered” rather than the more familiar “genetically modified” or “genetically engineered.”

The regulations offered four options for how to make the disclosure that the food was bioengineered: text disclosure, use of a symbol, electronic or digital disclosure, or a text message. Specifically, part of the regulation allows companies to make the disclosure using an electronic or digital disclosure, such as a QR link, and to accompany it on the label with the statement “Scan here for more food information” or equivalent language, and a telephone number that a caller can use to obtain the bioengineered food disclosure.

Now, when regulatory agencies make regulations, they are supposed to follow Congress’ instructions, and courts will invalidate regulations that don’t. Here, the court said Congress told USDA to study “whether consumers would have access to the bioengineering disclosure through electronic or digital disclosure methods,” and USDA did that, but the court found that “access problems abounded.” That is, USDA’s study found that not everyone had smartphones or broadband to allow them to scan the codes. And in such a situation, Congress said USDA was supposed to provide “additional and comparable options,” like the alternative text message instructions, to the electronic disclosure. Instead, they just added another option, a text message option, as an alternative to the electronic or digital link. What’s more, the court said, Congress didn’t authorize USDA to

make a standalone text message disclosure option at all. On top of that, USDA’s “decision to provide a separate text message disclosure option did nothing to fix the problem of inaccessible electronic disclosures.”

So it’s back to the drawing board for USDA. Whatever they come up with, it’ll have to be something other than the QR code alone on a package label, maybe with more informative text accompanying it. In the meantime, though, the court said it won’t vacate the problematic regulations, so companies can keep using the QR code per the current regulation while we wait for USDA’s next move.

2. HEALTHY GETS AN UPDATE: Defining what is and isn’t “healthy” to eat is more difficult than you might at first expect. FDA has had a regulation articulating a definition of the term since the mid-1990s, and thinks that nutrition science has evolved since then in ways that make the current definition obsolete. So, it has proposed an updated definition that it thinks better reflects current nutrition science. The proposal appeared in the Federal Register for September 29, and public comments on it are due December 28.

FDA says that a labeling claim that a food is “healthy” is an implied claim of nutrient content, because it implies that the food contains good-for-you components and not too many less good-foryou components. Nutrient content claims are a type of claims that tout a food’s content of nutrients. Examples are low fat and high fiber.

And for years, FDA has had in place a big long part of a regulation, complete with a chart, that explains when foods can and can’t make the label claim that the food is healthy. Under the new proposal, FDA is adjusting its existing parameters, so that a food that wants to make the voluntary claim that it’s healthy “would need to contain a certain amount of food from at least one of the food groups or subgroups (e.g., fruit, vegetables, grains, dairy and protein foods)” that are recommended by the 2020-2025 edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Also, “The specific limits for added sugars, saturated fat and sodium would be based on a percentage of the Daily Value for these nutrients.” Raw whole fruits and vegetables would qualify to claim to be healthy “because of their nutrient profile and positive contribution to an overall healthy diet,” an FDA document explains.

The proposed regulation contains an informative explanation of these proposed criteria for the various food groups.

FDA also reminded folks that it’s in the process of collecting public input on ideas for an effective front-of-pack label symbol to indicate that a food is “healthy,” which, like the definition of the term, is a more complex adventure than at first appears. [Read my April 2022 column at pwgo.to/7746.] But I think I have the simple solution: The symbol for a healthy food should be a graphic of your mother smiling. The package could scan your retina to figure out who you are, and pick the correct graphic. It’ll be easy! PW

Eric Greenberg can be reached at greenberg@efg-law.com. Or visit his rm’s website at www.ericfgreenbergpc.com.

By Sterling Anthony, CPP, Contributing Editor

Film Criteria for Vertical Form/Fill/Seal Applications

As noted in last month’s column “Vertical Form/Fill/Seal 101: Key Considerations” (pwgo.to/7748), vf/f/s is a process where roll lm is formed into a tubular package, lled, and sealed, repeatedly, in a vertical orientation. It then stands to reason that the characteristics of the lm impact machine ef ciency and packaging quality.

The term film herein is used to denote any vf/f/s substrate, includ ing those that incorporate coatings, foil, and metallizing. A film must meet product requirements (for example, barrier properties) when a decision-maker chooses among a monolayer, a coextrusion, or a lami nation. Optimal productivity and cost-effectiveness, however, can’t be achieved unless the film also meets machine requirements. Each of the three operations imposes requirements that set film criteria.

Form. A film requires stiffness to withstand enacted forces, starting with the tension exerted by the unwinding of the roll. Forces continue as the film is pulled upward, around, and over sets of rollers. A film also requires a sufficiently low coefficient of friction (COF), enabling it to slide over the forming collar and filling tube as it’s made into the desired shape. At the same time, the film requires pliability as it’s wrapped and folded around the collar and tube. Stiffness again comes into play as the formed package is pulled downward by driving belts. Also reasserting itself is the COF, this time needing to be low enough to accommodate the grip of the driving belts.

Lacking these properties, a film is subject to splitting, breaking, bunching, creasing, and sticking, among other undesirable effects. All of them can affect package registration, which refers to the package’s being in the proper orientation for a given purpose. It’s particularly important for pre-printed film; the graphics of which have to be properly aligned, typically with an electronic eye. It’s equally important for in-line coding, e.g., batch numbers, expiration dates, etc. Depending on package type, proper package registration also is essential for the location of features such as tear notches, zipper strips, and punched holes for display hanging.

Fill. Product flows down into the packages from fillers that weigh and dispense. However, the physical effects differ, in accordance with product properties, e.g., dry, granular, pellet, wet, liquid, etc. The package must be able to endure any imposed bulging, for example. A related concern is that the product’s shape, weight, and density may puncture the package. The film’s thickness plays a part, along with properties such as tensile strength, tear resistance, elongation, and

modulus of elasticity, among others.

Seal. Each of the three f/f/s operations are crucial. Still, it can be argued that this one is the most crucial. An imperfectly formed package, that’s under- (or over-) filled, is bad enough. But if it’s inadequately sealed, the game is over. The package can’t fulfill its first function, that of product protection and containment. Films are either inherently sealable (as are the polyolefins) or are made sealable with a coating. Either way, a film’s seal principally results from temperature, pressure, and dwell time.

Ideally, a film will require a low activation temperature and have a wide temperature range in which adequate seals can be achieved. When that’s the case, machine calibration, related to temperature setting and temperature maintenance, is simplified.

Pressure refers to the force with which the surfaces being sealed are held together. The sealing material will be in a softened state from the applied temperature and will exhibit flow properties. The pressure should achieve adequate contact between the surfaces and allow the proper flow for bonding. Pressure, however, should not be great enough to squeeze the sealing material outside and beyond the mated surfaces, making for sealing material that is too thin.

Dwell time is the duration in which the film surfaces are held clamped between the sealing jaws. An associated property is hot tack. It refers to bond strength immediately after a seal is made but before it cures. Hot tack needs to be strong enough to resist the weight of the filled product.

One more criterium that a film might have to meet is the ability to seal through the product, in those applications in which product is likely to get into the sealing area.

All of the preceding discussions apply to vf/f/s machines, regardless of make and model. Their relevance, however, increases along two continuums. One is type of motion: intermittent vs. continuous. The other is maximum machine speeds. In all instances, what’s sought is operations that run smoothly in fulfillment of the machine’s designed capabilities. When operations fall short, some aesthetic failings are notable by visual inspection. Other failings, such as poor bond strength, are better determined by instrumentation.

For film suppliers, it all translates to having to develop offerings that meet their clients’ dual requirements for marketing and production. For economies-of-scale and to be able to be priced attractively, those offerings should have wide applicability across a variety of vf/f/s machines. PW

A lm must meet product requirements when a decisionmaker chooses among a monolayer, a coextrusion, or a lamination. Optimal productivity and cost-effectiveness, however, can’t be achieved unless the lm also meets machine requirements.

By Anne Marie Mohan, Senior Editor

Plastic Packaging May Not Be So Bad, After All

Amidst the ongoing demonization of singleuse plastic packaging, global consulting rm McKinsey & Co. has published a thought-provoking report on the “Climate Impacts of Plastics,” and the conclusions may surprise you. When examining the total greenhouse gas (GHG) contribution of plastics versus its alternatives, including product lifecycle (cradle to grave) and impact of use, it found that among those applications for which non-plastic alternatives are used at scale, the plastics examined in the report offer a lower total GHG contribution compared with alternatives in 13 of 14 cases, including both direct and indirect valuechain emissions. These GHG savings ranged from 10% to 90%, considering both product lifecycle and impact of use.

Furthermore, the report noted, when indirect impacts were excluded, such as lower food spoilage in the case of food packaging, and only direct lifecycle emissions, including production, retail transport, and end-of-life disposition, were considered, plastics had the lowest GHG impact in nine of the 14 applications.

“Plastics are ubiquitous across the global economy and the subject of frequent debate, from their impact on marine pollution to their recyclability,” says McKinsey. “However, their role in enhancing use efficiencies, such as decreasing food spoilage and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, is often overlooked. Rather, plastics are frequently maligned across topics such as leakage to the environment, toxicity, use of resources, production emissions, and ocean pollution. Although these important considerations need to be addressed, an opportunity exists for a more balanced, science-based perspective on plastics versus alternative materials.”

The 30-page document includes information on the markets selected— packaging, building and construction, automotive, textiles, and consumer durables, which represent around 90%

of plastics volume—the methodology used, and in-depth details on several of the applications studied. McKinsey’s analysis was based on the U.S. market in 2020, with additional sensitivities to illustrate the impact in other regions and how results will change as the global environment moves toward a “decarbonized world” in 2050.

Among the findings of the report related to packaging in the U.S.:

• When high-density polyethylene grocery bags are compared with the next-best alternative, paper bags, HDPE packaging is found to have 80% fewer total GHGs.

• Wet pet-food packaging in PET and polypropylene versus aluminum or steel packaging has 70% fewer emissions.

• PET soft drink containers emit 50% fewer GHGs than aluminum bottles.

• Fresh meat packaging made from expanded polystyrene or polyvinyl chloride has a 35% smaller GHG footprint compared to fresh meat packaging made from paper.

• When compared with glass soap containers, HDPE soap containers have 15% fewer GHGs.

• Industrial drums made of HDPE emit 30% more GHGs than those made from steel.

• When comparing plastics versus plastics-enabled mixed materials, McKinsey found that HDPE milk containers have 5% greater GHG emissions than paper, while the GHG emissions of EPS water cups and paper cups are on par.

One of the applications chosen for a deep-dive analysis in the report is soft drink containers. McKinsey explains that it based its analysis on a comparison of 20-oz PET bottles with 12-oz aluminum cans and 12-oz glass bottles, selected because they represent the most common beverage container sizes for their respective material substrates. According to the LCA, PET bottles have the lowest emissions of all the materials, due to their

Getting Started with Sustainable Packaging

Looking for information on how to get started with sustainable packaging? This Packaging World primer provides an overview on what sustainable packaging is, what’s driving the push for more sustainable packaging, and how to reduce the environmental impact of packaging. It also includes links to resources. Download this free PDF today at pwgo.to/7345.

lightweight properties and the low amount of energy required to produce them. “By contrast, aluminum cans have two times the emissions of PET bottles, and emissions from glass bottles are three times higher,” shares the report.

While the PET bottle has the lowest production emissions, the lifecycle analysis found that it has the least favorable GHG emissions for its end-of-life disposition. “PET has the lowest recycling rate and credits from avoided virgin production among the three materials. It also has the highest emissions from waste-to-energy. PET releases CO2 when burned, whereas aluminum and glass do not,” explains the report. “However, the GHG impact of production emissions is more significant than end-of-life disposition emissions, resulting in PET having the lowest GHG impact.”

In its study, McKinsey also found that the indirect value-chain impacts of plastics can be quite substantial, particularly in the case of plastic used in food packaging. “There are few at-scale alternatives to plastic in food packaging across a broad range of applications, driven primarily by reduced food spoilage when using plastics,” says the report.

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MOTION CONTROL

In evaluating 20 common food categories, McKinsey found that plastic packaging is used in more than 90% of products sold in six categories, including fresh and frozen meat, breakfast cereal, yogurt, cheese, still bottled water, and frozen food. In another eight categories—milk, edible oil, chocolate, nut and seed mixes, cookies, packaged bread, juice, and rice—plastic is present in the packaging of more than 50% of the products sold. Notes the report, “These figures translate to a significant but unquantified GHG benefit from plastics.”

Through its analysis of different product categories and applications, McKinsey successfully conveys that a multitude of factors must be weighed and balanced in order to select the most environmentally friendly material. The trick, it advises, is to know how much the positives outweigh the negatives.

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Circular Economy for Flexible Films Aspires to Food-Grade Film-to-Film ‘Holy Grail’

The MBOLD coalition catalyzes a new ecosystem of stakeholders to support a circular economy for flexible packaging and films in the Upper Midwest.

Circular economy

By Matt Reynolds, Chief Editor

Multiple-stakeholder partnership

Unlocking lm-to- lm

Considering that you’re now thumbing through Packaging World maga zine, chances are good that you’re with a brand owner or CPG company in a capacity related to packaging operations. And if you tick that box, then it’s almost certain that you’re at least adjacent to projects aimed at improving your products’ overall sustainability pro le. Brands have im posed upon themselves target dates to meet these commitments, usu ally a round number like 2025 or 2030 that some worry are impractical. But to be fair, with such lofty goals, what’s practical might be the enemy of what’s possible. Not to mention, people like nice, round numbers for target dates.

Meanwhile, upstream from you, converters and other packaging suppliers are working to develop more sustainable materials that they can sell to your operation. In the case of PCR, they’re rst searching for a dependable supply. Once having secured that (which is no guarantee), they’re then asking recyclers for higher quality materials.

And downstream from you, retailers are laboring under sustain ability goals of their own, perhaps making your products’ sustainability pro les a factor in how much space you’ll get on their retail shelves, if any. All these stakeholders’ distinct and disparate efforts are due to consumers who say they are actively seeking out products with more sustainable packaging.

But too often, each stakeholder, or each rung on the ladder, is oper ating in a silo. The links on the supply chain to the left and to the right of the CPG/brand have their own sets of KPIs to hit, and those may not always align with yours. Sometimes it seems like everyone’s taking a different path, separately hacking their way through the wilderness to ward what should be a common destination. That’s why a groundbreak ing partnership led by Minnesota’s MBOLD coalition, still in its infancy, is worth keeping an eye on.

“It unlocks what I’ve been calling the Holy Grail of lm recycling, which is full lm-to- lm circularity,” says Pat Keenan, R&D principal engineer at General Mills and member of Packaging World’s editorial advisory board. “It allows brands to design their lm packaging in a

way that it can qualify in recycling streams. And once it’s been used as a package and collected for recycling, a reprocessor working with a con verter can clean that recycled lm material—potentially to food-grade quality—and then turn that right back into a lm. Ideally, it would be very similar to the way PET bottles function today. They’re bottle-tobottle, only this would be lm-to- lm.”

While food-grade lm-to- lm is in the partnership’s crosshairs, the reality is more of a stepwise progression. But what’s important is that,

Recyclable store drop-off polyethylene lm used in Nature Valley granola bars by General Mills can currently be turned into durable products like playground sets, decking, fencing, and furniture. Recycled PE lms recycled into rigid durable goods is a likely place for the MBOLD coalition to start before advancing to a true circular system of food grade lm-to- lm.

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in this speci c case, all the requisite stakeholders in the supply chain are not only working in parallel toward the same goal, but they’re also actively collaborating all the way around the circle—from brand, to retailer, to consumer, to hauler, to recycler, to converter, and back again to the brand. If the MBOLD coalition ful lls its promise, it could be a transformative circularity model that’s reproducible elsewhere.

Nuts and bolts of a regionally circular recycled lm model

The MBOLD-led coalition unites leading global businesses and research institutions to create a regional circular economy for exible lms and packaging materials in the Upper Midwest. Current members of MBOLD include General Mills, Schwan’s Company, Target, Ecolab, Cargill, Land O’Lakes, and the University of Minnesota. These and other stakeholders are collaborating across the value chain with lm recycler Myplas USA, Inc. and lm converter Charter Next Generation (CNG) to

create a circular economy for lms that otherwise may not be recycled.

This new initiative will expand the lm recycling infrastructure and the supply of recycled resin for use in new products, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by their regionality and limiting waste. With investment from MBOLD members and other stakeholders, Myplas USA will establish a state-of-the-art exible lm mechanical recycling plant in Minnesota, its rst in the U.S. Slated to begin operations in mid-2023, this new 170,000-sq-ft mechanical recycling plant aims to recycle nearly 90 million pounds of low- and high-density polyethylene (LDPE and HDPE) packaging and lm annually, when at full capacity.

The U.S. uses 12 to 15 billion pounds of exible packaging and lms annually, including select food packaging, shopping bags, shrink wrap, pallet wrap, e-commerce mailers, lawn and garden bags, and hay bale wrap, among many other products. But only an estimated 5% of exible lms used in the U.S. are recycled each year, with the rest being landlled,

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“We are building a regional ecosystem to support circular approaches for exible lm,” says JoAnne Berkenkamp, managing director of MBOLD, an initiative of GREATER MSP [Min neapolis-St. Paul] Partnership. “By working to gether, we are catalyzing a new circular econ omy that will expand access to lm recycling in the Upper Midwest, increase the supply of recycled resin for use in new lm products, and cut emissions.”

The initiative includes a combined $9.2 million equity investment in Myplas USA by lead investors General Mills, Schwan’s Com pany, and Wisconsin-based lm converter CNG, plus supporting investors Target and waterwaste reduction specialist Ecolab. Myplas’ new lm recycling plant will be in Rogers, Minn., northwest of Minneapolis, and will employ about 300 people.

Breakfast cereal offerings from Annie’s Organic (bottom center) and Cascadian Farms, both General Mills brands, use liner pouches made from a percentage of recycled PE (below), converted by Charter Next Generation. A future state for these cereal liner bags could be in an even higher percentage of PCR, and perhaps more readily available sourcing, thanks to the MBOLD coalition’s endeavor.

Compared with virgin plastics, studies show that use of recycled PE resins offers signi cant lifecycle bene ts, including a 65% reduction in total energy used, a 59% reduction in water consumption, and a 71% reduction in global warming potential.

Building demand for recycled PE resin is also key to a thriving cir cular economy. To that end, Charter Next Generation will purchase re cycled resin from Myplas for use in a variety of food, industrial, and healthcare lm prod ucts. MBOLD members Cargill, General Mills, Schwan’s Company, Land O’Lakes, and the University of Minnesota will evaluate potential product applications using recycled resin with CNG. Land O’Lakes, Cargill, Schwan’s Company, and the University of Minnesota will explore opportunities to direct lm waste to Myplas USA for recycling once the plant is operational, providing essential inputs for the recycler.

The Alliance to End Plastic Waste and Closed Loop Partners are each providing multimilliondollar debt nancing to Myplas USA to support development of their new Minnesota recycling facility. The Minnesota Department of Employ ment and Economic Development is also sup porting Myplas USA through $1 million from the Minnesota Investment Fund and $450,000 from the Minnesota Job Creation Fund.

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VDG Drum Motor with IronGrip™ Lagging

Stakeholders pull in unison where they overlap

Conjuring a lm-to- lm circular economy out of thin air requires stakeholder coordination and parallel, contemporaneous work. Instead of the aforementioned mutually exclusive stakeholder silos, imagine the MBOLD model more like a Venn diagram, with shared goals and parallel projects at the intersection of any two rungs of the ladder.

“What makes this [project] different is that we’re banding together,” says Apurva Shah, director of strategic partnerships, CNG, referencing a graphic of the MBOLD model on page 31. “We are on the lm manufac turing, or ‘making things,’ link of this circular supply chain, but we also are very much invested in helping Myplas be a successful recycler to supply us. And we’re invested in helping General Mills, Schwan’s, and all the other partners we supply to use [the lms we convert] at scale. By caring and supporting each side of that circular diagram, I think that’s what makes this different.”

According to Shah, what initially got CNG excited about the project and brought his company to the table was seeing Myplas’ original Cape Town, South Africa, facility. He says it’s in a league of its own (until the Minnesota plant is completed in mid-2023, at least) in producing unusually high-quality PCR material.

“We’ll be working with Myplas behind the scenes as the equipment comes in to do initial runs and proof of concepts,” Shah says. “That’ll be going on as soon as equipment’s installed, as we start looking at the different qualities of the bales that they’re bringing in and categorizing them.”

In the PCR space, there are three primary categories: grade A, grade B, and the grade C PCR. Shah says CNG will strive to make sure they’re using A and B quality, and Myplas’ technology is uniquely capable to provide it.

Reciprocally, CNG is preparing its organization to be ready for My plas’ PCR output. That means putting in the right assets to be able to extrude lms with high PCR content. The company already has a large installed base of lm lines that can run high-content PCR, but Shah says it’s continuing to expand it while working with Myplas on the build of their facility.

“We’ll be working together to shape what that looks like and make sure Myplas is set up for success when they start up,” Shah says.

Meanwhile, General Mills and Schwan’s are preparing their organi zations and their packaging teams to use PCR. This is a journey in and of itself. Both are completing risk assessments, trials, and validations, and they are investing both cost and energy into preparing the orga nization for using more PCR. And they’ve signed commitments with MBOLD to help supply Myplas with scrap lm from their back-of-house operations to help feed the beast with a plastic input. The same is true of retailers, whose back-of-house operations produce signi cant scrap lm, by way of shrink bundles and pallet lm.

“We all need to help Myplas be successful. MBOLD is asking the brands to sign a letter of commitment to supply plastic scrap, that’s critical,” Shah says. “And [CNG] helping Myplas develop PCR resins that are ideal for lm to be used with high-PCR content, that’s where we come in and collaborate between our two companies. Again, that’s what makes this project different. We are all doing what we do well and what we need to do, but we also put some care, some stake, and some energy in helping our partners on the left and right side of us in the supply chain to be successful as well.”

Sure enough, brands like General Mills and Schwan’s are combing through their respective product and packaging port folios—which are collectively quite broad based on all the different cat egories they participate in—looking for opportunities and seeing where they can add PCR today.

“And if you think about it from a brand or business perspective, before you go out there and make a sustainability com mitment, you want to make sure you have a con sistent high-quality supply, because you don’t want to come out with something like that and then need to reverse,” says Dave Chmura, R&D manager—Snacks, at General Mills. “And so that’s what this partnership also helps us with. We are now well tapped into a consistent source of PCR. We’re basically going through and identifying where we can use the material, and that’s where Apurva [Shah] and CNG are a huge help because they help us with the applications.”

Keeping the beast fed: collecting plastic lm inputs for the recycler

Once operational, Myplas will need a consistent source of lm inputs to gener ate new PCR. There’s a lot of potential with non-food-contact packaging, par ticularly at the intersections between CPG, intermodal logistics, and retailer. Think of all the back-of-house stretch wrap and pallet wrap that goes into the supply chain that consumers never see. MBOLD asks the stakeholders in this segment of the supply chain to commit to supply Myplas with scrap lm content.

“Over the next year or two, with MBOLD companies supporting them, Myplas will be working on how to really set up sourcing that raw mate

rial, so we have a steady stream going into the Myplas facility,” says Julie Simonson, PhD, VP of R&D and product innovation at Schwan’s. Mean while, she says the brands and CNG will be “doing all the R&D work that will set us up for incorporating the PCR that’s coming, and eventually incorporating it into our packaging. Goals in the next two years are to get the plant operational, get the supply going and do the back-end of that circular economy, and get it into our products and packaging.”

Not related to consumer packaging, agricultural lms used in ap plications like storing and drying hay, often contaminated with dirt and stones from the eld, will be a consistent input. MBOLD members from the agricultural sector, like Cargill and various Minnesota and Wisconsin agri-biz NGOs, have made commitments here.

“And it’s worth noting Myplas is a recycler. They’re not a hauler. But that hauling component is something that they’re taking leadership of,” MBOLD’s managing director Berkenkamp adds. “And in some cases, that may be worked out collaboratively between a generator or supplier of that waste lm and Myplas, in the case of those kinds of commercial and industrial sources.

“For the MBOLD coalition as a whole, part of what will happen in the next 12 to 18 months is looking more closely at these opportunities of waste supply [back to Myplas as feedstock] as well as use and demand applications for the recycled resin,” she says.

Finally, from the consumer stream, expect in-store drop-off plastic lm grocery bags and PE plastic pouches to be another input stream at some point—hopefully a growing one, though consumer adop tion is slow. With a growing commitment to mono-material lms among exible packaging suppliers, this stands to be an increas ingly reliable input. Consumer education is still needed, however.

Third-party certi cations aim for consumer buy-in

The maddening Catch 22 behind many of these circular economy ef forts is that they’re ostensibly driven by a consumer demand for more sus tainable packaging. But there’s a lack of awareness of recycling streams for exible lm circularity. The store drop-off stream has been a highly functioning, self-sustaining means for consumers to recycle PE lms, but there is a general lack of awareness. It is in the best interest of the indus

Electronic,

Automated

Mechanically

try to build awareness of this program.

All converters, brand owners, and sus tainability NGOs can do is keep their foot on the gas when it comes to consumer education, while ensuring third parties are vetting and certifying all legitimate practices. Expecting a greater number of consumers come around to better recycling behaviors around lms, all of the stakeholders in tend to attain third-party validation that’s recognizable to the public.

“We are working on getting all of our facilities certi ed and then also certifying speci c lms with the PCR content. It’s just incredibly important for there to be full chain of custody and transparency,” CNG’s Shah says. “That’s part of the work we’re doing over the next 12 months. We have a couple of our sites that are already fully certi ed through a couple different agencies, but that’s absolutely on our radar. Myplas will have its own certi cation process, one of the key ones being through the Association of Plastic Recyclers [APR] to be a certi ed source of PCR.”

From a brand perspective, these certi cations are also musts, but entail a different set of standards.

“Today, for us, that’s the How2Recyle label. And we follow the testing protocols whenever we use that label to run that through How2Recycle from the Sustainable Packaging Coalition [SPC]. And then there’s an APR protocol as well,” adds General Mills’ Chmura.

Crawl before you walk

Every stakeholder that Packaging World spoke to among the MBOLD coalition agrees that the ultimate goal is to create a lm-to- lm circular regional recycling ecosystem that’s capable of producing food gradequality materials. But all parties involved were very clear that a stepwise approach of lm to durable goods to eventually true circularity is the best approach.

First, not all lm materials running through the Myplas facility will be perfect, grade-A PE that’s destined to be returned to its lm form. Lower grade exible lms could be recycled (some times called downcycled) into carpeting, or du rable outdoor products, like decking, lawn chairs, or swing sets, in the form of HDPE.

“For non-food-grade PCR lms, there’s a pretty wide swath of appli cations. Certainly trash bags are one area, and lots of your home care prod ucts,” Shah adds. “Think of the wrap ping around toilet and tissue overwraps, or of various back-of-the-house bags that are used to move different products there.

Visit pwgo. to/7749 or scan the QR code below to watch a brief video that succinctly explains the MBOLD coalition, the stakeholders involved, and the goals the project hopes to meet over coming years.

Back-of-house operations at many retailers involves a lot of pallet wrap lms that need to be discarded or recycled. Details aren’t yet rm, but retailers involved in the MBOLD coalition could take an active role in hauling used back-of-house lms to Myplas to augment the rPE feedstock and help Charter Next create new lms.

There are even some categories that have historically used food-grade PCR, but don’t necessarily need it. We’re kind of doing evaluations on that. A good exam ple would be your pouches for various detergents and liquid packaging that are used in the home. There are actually a lot of applications that don’t require foodgrade PCR, but have historically used food-grade PCR because that’s what was widely available. That whole reinvestigation of the use of lms is kind of the jour ney we’re on right now to start delineating what really needs to be food-grade and is direct food-contact, and what’s not.”

For the General Mills and Schwan’s of the world, though, the goal is food-grade lms from PCR, for in stance in the case of a PCR PE lm liner in a cereal box.

“Even within the non-food grade PCR, we’re looking across our portfolio to try to nd applications to use the material. And that’s the beauty of having CNG, one of our trusted lm partners, in the relationship with us,” Chmura says. “We can look at things such as our shrink bundling lms in these types of applications to get started for the non-food grade PCR. It’s not like this is a magic process where we ip a switch, and all the sudden food-grade lms are being collected and recycled. This is really building for the future, but our goal is still food-grade.

“Hopefully, the day comes where that is happening more at scale, and not just in store drop-off,” he con cludes. “That’s the vision of many different people that it expands collection, to make it easier for consumers. But this is one step in that supply chain and we’re po sitioning ourselves for the future to have access to a supply to ful ll the future demand for PCR.”

Piecing together the puzzle

With so many moving parts working in unison with in this coalition, it’s tough to pin down where this proj ect stands today. Luckily, Schwan’s Mark Mikol adeptly paints the following picture for Packaging World.

“I liken it to a thousand-piece puzzle. Where are we on this puzzle? We’ve dumped out all of the pieces on the table and found the corner and some edge pieces, and we’re building off them right now. What you see now is just a few pieces that have been put together, but there are many more pieces that have to fall into the puzzle for this thing to truly go at full speed, for us to complete the whole puzzle. We’re very early in the process, but we have established a cornerstone, a foot ing. This is really something that is the rst step, the rst pieces of that puzzle coming together. And we’re really hopeful that more of the pieces come so that we can have a full picture in a full circular economy.”

Berkencamp adds: “The goal is to create a regional ecosystem of business engagement to help a circular economy drive for polyethylene lm waste. And the

secret sauce for us has been the commitment to collaboration among MBOLD members like Schwan’s and General Mills and others, CEO-level leadership, and then rst-rate

chain partners in Myplas and Char ter Next. We all understand the win-win nature of this kind of collabo ration.

inform and inspire other circular economy efforts around the country. And we’re

to

what we’re learning as this journey unfolds.”

Concludes Mikol of Schwan’s, “As Pat [Keenan of General Mills] says,

“I would also say

look forward to other businesses

institutions joining

journey, and

hope that MBOLD’s

what’s

Dimitrios Smyrnios, Schwan’s Company’s CEO, says, “Reducing the environmental impact of our packaging is a core commitment for Schwan’s. That’s why we’re part of this joint equity investment in new recycling infrastructure. By returning flexible film to new uses, we can reduce waste and curtail dependence on virgin plastic. It’s good for the environment and our business.”

“Myplas has a deep passion for plastics recycling, and we’re proud to establish our first U.S. plant and our U.S. headquarters in Minnesota,” says Andrew Pieterse, Myplas USA CEO. “Our partners’ commitment, investment, and innovative thinking, paired with Myplas’ technical expertise, will be transformative for the entire region. We can’t wait to get started.”

Charter Next Generation CEO Kathy Bolhous says, “This collaboration with MBOLD and Myplas USA is forging a new future for packaging innovation. It will broaden our sustainable film portfolio, create an urgently needed solution for the region, and help meet the growing demand for recycled content in packaging.”

Technology that fits

Over

that

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

Starbucks Elevates Coffee Art with New Bag Graphics

In the first new packaging design for its core whole-bean coffee roasts in a decade, Starbucks takes its storytelling strategy to new heights, with evocative artwork that richly conveys each variety’s heritage, distinctive flavor, and quality.

Packaging design

By Anne Marie Mohan, Senior Editor

For the last several decades, the graphics decorating Starbucks’ packag ing have been driven by the stories behind its coffee, focusing on where the blends come from and what they stand for. In the rst redesign of the bag graphics for its core whole-bean coffee line in 10 years, the multinational coffeehouse chain and roastery has taken storytelling to a new level, with designs that “thoughtfully translate the people, mo ments, and experiences associated with each blend into art.” The fullbody graphics are so gorgeously rendered, in fact, Starbucks has made the art available for download for use as computer wallpaper.

The progression of Starbucks’ packaging from 1971 to today, from a waxed paper bag with a black rubber stamp designating its contents to a luxuriously printed, arresting piece of artwork, has been one that

has mirrored the company’s evolution. When Starbucks rst opened its doors over a half-century ago as a retailer of whole-bean coffee, its goal was simple: to bring delicious dark-roasted coffee to Seattle. Hence, its packaging was equally simple, with the beans scooped by hand into the minimally decorated bags.

As the brand transformed into an Italian-style coffeehouse, it began thinking about its packaging in a different way, and its bags “became vessels for visual storytelling,” it shares. In 1987, it began af xing color ful stamps to its paper bags that provided playful representations of what was inside each bag: A tiger stood for the Sumatra blend, Yukon Blend got a shing boat, and Caffé Verona got a rose, to name a few.

In 1995, Starbucks introduced its rst coffee sold in packaging printed

Starbucks redesigned the packaging for its ve core whole-bean varieties with graphics that translate the people, moments, and experiences associated with each blend into art.

with colorful graphics, Blue Note Blend. Says the company, “These new ‘rollstock’ packages weren’t just eye-catching—they offered us a larger canvas for sharing each coffee’s unique story through images and words.” The packaging that followed often incorporated the stamp designs, echoing the old-school stickers, until 2011, when the Starbucks logo and brand identity were updated.

Although Starbucks’ use of the stamps faded away as its packaging designs became more com plex, hints of that original art can still be found in the most recent bag graphics, paying homage to the brand’s history in a new and more sophisticated context.

Design strategy starts with the coffee

Starbucks employs a talented team of eight designers and illustrators in-house who are re sponsible for its branding and packaging design. Even for these talented professionals, however, “designing a new core coffee bag can be a daunting task,” says Starbucks. “Unlike seasonal coffees, such as Starbucks Christmas blend, or even holiday cups, core coffee packaging does not change every year. In fact, the design is intended to last at least 10 years.”

To fully understand how the refreshed graphics might convey the stories of the beans inside, Starbucks Creative Studio enlisted Starbucks Coffee Team’s coffee/tea development lead, Sergio Alvarez, to share with them the stories behind the beans—starting with tasting notes and descrip tive words to highlight the avors of each unique coffee blend.

“We have a very unique and thoughtful way we develop coffee blends at Starbucks, and we wanted to make sure that came through in how we describe them,” Alvarez says. “Depending on the blend, depending on the roast, and depending on the regions, there are different avors that we associate with each of these special coffees.”

Alvarez and the Coffee Team also shared the history of many of Starbucks’ most beloved blends to inspire the designers. Organic Yukon Blend, for example, was created in 1971 after a customer requested a coffee that would help keep his shermen going during the shing season in the Ber ing Sea. In the newest packaging for that blend, the same independent spirit of Alaska is evoked, with a mountainous scene set in the Yukon valley.

Thoughtfully constructed and consistent architecture

The challenge for the Creative Studio team was to translate these stories and coffee character istics into art, weaving together the past, present, and future while tapping into Starbucks’ new creative brand expression. Among the most prominent elements of the new bag designs are the hand-drawn illustrations, the colors, the terminology describing the avors, and the consistent architecture.

When it comes to graphics for its packaging, Derek Shimizu, associate creative director for the Creative Studio, shares that Starbucks’ legacy has been to use hand-done illustrations to bring warmth and brand connection. “We wanted to continue to tie a thread to our new packaging,” he says. “We also wanted to make sure we were staying modern while looking forward into our brand.”

In reimagining the graphics, illustrators started with iconography and motifs that recalled past designs. For example, incorporated into the artwork for Starbucks Veranda Blend is the graceful hummingbird image used in previous packaging iterations; in the Sumatra blend, tigers can be seen stalking rainforest foliage. The illustrators also worked to incorporate coffee cherries and botanicals into the designs to highlight the origins of the coffee.

The new designs all follow a consistent architecture, with the hand-drawn illustrations for each blend used as a background, and a badge or color block, in Starbucks green, on the front and back panels of the bag providing details for each variety—a strategy employed to make the blends more easily shoppable on-shelf. Says Shimizu, “Our current packaging was artful and expressive, but every bag had a different typography and different icon placement, which made it a little bit hard to navigate or nd where you were within the roast. We wanted make all of those elements straightforward and easy for the customer to navigate with this refresh.”

On the front panel, the badge system provides details that clearly identify the roast and tast ing notes. To emphasize the unique characteristics of each blend, the Creative Team used more descriptive and culinary terms to describe the avor notes than found on the previous packaging. For example, Veranda Blend was updated from “mellow and soft” to “toasted malt and milk choc olate,” and Italian Roast went from “roasty and sweet” to “dark cocoa and toasted marshmallow.”

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Identifying the roast intensity is a bar of color at the bottom of the badge that uses a palette of gold, copper, and purple, established when Starbucks refreshed its packaging in 2011. The new designs use this vi sual cue to identify Blonde (gold), Medium (copper), and Dark (purple) roasts.

The new architecture also brings the ethical sourcing stamp to the front panel to underscore Starbucks’ commitment to positively impact ing the lives and livelihoods of coffee farmers and their communities. On the back of panel of the bag is a QR code that can connect customers in the U.S. and Canada to where the coffee is grown using the Starbucks Digital Traceability tool. Also on the back panel are brewing instruc tions.

What follows are descriptions of each of the ve whole-bean blends and the strategy behind the refreshed packaging artwork for each, pro vided by Starbucks.

Veranda Blend

Starbucks has spent decades working with coffee farmers throughout Latin America. This blend was inspired by the lightly roasted cof fee sipped together over the years, often en joyed on a breezy veranda with a view of lush coffee trees. Subtle but avorful with notes of toasted sweet malt and milk chocolate, it’s an inviting, approachable coffee that mixes beau

“This art is intended to transport custom ers to a lively veranda in Latin America, giving a tangible sense of the coffee’s origin,” says Yumi Reid, Starbucks designer and illustrator. “We wanted the design to re ect Starbucks Blonde Roast story through use of color: roast col or is primary, supported by house green on the hummingbirds. Bright accent colors on foliage further highlight this amazing coffee’s story.”

Pike Place Roast

Named after Starbucks’ rst store, in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, Starbucks Pike Place Roast is served fresh every day in Starbucks stores around the world. A smooth, well-rounded Me dium Roasted blend of Latin American beans with subtly rich avors of cocoa and praline, makes it the perfect brewed coffee.

“In undertaking this design, we sought to leverage recognizable design elements and our brand’s history at Pike Place. To accomplish this, I utilized motifs from our heritage in a style reminiscent of travel luggage stickers and badges,” says Bridget Shilling, Starbucks de signer and illustrator. “While the bag celebrates our history, I wanted to ensure the design is still grounded in coffee, so coffee plants are inter spersed throughout. We use printing processes to ensure the copper hues will come to life for a warm, metallic effect.”

Single-Origin Sumatra

Sumatra coffee has been on the Starbucks menu since 1971, and the Sumatran tiger which lives on the Indonesian island, has been its symbol ever since its rst coffee stamp. To convey its bold and full-bodied avor, designer and illustrator Abby McCartin used deep pur ple colors to emphasize the dark roast of Star bucks Sumatra with pops of greens and blues along with foil on the tiger stripes and plants.

“I created an interesting effect by adjusting the scale of the tiger in relation to the palm trees and jungle landscape, noting the simi larities between shapes of the tiger and palm leaves,” McCartin says. “Layering them adds an element of fun and mystery; you de nitely see the tiger stripes at rst glance, but once you look closer you nd more.”

Single-Origin Guatemala Antigua

In Antigua Valley, coffee is a family tra dition and a point of pride. Generations of farmers have worked the rich volcanic soil, perfecting their craft and producing some of the nest coffees. A favorite since Starbucks’ beginnings in 1971, this coffee is rich and re ned, with elegant notes of dusted cocoa and

This coffee’s heritage is featured through the quetzal bird amidst plant life from the An tigua region. Starbucks designers updated the illustration style to be artful and sophisticated, using layers of texture and deli cate linework to create depth and detail throughout the design.

The colors are shifted to warm coppery tones, speaking to the coffee’s roast and lending a beautiful shimmer.

Caffé Verona

Named after a city known for romance because it’s easy to fall in love at rst sip, this multi-region blend has been winning hearts for decades. Originally creat ed as a dessert coffee for a Seattle restaurant, it quick ly became a hit in Starbucks stores. Well-balanced and rich with avors of dark cocoa and caramelized sugar, it pairs perfectly with anything chocolate.

“Named after the city where Romeo and Juliet takes place, we wanted this dark roast to feel romantic and reference the ornate architecture,” says designer and illustrator McCartin. “Layered with our iconic Ve rona roses, you nd a bubbling fountain, ivy draping off balconies, and Italian castle-like detail ing. This art is meant to transport.” The new packaging designs for Starbucks’ core whole-bean coffee line debuted on shelves in Starbucks stores and grocery retailers in August.

ProFood World added a new category to its annual Sustainability Excellence in Manufacturing Awards. The Processor/Supplier

Category recognizes the growth and importance of collaboration between processors and industry suppliers in protecting the planet.

Learn how past winners in this new category— Li ey Meats and Graphic Packaging

in tandem to create a new PaperSeal tray for Lidl.

View

DEADLINE

1, 2023.

how to enter at pfwgo.to/sema.

Produced by Awards to be presented at

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

Long-Charge AMRs Safely Plug Labor Drain

Mauser Packaging improved operator safety conditions and automated out hard-to-find labor, all the while improving throughput to the tune of 600% in one location, thanks to the new AMRs’ fast and long-lasting charge.

By Matt Reynolds, Chief Editor

Mauser Packaging Solutions is a global packaging supplier with more than 180 facilities worldwide. At its 206,000-sq-ft Langley, British Co lumbia, Canada location, the company manufacturers pails and accom panying lids from 1 to 13 gal in size, among other packaging supplies. Large, branded food CPG customers, including Stahlbush Island Farms in Oregon and Saputo Cheese in Illinois, among many others, use these pails for food product applications.

system that was operating using two sealed marine batteries, and an antiquated control/navigation system with scales and obsolete replace ment parts,” says Wojciech Tymczak, corporate automation engineer for Mauser Packaging Solutions/North America Small Pack Division.

So, the company turned to autonomous material handling technol ogy by way of an autonomous mobile robot (AMR) to trial at the 140employee Langley facility. Mauser selected an OTTO 1500 AMR, by OTTO Motors, for this application in part because the unit features a long battery life that runs con tinuously for 13 hours on a single charge.

“OTTO came to mind because of safety con cerns [with traditional forklifts] that we’ve had in the past. Plus, nding people has been very dif cult because we’re a 24/7 operation,” says Dinesh Naidu, plant manager at Mauser’s Langley loca tion. “When the OTTO was rst introduced to the Langley facility, it was the rst opportunity for us to get into something that probably nobody’s ever done before.”

Two major selling points were the vehicle’s 1500-kg payload and the battery system based on the latest LiFePO 4 lithium ion chemistry. The battery monitoring system (BMS) enables the ve hicles to operate for up to 13 hours. on a single charge. Without going into technical details, Tymczak says the rapid charger makes the charg ing cycles transparent to operations.

At the Langley facility, Dinesh Naidu, plant manager (left) and Dilip Bhulabhai, technical manager, saw immediate production and safety improvements. Mauser Packaging has since expanded the program to include its Oakville, Ontario facility.

But Mauser’s existing traditional autonomous guided vehicle (AGV) system didn’t meet the required uptime and throughput to run a 24/7 production.

“The main issue with the legacy AGV system was a weak battery

“Mauser values innovation because we want to be the leader in the plastics manufacturing industry,” adds Dilip Bhulabhai, technical man ager at Mauser. “The OTTO arrives to the [pack] station, connects with the pack station and transfers the package onto [the OTTO], and then drives back to the drop-off station where it trans fers onto the wrapper/strapper line.”

The entire communication system for the new AMRs was designed,

Autonomous mobile robots Labor reduction

built, and integrated using Banner wireless sensors and controllers. The system integrated aw lessly with the OTTO Fleet Manager and the plant infrastructure utilizing the plant’s existing secure WiFi network.

Programming and validation took approximately 12 weeks, including training of the key per sonnel across all production shifts. The new system was integrated into the production system utilizing the existing pack-out station from the legacy system, making the training more straight forward for the operators already familiar with the tasks surrounding the preparation of the loads and interaction with the autonomous vehicles, according to Tymczak.

And after introducing the OTTOs, Mauser leadership didn’t have to worry as much about peo ple getting hurt on the job.

“In the last few years, it became apparent to us how important that was,” Naidu says. “And the job that the OTTO’s doing now is basically the work of three people, plus an additional two forklifts. It de nitely helps us out to have that money spent somewhere else… Now, OTTO delivers safety, reliability, and productivity, 24/7.”

Bhulabhai was pleasantly surprised by the ease of use with the system, nding that it was easy to understand and navigate. And because the units worked so well in Langley, Mauser decided to expand and bring the OTTO units to its Oakville, Ontario, Canada plant in 2021.

Today, Mauser employs OTTO 1500 AMRs at both its Langley and Oakville facilities. While sup porting Mauser’s 24/7 operation, OTTO AMRs now safely work alongside human operators to move plastic rigid containers from the conveyor to the stretch wrapper. The results speak for themselves, Mauser leadership says. At the Langley facility, three laborers were re-allocated to higher valueadded roles, two additional forklifts were obviated, and the location enjoys improved safety by reducing manual forklift traf c.

Meanwhile, the Oakville facility was able to improve uptime, and en hanced throughput by a whopping 600%.

“The 600% throughput increase re ects the increase in the number of missions the new system completes vs the legacy,” Tymczak says. “The de commissioned AGV system completed about three to four tasks before going to the charging station, where it spent 25 to 30 minutes to charge enough to complete another three to four assignments. The OTTO system can run continuously for up to 13 hours. The single vehicle can complete up to 36 missions (three hours of run time) before going to the charger at about 70% of the charge. The legacy system completed only three to four tasks before drop ping to 15% of the battery level. So, the 600% gure is based on the number of total missions a vehicle completes before going to the charger during regular operation and not the OTTO’s max 13 hours run time.

“No other AGV or AVR offered us the same uptime and productivity,” con cludes Tymczak, who advises that a dedicated plant team working closely with the OTTO deployment group is key to a successful deployment.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

New Nozzle Technology Creates a ‘Whipnotic’ Experience

Whipped cream topping gets flipped on its can with new Whipnotic dairy topping that features a patented aerosol can nozzle that swirls fresh fruit juices and flavor essences into the product during dispensing.

Aerosol can dispensing innovation

By Anne Marie Mohan, Senior Editor

Sweet, creamy, and delicious, whipped cream topping is experiencing an explosion in popularity. Long con ned to holiday desserts and icecream sundaes, the dairy condiment has now become a staple in con sumers’ fridges, sprayed and scooped on top of a range of everyday foods such as waf es, fruit, and hot and cold beverages.

According to a report from Grand View Research, in 2018, the global whipping cream market was valued at $5.98 billion; from 2019 to 2025, it’s expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.1%. Says Grand View, drivers of this eruption of interest in the uffy cream confection include its low fat and calorie content—just 15 to 20 calories per serving for the aerosolpackaged version—which appeals to today’s dieters and health con

scious consumers, and the rising number of food bloggers, videos, and posts about various possible ways to use whipping cream.

Despite the product’s versatility and diet-friendly ingredients how ever, sisters Tracy Luckow and Lori Gitomer found the category lack ing in innovation. Reads the website for the new company, co-founded by the sisters, who are known as the “Whipped Queens,” “As the world around them modernized and changed, Lori’s favorite nighttime des sert—whipped cream—stayed exactly the same. They knew there had to be a better alternative; a healthier, more exciting whipped cream that would ip the industry on their cans.”

Thus was born Whipnotic, a category-disrupting new product that uses a patented aerosol-can nozzle technology to swirl all-natural fruit juices and avor essences into the whipped cream topping as it’s dis pensed. To create this multi-sensorial dessert, the consumer need only press a button—easy peasy. Less straightforward, however, was the task of engineering the technology behind the experience.

Flavor pod takes two years to develop

Whipnotic was launched in two varieties—Strawberry Swirl and Va nilla Salted Caramel—on the East Coast in summer 2022, right before the 4th of July holiday, a key selling time for whipped cream, Gitomer shares. Described as an homage to classic strawberry shortcake, Strawberry Swirl consists of ripened strawberries swirled into vanilla- avored cream, “per fect on its own or for dipping with fruit, for use on a sponge cake, or for piling high on a milkshake.” Vanilla Salted Caramel uses natural avor ings and is said to be “delicious on its own, for topping an ice cream sundae, or for use when pretending to be a high-class coffee barista.”

In addition to the new swirl aspect, the pasteurized Grade A dairy whipped topping was also developed to be a healthy and clean dessert. The product is free of gluten, arti cial avors, arti cial colors, arti cial sweeteners, and corn syrup. Copy on the front of the can also highlights that the naturally low-sugar cream product is also keto friendly. Each two-tablespoon serving contains 15 calories, 1.5 g of fat, 1 g of total sugars, and 0 mg sodium.

Whipnotic comes in a 7-oz traditional steel aerosol can from a pro prietary supplier. (In the future, as the company scales and grows, it

Sisters Tracy Luckow (l.) and Lori Gitomer developed the new Whipnotic line of whipped cream toppings to offer consumers more value, innovation, and creativity in the category.

plans to switch to aluminum cans.) What is not traditional is the can’s dispensing nozzle, which took two years to develop.

Luckow recalls the sisters’ rst steps in the development process: “Lori and I started by spending time really studying the whipped cream category—one we loved as consumers but never spent time under standing as businesspeople. We really wanted to get into the mindset of the most loyal customers—how they were enjoying whipped cream in foodservice and at home—so we could provide more value, creativ ity, and innovation in the grocery store that mimicked that already en trenched behavior.”

Luckow shares that as a result of this research, the sisters realized in order to provide a new experience for consumers, they would need to invent a new technology that would completely reimagine a whipped cream nozzle—making it more like a frozen yogurt dispenser with the capability of swirling two avors together. “That work started with sketches about two years ago,” she says. “Then the sketches became prototypes, and those prototypes became real scaled-up parts that work in a production facility.”

She adds that while the nozzle, with its brightly colored, 1.34-in. oval pushbutton, or “pod,” integrated on the side, looks pretty and seems simple, everything about it is complicated. “I think the hardest part is that everyone’s hands are different, and the way they push the nozzle is different,” she says. “Some people are very light pushers, others have a very heavy hand. And the nozzle needed to work for everyone.”

While developing the proprietary technology, the sisters also needed

to take into consideration the manufacturing and packaging processes for the product. “A whipped cream factory is set up in a very speci c way,” explains Gitomer, “so it would be very dif cult to disrupt the whole man ufacturing system. Instead, we found a loophole, which was to design a technology that works at the end of the process ow. We actually created a new nozzle that contains all the avor differentiation. When pressed, it swirls the natural avor right into the whipped cream, creating a really

beautiful, tasty multi-sensorial product that can be eaten in new ways.”

The product is packaged by co-packer Alamance Foods, Inc., an aerosol technology company that specializes in whipped cream. The nozzle technology was issued a U.S. and global patent, which not only makes Gitomer and Luckow Women Founders (they are certi ed mem bers of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council [WBEN]), but also women inventors.

Whipped-up graphics provide shelf-impact

With the eye-catching and innovative nozzle tech nology in place, Whipnotic’s co-founders turned to their attention to the aerosol can’s graphics, conceiv ing and developing the look and feel of the brand internally. “We knew we wanted to lean into bold colors and patterns to really ‘shake up’ the category and bring excitement to the dairy aisle,” Gitomer says. “From there, we collaborated with the former team at Halo Top [ice cream] to bring our vision to life.”

of

“We

such as

says

vors to life. The rounded font choice was to balance the elevated design with the playfulness and fun of whipped cream. Finally, we decided to create a better and more secure safety cap that was translucent so that the consumer can’t miss our colorful pod/nozzle.”

The pods are boldly colored to match the speci c label design: a purple pod for Vanilla Salted Caramel, which features purple, yellow and gold swirls, and a red pod to complement Strawberry Swirl’s pink,

green, and red graphics. A round icon on the front of the label calls out the nozzle’s functionality, reading “Press Button & Spray for Flavor.”

On the back of the can, four icons provide usage instructions: 1. Shake Well; 2. Flip Upside Down; 3. Press Button & Spray; 4. Rinse with Water & Refrigerate After Use.

Graphics are printed on a high-gloss paper label that is applied dur ing the packaging process.

Long innovation pipeline

Since Whipnotic’s launch last summer, the company has added two new varieties—Chocolate Fudge and Mango Swirl—to its product line and has expanded its retail distribution signi cantly. “Whipnotic is cur rently selling in over 250 stores across 22 states,” says Luckow. “You can nd us in premium grocers such as The Fresh Market, Citarella, DeCic cos, and many others. We are constantly updating our store locator at Whipnotic.com for the latest and greatest.”

She adds, “We have been overwhelmed by the excitement and de mand from both retailers and consumers. It is incredibly validating to see Whipnotic y off the shelves and earn multiple placements in stores. The number one question we’re asked from both retailers and consumers is, ‘When are you launching new avors?’”

Rest assured, there are more avors in Whipnotic’s future. Reveals Gitomer, “We have a very long pipeline that includes lots more avor va riety, as well as two additional packaging innovations with provisional patents that will surprise and delight whipped cream fans.” PW

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

App Keeps Athletes Hydrated via Wearable Sensor, Smart Bottle, & Refill Pod System

PepsiCo’s Gatorade Brand unveiled a new smart hydration system for health and fitness consumers that features a durable bottle, a recyclable refill pod, a wearable patch, an LED closure, and a smartphone app to interact with the athlete.

By Matt Reynolds, Chief Editor

Is it packaging, or is it a durable product? Du rable, re llable containers with disposable re ll packs certainly blur the line. This new tness drink system from PepsiCo’s high-pro le active lifestyle brand Gatorade is again a little bit of both, and frankly, most of the LED electronic whizzbang gadgetry behind it is more of a dura ble product than a package. One doesn’t simply dispose of that kind of tech. But packaging plays at least a supporting actor’s role in the system, and it’s just too cool not to cover.

Launched in early October, the Smart Gx Bot tle system is yet another example of an emerging category of durable containers that are designed to be re lled by concentrated packaged product to avoid any accusations of ‘shipping water.’ In this case, concentrated, electrolyte-rich Gato rade formula is intended to be introduced to tap water you ll in your home via a pod puncture system, not that far removed from coffee pods.

Gatorade Gx is a personalized hydration track er in bottle form, leveraging what the company says is a rst-of-its-kind light-up cap to remind athletes of their daily recommended hydration goal and track their progress throughout the day. The bottle also fully integrates into the Gx App for smartphones, which updates in real-time as the contents are consumed to provide personalized hydration recom mendations based on each athlete’s unique hydration needs.

Exploded view of the whole Smart Gx Bottle system from PepsiCo’s Gatorade brand.

button to connect the bottle to the Gx app. Once the app has located the bottle, they complete the pairing by clicking the “Connect My Smart Gx Bottle” button on the phone.

Users can make their Smart Gx Bottle discoverable to their phone by holding down the button on the cap until they see ashing blue lights (typically around eight seconds). Once the consumer’s Smart Gx Bottle is discoverable, he or she only needs to tap the “Find My Smart Gx Bottle”

“We were inspired to make a smart bottle that is unique to each in dividual athlete’s needs. Our bottle design takes cues from the beloved evergreen Gx squeeze bottles, including the 30-oz volume capacity, the ip cap with built-in pod piercer, and the ergonomic waistline,” says Sean Huls, Senior Design Director at PepsiCo.

Intelligent packaging

re ll pods

The entire Gx system from Gatorade includes a smart bottle that’s replenished by re llable, recyclable concentrated pod packs, a wearable patch that conveys an athlete’s sweat pro le to a smartphone camera, and a smartphone app that’s connected to the system by Bluetooth.

The durable, reusable body of the smart bottle is polypropylene (PP) plus an additive called Vistamaxx, a semi-crystalline copolymer from ExxonMobil Chemical. A colorant added at 0.25% to match the classic Gatorade green. The bottle is adorned with TPE grip panels, and the decoration is ink printed in PE lm and coated with heat-activated ad hesive. The grip panels feature a ngerprint design which reinforces the theme of personalization seen throughout the bottle.

“Where we’ve really ampli ed the design is within the Gx Smart Bottle cap, which completes the Gx ecosystem,” Huls says. “We went through a few iterations of the smart cap to ensure its functionality and

Watch a brief video of the durable, re llable, and smart packaging system from Gatorade in action.

provide athletes with accurate hydration tracking and noti cations, as well as an ergonomic t during exercise. The result is an LED-powered volume and consumption tracking system. The display offers lighting options that can be [personalized by each user and a comfortable n gerprint design on the grip panels to reinforce the theme of custom ization. Additionally, with the connection to the Gx app, a hydration schedule can be recommended based on sweat pro le, activity, and environmental and heat conditions.”

Regarding materials used in the smart cap, the bottom and top cap in black 7C is PP, the spring is stainless steel, the puck (top and bottom, where the electronic components go) is tritan, an impact-resistant, BPAfree plastic that should withstand the beating active sports and tness types might dish out. The O-rings in the tritan puck are silicone, the overmolded gasket is TPE, the pins and spring are stainless steel 304, the valve is silicone, the ice shield is PP, the latch is PP, and the ID ring ABS.

The cap of the bottle uses a proprietary sensor technology that calcu lates how much liquid is in the bottle when it’s resting on a at surface. To do so, the sensor measures the distance between it and the top of the liquid, then subtracts that from the bottle’s known total volume. This measurement determines how much liquid has been consumed over a period of time, and it’s all data that is fed into the app for tracking. The lid then communicates to the GX App via Bluetooth.

Meanwhile, the Gx System tailors personalized hydration recommen dations based on each user’s unique sweat pro le, which is discoverable via a wearable patch device comfortably af xed to the consumer’s skin. The Gx patch uses a visual scan from Gx App, through the smartphone camera, to diagnose sweat contents and volume. While Gatorade may be suggested based on the quantity of electrolytes lost in sweat, it is not the only hydration solution recommended by the Gx App.

Smart Bottles Produce Consumer Usage Insights Brands Can Access

Gatorade’s Smart Gx bottle is powered in part by technology developed by impacX, a supplier that uniquely styles itself as an IoP (Internet of Packaging) company.

“We have been searching for an innovative technology company to partner with that can deliver personalized daily hydration recommendations and change the way athletes hydrate and fuel,” says Drew Palin, senior director of innovation at Gatorade. “impacX has created a smart packaging technology that precisely meets our needs. This new partnership represents the future of packaging and has the potential to improve athlete engagement.”

Also, according to imacX, brands have access to the data produced the technology. The Gatorade team had this to say

about their usage of data generated by the system: “The Gx App does require select personal data solely to provide personalized recommendations and for profile setup, including name, birthdate, and biological sex, all of which must be manually inputted by the user. This personal data is not shared with third parties and is tightly controlled via our IT standards. Users can delete their account at any time, which destroys all data associated with the account. The app does not store usernames or passwords, and it uses standard encryption methodologies, including https and TLS, for all data at rest and in transit. The Gx also fully conforms to Apple’s App Tracking Transparency requirements, and allows users to opt out of any tracking for present and future marketing efforts.” PW

As part of the Gx system, Gatorade offers a PET pod lled with con centrated, ready-to-mix liquid in several popular-favorite Gatorade for mulas. The lidding on the Pod is an HDPE resin, Dow 17450N, plus an orange colorant.

A piercer cap, part of the closure, punctures the pod when the con sumer closes into the system, allowing the formula to mix with water. What the company calls an “X” piercer in the bottle cap lid pierces the cap of the pod to release concentrate into water in the bottle. The sys tem is designed to get most, not quite all, of the concentrate out of the pod when pierced. Athlete’s typically give the system “a little jiggle” to make sure all pod uid is released into bottle before recycling the pod and closing the Gx bottle lid.

Gx pods can be recycled through TerraCycle, who collects the pods and recycles them into raw formats that manufacturers use to make new products. The company offers these directions to consumers wish ing to recycle the pods:

• Every Gx pod purchase includes a TerraCycle pre-paid shipping la bel for recycling your empties.

• Create an account with TerraCycle.

• Collect your empty Gx Pods and pack them in any box you have.

• Log into your TerraCycle account to download & print a pre-paid shipping label.

• Seal up your box & af x the shipping label onto it.

• Ship the box via UPS.

Re llable PET pods lled with concentrated formula are closed with HDPE lidding, then punctured at the point of use in the bottle system to release the concentrated liquid into water lled at home. The pods are recyclable via TerraCycle.

To recharge a Smart Gx Bottle, a consumer needs to take the USB side of the charging cable and insert it into a powered USB port. They bring the magnetized charging end of the cable near the charging con tact on the cap, and it will pull itself into place and begin charging. On average, the Smart Gx Bottle can go three to ve days on a single charge, though usage and frequency of charging can impact this.

The Smart Gx Bottle comes in a kit including the bottle, Gx pods, two Gx sweat patches, and is available now on Gatorade.com or retail for $69.99. Users can purchase three additional Gx pod packs (four pods in each pack) on Gatorade.com for $21.00. PW22_003226_Packaging_World_NOV Mod: September 29, 2022 2:07 PM Print: 10/07/22 page 1 v2.5

So where’s the packaging? And is it recyclable?

Manufacturing Awards

By Anne Marie Mohan, Senior Editor

Planters’ New Peanut-Shaped Jar Uses Less Plastic, Too

Pushing 106 years old and sporting a monocle, spats, and a top hat, Mr. Peanut has played a signi cant role over the last century in elevating the Planters snack-nut brand to iconic status. Now, with the company’s new 16-oz peanut-shaped PET jar, Planters has another ownable brand asset to help drive recognition on-shelf. Designed as a nod to the product within, the shapely bottle also uses 8% less plastic versus Planters’ previous 16-oz bottle, a conscious change made to help meet parent company Hormel Corp.’s commitment to reduce its product packaging.

year, adding to the 757,000 pounds of packaging already saved by Hormel in 2021.

Along with a new hourglass shape, the updated Planters Dry Roasted Peanuts package also got a new label—peanut shaped as well—designed to emphasize the line’s distinctive flavors. The bottle is being used for three varieties: Honey Roasted, Salted, and Sweet & Spicy.

To develop the graphics architecture for the new label, Planters worked with creative agency Jones Knowles Ritchie. Explains Abney, “The new packaging puts flavor first, spotlighting one super-sized peanut rather than a pile of peanuts, so snack nut fans can easily see the detail and appetite appeal of each respective flavor.” Color-coded color blocks differentiate flavors, with gold for Honey Roasted, red for Salted, and a dep red for Sweet & Spicy. Mr. Peanut is still front and center, the dapper mascot positioned alongside the oversized nut.

The label, from a proprietary supplier, is made from crystallized PET and is gravure-printed in eight colors. Because the new label has a smaller surface area than the wraparound one used previously, consumers are better able to see into the jar, to view the flavored peanuts inside.

The new package was launched in stores nationwide in September, supported with in-store displays, online advertising, and social media.

Concludes Abney, “Our new packaging allows us to truly stand out with a unique ‘shell’ that is just as premium and satisfying as the delicious Planters Dry Roasted Peanuts housed within. Now snack lovers can enjoy their favorite peanuts in an even better, crave-worthy bottle that puts flavor in the spotlight.” PW

According to Planters Associate Brand Manager Allie Abney, the redesign of the packaging for Planters’ three Dry Roasted Peanut varieties was initiated to introduce a “flavor-forward” look that showcased the premium snack. “The peanut-shaped design was inspired by two drivers: how do we use less plastic than our previous bottle, and how do we successfully remind shoppers of the delicious, premium peanuts inside the bottle?” she says.

The biggest design challenge for Planters and its proprietary packaging supplier was finding a way to reduce the amount of plastic in the bottles while still enclosing the same amount of peanuts inside. “We addressed this through design innovation and by making the bottle slightly taller than before to compensate for the curvier peanut profile,” Abney explains. She adds that only minor modifications to Planters’ existing packaging machinery were required to accommodate the new package.

The 8% reduction in plastic was achieved through the new bottle shape and a change in material distribution, Abney says. In total, the peanut-shaped package will save an estimated 220 tons of plastic per

Connect with Suppliers Fast

PMMI ProSource is a free online directory with 900 categories of validated suppliers of packaging machinery, materials, and service solutions. With a powerful search engine and the ability to filter solutions by machine feature and package type, ProSource brings vetted suppliers to you. Visit www.prosource.org today.

Robotic Depalletizer

ABB launches a robotic depalletizer designed for handling complex depalletizing tasks in the logistics, e-commerce, healthcare, and consumer packaged goods industries. It can operate at a peak rate of up to 650 cycles/hr, 24 hours a day.

ABB Robotics pwgo.to/7672

Powered Roller Conveyor

Dynamic Conveyor’s DynaRoller is a motor-driven, zone-powered conveyor system offering zero pressure accumulation functionality that can be used in applications such as packaging, sortation, ful llment, end-of-line manufacturing, robotics integration, and more.

Dynamic Conveyor pwgo.to/7616

PCR Retort Pouches

ProAmpac’s ProActive PCR® retort pouches, EU and FDA compliant for food contact in retort applications, are designed for pet and human food packaging.

ProAmpac pwgo.to/7620

Recycled-Content PE Pouch

Printpack and Pregis launched the Preserve™ PE advanced recycled content polyethylene pouch, featuring Pregis’ Performance Flexibles Renew™ Series sealant lm.

Printpack Pregis pwgo.to/7736

Automated Packaging Machine

Ranpak launches the Flap’it!™ machine designed to automate the packing of a variety of small products. It can pack up to 540 packages/hr.

Ranpak pwgo.to/7675

Battery-Powered Hand Strapping Tool

Signode’s BXT3 battery powered hand strapping tool can accommodate from 9 to 32 mm of plastic strapping.

Signode pwgo.to/7676

Air Cushions

Storopack’s AIRplus® 100% Recycled air cushions are manufactured from 100% recycled material and offer the same resistant protective properties as conventional air cushions.

Storopack pwgo.to/7724

Gummies Packaging Line

The TKS-G60 gummies packaging line from Shemesh Automation features a sequence of machinery that feeds, loads, lls, caps, and labels bottles of all common sizes and is able to case pack and palletize them as well.

Shemesh Automation pwgo.to/7671

Color Inkjet Label Printer

Epson introduces the ColorWorks® C4000 designed for markets that require high-resolution image quality, durable color labels, and easy connectivity, such as food and beverage, retail, healthcare, and pharmaceutical.

Epson pwgo.to/7565

Bio-Based Cling Film

KM Packaging’s C-Cling lm is made from bio-based renewable sources and is said to perform the same as conventional cling lm. It is recommended for highvolume industrial packing of fruit and vegetables and other fresh produce on trays.

KM Packaging pwgo.to/7745

Compact Rotary Filler for Gummies

Spee-Dee Packaging’s 12-pocket compact rotary ller is designed to ll gummy products into glass, paperboard, or plastic containers at speeds to 70 bottles/min.

Spee-Dee Packaging pwgo.to/7735

Servo Drive System

Siemens’ Sinamics S210 drive system with Simotics S-1FK2 servomotors and Simatic S71500 controllers is designed for a variety of motion control applications.

Siemens pwgo.to/7579

Zipper Tape VF/F/S Bagger

Triangle Package Machinery launches the next generation Delta vf/f/s bagger featuring rotatable jaw and zipper tape capabilities.

Triangle Package Machinery pwgo.to/7743

Module for CIJ printers

Videojet launches the Videojet SureShot™ module designed to work with pairs of Videojet CIJ printers. Its alternating print con guration allows one printer to completely take over the printing process while the second printer is of ine.

Videojet Technologies pwgo.to/7590

Paper Pallet-Wrapping Machine

Mondi and EW Technology launch a paper palletwrapping machine that can be fully automated for wrapping up to 60 pallets/hr or semi-automated for wrapping 10 to 15 pallets/hr.

Mondi EW Technology pwgo.to/7615

Paper Bubble Mailer

Sealed Air (SEE) launches the Bubble Wrap® berbased padded mailer, which can be recycled in curbside bins.

Sealed Air pwgo.to/7677

Continue your search for the right packaging solution. Visit prosource.org.

Companies

In response to the its growth and readiness to scale, PakTech moved into a 180,000-sq-ft facility in Eugene, Ore.

New, refreshed branding from MRP Solutions, formerly Mold-Rite Packaging, reflects its mission to provide specialized, innovative solutions to its customers across health, wellness, specialty food, and other sectors.

Max Solutions acquired Canada-based The Ellis Group

Orbis Corp. broke ground for an expansion of its manufacturing facility located in Urbana, Ohio.

PAC Machinery launched a redesigned website that includes changes to the navigation, structure, and mobile and desktop versions of the site. It also rebranded its Rollbag® Bags and Materials business, previously known as Converting Technology Inc. (CTI), to PAC Machinery Bags and Materials

Ampacet opened a production plant in Brembate (BG), Italy, in response to increased product demand.

Smurfit Kappa signed an agreement to acquire Rio de Janeiro-based PaperBox.

AlliedFlex Technologies became HDG Pouch Packaging Machinery’s exclusive North American sales and marketing partner to handle its complete horizontal pouch packaging machinery program.

U.S. Tsubaki Power Transmission, LLC acquired ATR Sales Inc., expanding its North American manufacturing capabilities for premium flexible couplings.

Festo Didactic and SICK released a new curriculum for their robot safety awareness program.

Modern Ice signed a master distributor agreement with nVenia where Modern Ice will distribute nVenia’s HAMER brand ice equipment and parts to Modern Ice customers worldwide.

People

Tim Walsh was appointed Chief Financial Officer of Vanguard Companies.

John Cooke was promoted to Director of Sales for Triangle Package Machinery Co.

Beckhoff USA appointed Jake Schieffer VP of Sales, and Sixto Moralez joined the company as South Region Sales Manager.

Effective Dec. 31, Guido Spix will leave as joint Group President of Multivac. On Jan. 1, 2023 Christian Traumann will lead the company as Group President and Spokesman for the Management Team.

Pregis announced senior leadership changes. Kevin Baudhuin will add the title of Chairman in addition to his Chief Executive Officer role, Laurin Darnell was promoted to Chief Operating Officer, and Joey Phister was promoted to President, Pregis Protective Products.

Toray Plastics announced management changes. Michael Brandmeier will retire as President and CEO of Toray Plastics and assume a new leadership role at Toray Industries America. Ken Kurokawa was named Chairman and CEO, and Christopher Roy was appointed President and COO.

Stephen Martin was appointed Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary for Danimer Scientific.

Search Packworld.com for additional information on any of the advertisers listed or visit their website directly

ADVERTISER WEBSITE PAGE

AmbaFlex Inc. www.ambaflex.com 6 BELL-MARK www.bell-mark.com 20

BUNTING www.buntingmagnetics.com 5

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Doosan Robotics Inc www.doosanrobotics.com 19

ELPLAST America Inc. www.elplastgroup.com 37 Encoder Products Company www.encoder.com 27

Eriez Magnetics www.eriez.com 35

FlexLink Systems, Inc www.flexlink.com/en/home 13

Fortress Technology Inc. www.fortresstechnology.com 15

Garvey Corporation www.garvey.com 45

Heat and Control, Inc. www.heatandcontrol.com 46 High Tek USA, Inc. www.hightekusa.com 23 Ideal-Pak / PASE Group, A Massman Company www.idealpakpase.com 21

Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP) www.iopp.org 33 Jadex www.jadexinc.com IBC James Alexander Corp. www.james-alexander.com 11

Kaufman Engineered Systems, Inc. www.kes-usa.com 20 Label-Aire, Inc. www.label-aire.com OBC Material Transfer & Storage, Inc. www.materialtransfer.com 14 Modular Conveyor Express www.modularconveyor.com 43

Nercon Conveyor Systems www.nerconconveyors.com 9 PMI KYOTO Packaging Systems www.pmikyoto.com 7 PMMI, The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies www.pmmi.org 25

ProFoodWorld www.profoodworld.com 41, 51 Robatech USA Inc. www.robatechusa.com 3 Serpa Packaging Solutions www.serpapackaging.com 36 Siko Products, Inc. www.siko-global.com 34

Specialty Equipment www.specialtyequipment.com 39

Standard-Knapp, Inc. www.standard-knapp.com 47 Syntegon www.syntegon.com 1 Uline www.uline.com 50

Van der Graaf www.vandergraaf.com 32a Weber Packaging Solutions www.weberpackaging.com 17 WestRock www.westrock.com

IFC, OFC

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

By Advait Bhat, CPP

Food & Bev Turn to R&D Digitization

The digitization of R&D is a process that, in packaging, enables developers to simulate and demonstrate a product, then thoroughly outline use cases. The food and beverage industries are steadily catching up with the medical and pharmaceutical industries, which are considered to be at the forefront of R&D digitization. My comparisons between the industries are made here in terms of business models, data generation methods, its connectivity and traceability, adoption of hardware and software, and maintaining associated human resources.

Food and beverage companies can tap into immense business value through a well-deployed Enterprise Architecture style digital framework for R&D. Digitization can naturally enhance corporate intelligence, resulting in sustainable growth for flagship brands. This can be achieved through new insights derived from analytics that provide a competitive advantage, the ability to anticipate trends, and the agility to adapt to an ever-changing consumer market.

This journey has challenges. I will highlight them from my experience and list four ways through which I believe they can be addressed.

1. Capital investment and clarity on ROI. Food and beverage industries are traditionally light on R&D budget allocations, where typical amounts are 2 to 5% of the net revenue. Most of this R&D budget is spent on tried and tested ways of product innovation to maintain consumer demand and improve brand market share. As a result, incorporation of newer technologies and digitally driven processes to supplement traditional R&D workflows has been slow.

For example, in the beverage industry, new package development would require up to 12 months on an average where the majority of the time could be spent on development, testing, and ensuring compliance. Virtual analysis methods and analytics of legacy data can shorten this time by a few months.

Even when this advantage is known, adoption lags due to costs. Commercially available R&D Enterprise Architecture solutions have a high upfront cost for software and hardware deployment. Out-ofthe-box solutions may not fit existing business process, requiring further expenses for customization. Complete support from company top leadership and higher R&D budget allocation is the only way to overcome this barrier. Assuming a commitment is made and sustained, realistic timelines for return on investment could be three to five years for larger organizations.

2. Legacy systems and data migration. A key challenge to most larger companies in adopting R&D-wide Enterprise Architecture solu tions is connecting legacy systems with the new software, or outright replacing them. I encourage teams to complete a full technical assessment in advance, and plan and allocate resources to this task

The author,

Engineer,

upfront, to create a seamless integration process in collaboration with the solution provider. Significant cost overruns are likely if solution deployment and legacy system integration are done simultaneously.

3. Reducing dependance on large scale physical testing. True efficiencies from R&D digitization can be realized when extensive testing, and trial-and-error approaches, are replaced with computer-based simulations. The medical device industry has already demonstrated it is possible to skip or replace physical tests and consumer analysis with simulations and still comply with Food and Drug Administration approvals. Food and beverage companies must adopt similarly agile practices to improve speed-to-market.

Analytics and simulation protocols are continuously improving. It is imperative that food and beverage companies keep up with these developments and implement them. “Find and Reuse” is a great strategy for larger organizations that have spent decades physically testing their products. This is a process in which legacy test data can be leveraged to predict new product performance using statistics and trend-mapping analytics. Digital Twin, which is basically a highfidelity computer model replica of a physical system, is the future of computer-based simulations. Scale of this replica can be from a simple bench test to a full production line. A key input to make Digital Twin modeling possible is collecting real-time data and feeding it through computationally fast simulations to get immediate, actionable feedback for the modeled system. Overall, focus should be on minimizing lab tests which function to verify success in the first try and leveraging data instead, irrespective of the simulation strategy that makes it possible.

4. Taking others along with R&D. Digitization of R&D can’t be done in a silo. Cross-functional partners and commercialization teams will be integral to this journey. For example, food and beverage industry production sites tend to have low-tech resources that must absorb the work product from R&D and join in their vision. Developing and investing human capital is critical to ensure value is gained from various digital data threads that can trace their origins to production equipment. The Internet of Things as a deliverable never will be possible in the food and beverage industry if investment in talent at the plant level remains a low priority. This problem is further exacerbated for regional teams in the developing world.

In summary, R&D digitization is needed in the food and beverage industries. If companies broadly follow the above guidelines across a deeply interconnected ecosystem of people, processes, and data systems, a foundation for high future-business returns can be created. Success will depend on the right balancing of technology with human intelligence during the transformation. Organizations capable of driving this culture change will thrive.

PW

Beverages R&D at PepsiCo, where he is closely connected with the digital transformation team. For more information on IoPP, visit www.iopp.org.

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Each of the following market-leading companies participating in Packaging World ’s 2022 Leaders in Packaging Program are named sponsors of PW ’s Future Leaders in Packaging scholarship. This year’s recipient is Alexandria Technical & Community College, Mechatronics program. We appreciate the support of all participants on behalf of packaging education.

leaders

PACKAGING

Each of the following market-leading companies participating in Packaging World ’s 2022 Leaders in Packaging Program are named sponsors of PW ’s Future Leaders in Packaging scholarship. This year’s recipient is Alexandria Technical & Community College, Mechatronics program. We appreciate the support of all participants on behalf of packaging education.

leaders