Packaging World April 2021

IMPROVING EFFICIENCY

FOR YOUR OPERATION. westrock.com/ automation

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D2C Supplements Make Sustainable Statement with Starter Kit 30

Coca-Cola Pivots from Plant-Based to rPET Bottles 32

Hyperlocal Meat Brand Learns from E-comm Pioneers 38

Pet Care Brand Hartz Fetches a Packaging Line Upgrade 64

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This ‘exploded’ view of Fatty 15’s e-commerce starter kit shipper demonstrates each element of a consumer’s unboxing experience.

Everything in the kit, save for the metallized foil refill pouch with necessary oxygen and moisture barrier properties, is recyclable.

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FEATURES 32 E-COMMERCE Thermal Insulation at Intersection of E-Comm and Sustainability This e-comm startup hit the big time only a few months ago. A big step in getting there was bolstering its package sustainability profile to better align with its brand positioning.

38 Liquid Filling Upgrade at Hartz Mountain From unscrambling straight through to case packing, this versatile new line features filling and capping out of Italy and a small-footprint case packer from Germany.

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44 COVER STORY Subscription D2C Supplement Makes Sustainable Impression at Unboxing A new-to-science fatty acid supplement promises to improve human longevity.

Seraphina Therapeutics needed to create a packaging experience to align with and amplify the discovery.

54 Pasta Purveyor Replaces Fossil-based with Plant-based Rollstock

60 AUTOMATION New Tech Comes to Heat Seal Bars This packaging machinery OEM is pioneering the use of a brand new method of making heat seal bars that is adapted from printed circuit board manufacturing.

64 Infusing Culture into Craft Packaging Design An Inglewood, Calif.-based brewing company uses design and digital marketing to resonate with consumers who have traditionally been overlooked in the craft beer market.

70 QC Boost through X-ray Inspection This high-quality pet product company cares deeply about what’s in the packages it ships, so management made X-ray inspection part of a recent plant expansion.

74 Utah Distillery Opts for Bottling Upgrade From hand filling and labeling to a fully enclosed rinse/fill/cork solution with a ‘de-dusting’ component, High West Distillery is making its mark in the whiskey category.

The new PBR material is RIC1 approved so it is identified as PET in typical sorting processes, meaning it can be recycled along with PET without a problem.

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DEPARTMENTS 8

packworld.com VIDEO

COLUMNS

Pet Shampoo Filling and Case Packing

7 Lead Off 26 The Legal Side 28 The Big Picture 30 Sustainable Packaging 78 Shelf Impact!

84 The Insider

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NEWS/EVENTS

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8 News 22 Quotables/By the Numbers 80 Industry Watch

Distillery Automates Whiskey Filling

78

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INTERVIEW

24 First Person PRODUCTS

ANIMATION

62 Automation Technology 81 Technology

Variable Temperature Heat Seal Jaws

ADVERTISING

83 Advertiser Index

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

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

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

ART David Bacho Creative Director

AUDIENCE & DIGITAL David Newcorn Senior Vice President, Digital and Data Elizabeth Kachoris Senior Director, Digital and Data Jen Krepelka Director, Websites & Digital Design Strategy

ADVERTISING

DISTRIBUTORS represent

Wendy Sawtell Vice President, Sales • wsawtell@pmmimediagroup.com Lara Krieger Production Manager • lkrieger@pmmimediagroup.com Kelly Greeby Senior Director, Client Success & Media Operations Alicia Pettigrew Senior Manager, Product & Revenue Strategy

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LEAD OFF

Need Operators?

Bringing Plastics Full Circle Brand announcements about packaging material usage shifts are coming in faster than we can post them on our website or write about them in our print pages. As you might’ve predicted, single-use plastics—especially those that can’t obviously and easily be recycled— are almost universally the legacy format that brands are moving away from. And the replacement materials? For the most part, it’s a mix of paperboard, aluminum, and particularly interesting, more recyclable monolayer PE, PP, or PET materials.

In this months’ news section alone, we highlight two distinct package redesigns from plastic to paperboard, one where soups from Heinz UK are in a WestRock multipack solution, and the other with Czech microbrew Pivovar Clock using a Smurfit Kappa can handle format. Why paperboard?

We hear that its recycling profile, as a paper-based product, is a “no-brainer” for consumers who confidently assume “I can recycle this.” Is that always true for every municipality? Maybe not. But paper and fiber have a decided recognizability advantage when it comes to recycling.

Aluminum shares that advantage, and you’ll find that announcements of brands switching from plastic to aluminum frequently tout the material’s “infinite” recyclability, i.e. practically no degradation from virgin to recycled material throughout the practically limitless cycles. In next month’s issue, we’re already lining up a number of recent examples from the personal care product space where brands are moving from single-use plastic, usually HDPE, to aluminum.

Brands are making this switch even though they face an aluminum shortage and in spite of the fact that the legacy HDPE bottles are plenty recyclable.

Perception is really everything here, and consumers’ experience with sustainability is often connected only to disposal. Aluminum and paperboard are perceived by consumers to be obviously and easily recyclable, and to be fair, there’s some truth to that. But what’s not obvious to consumers is aluminum’s greater weight, and frequency of shipped air, in operations upstream of the consumer. Or the forestry impact of paper, or shorter shelf life (potential food waste) due to a lack of barrier layers.

But anyone reading this knows that plastic’s place in packaging is practically indelible despite its current vilification. Still, many of the biggest producers are reading the room and making a shift of their own to monolayer (or nearly monolayer) materials that are more easily recycled within existing streams. Often these will have an under-threshold layer of EVOH or other barrier, but are acceptable for most current PE, PP, or PET recycling streams while still carrying the functional properties of their multilayer film predecessors. This was seen frequently in last month’s FPA awards, and we highlight in this month’s news section a few other examples of standup, microwavable monolayer PP pouches for Mars Food rices by Amcor, and for FEI Foods rices by JM Packaging. We also describe a Unilever Japan personal care pouch by Toppan that is safe for the PET stream thanks to its thin, vapor-deposited barrier layer. Brands aren’t just moving away from plastic, they’re also favoring the plastic that is more readily recyclable. But consumers have to meet brands halfway by, you know, actually recycling the plastic to build feedstock.

An exciting endeavor finally is getting traction in employing the might of the U.S. government to align and standardize the current “varies by municipality” fragmentation of, and resultant consumer confusion over, U.S. recycling. The Recycling Leadership Council (RLC, read more at pwgo.to/6060), a broad coalition of stakeholders brought together to identify the federal government’s role in fixing the U.S. recycling system, recently released the Blueprint for America’s Recycling System. PMMI, of which Packaging World is a part, is a member of the RLC, which aims to nudge consumers toward reliable plastics recycling. It’s bipartisan, too. Whether you look at recycled material as a valuable feedstock to be monetized and sold, or as a productive way to keep plastic out of the environment and in a circular economy, you’re right either way.

Plastics packaging suppliers are showing through innovation that they’re willing and capable of meeting consumers halfway on the plastics problem. It feels like the RLC might be just the tool to get consumers to do the same, and in doing so create a reliably circular economy with recycled material as a feedstock. Maybe this will once again let brands leverage the advantages that plastics bring to CPGs, food, and beverage. PW

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NEWS

Valvoline Revs Up Convenience with Gear Oil in Stand-Up Pouches A new stand-up pouch from Valvoline for two varieties of its synthetic gear oil is making changing gear oil easier, while providing a more flexible, less wasteful automotive DIY experience. That’s according to the Lexington, Ky.-based worldwide marketer and supplier of premium branded lubricants and automotive services, which says it developed the new format—called the FlexFill™ bag— to tackle consumer issues with the existing packaging.

Historically, Valvoline’s synthetic gearoil packaging has consisted of a rigid highdensity polyethylene bottle that is difficult to maneuver in an automobile’s undercarriage, resulting in unused product per bottle.

Says Valvoline, Inc. Senior Brand Manager Tracie Mayo, “Valvoline sought to address various consumer challenges associated with performing a differential service, primarily accessibility to access points under the car, difficulty with dispensing gear oil with the standard cone-top bottle, and waste in the form of oil remaining in the container.”

As Tom Golinski, CPP, Senior Manager – Procurement – Packaging & 3rd Party, for Valvoline, Inc., shares, when Valvoline began the search for a more convenient package for the gear oil, it quickly zeroed in on the pouch format due to its flexibility. “A flexible pouch met the application requirement

and gave us the ability to use our desired brand graphics,” he explains.

Requirements included a film construction robust enough to withstand distribution environments as well as any shelf limitations, such as length, width, and height. In addition, the print process had to align with the marketing team’s required graphics.

Valvoline worked with Hammer Packaging to design the FlexFill bag, which is a lamination of PET/nylon/low-density polyethylene, with the layers chosen for printability, strength, and sealability, respectively. Hammer litho-prints the film in seven colors and converts the material into a premade pouch, complete with a yorker-style cap, which Steve Ruble, CPP, Principal Packaging Engineer for Valvoline, Inc., says is the standard cap Valvoline uses for its gear oil packaging.

Ruble says that Valvoline is in the process of completing a full Life Cycle Analysis to compare the carbon footprint of the new pouch versus the HDPE bottle. What is known is that the 32-oz FlexFill SUP is 60% lighter than the bottle.

Valvoline’s Full Synthetic Gear Oil grades SAW 75W-90 and SAE 75W-140 are available in the FlexFill package at retail outlets nationwide, including Advance Auto Parts, AutoZone, Meijer, and Walmart as well as on Amazon. —Anne Marie Mohan

A Glass Bottle Cool As Ice Crafted from the finest Canadian corn and North America’s purest glacier spring water, Aupale is for anyone who appreciates fine spirits.

The Montreal-based team behind the brand wanted the unique Aupale experience to start with a one-of-kind package, so they partnered with Berlin Packaging’s in-house design division, Studio One Eleven, to create a glass bottle as distinguished as the product itself.

Studio One Eleven’s industrial designers brought the brand team’s vision to life, commissioning an artist to hand-sculpt icy rocks that are inspired by the hidden glacier from which Aupale sources its water. The sculpted pattern perfectly catches the light to evoke a beautiful Canadian winter. It was carefully optimized for manufacturability, without losing a powerful design that nicely complements the opalescent bottle’s classic silhouette, graceful curves, and simple embossed branding. A screw top closure tops the eye-catching bottle.

According to Aupale co-owner, Matthew Terriaca, “The brand has taken off quicker than we expected. We reached almost double our forecasted sales for Q4 2020, and we’ve already expanded beyond Canada into the U.S. and EU. We’re getting great feedback from customers who love the elegant and premium bottle, along with the great tasting product inside! The package is also excellent for the hospitality industry because it’s easy to grip and pour. The design really has the best of both worlds—functionality and aesthetics.” —Pat Reynolds

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Multiple Entry and Exit Spirals allow loads to enter or exit the High Capacity Spirals at intermediate elevations. New special induction and divert conveyors have individually adjustable conveying surfaces to match the spiral pitch, assuring a smooth and reliable operation.

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NEWS

Heinz UK Launches Recyclable Paperboard Multipack to Replace LDPE Shrink Heinz UK, a Kraft Heinz brand, recently made the packaging format switch for its multipacked soups from plastic (LDPE) shrink wrap to a paperboard multipack. In doing so, it became first to market with WestRock’s ClusterWing™ paperboard multipack design. Heinz’s implementation of this patent-pending packaging innovation gives it a sustainable and functional alternative to single-use plastic shrink wrap packaging.

“The new Heinz Eco-Friendly Sleeve design was developed in close collaboration between Heinz and WestRock, and it features a robust and convenient handle that enables consumers to carry multiple cans of Heinz Soups, Beanz, and Pasta products,” says Anke von Hanstein, Brand Manager, Heinz Soups at The Kraft Heinz Company. “The design underwent rigorous consumer and pack performance testing to ensure it is comfortable, secure, and convenient for shoppers.”

The move advances Heinz’s sustainability initiatives. According

to the company, it will eliminate 550 tons of plastic packaging from its supply chain. The glue-free pack design uses 50% less paperboard material than a fully enclosed box and 10% less material than a traditional sleeve design. Made with WestRock’s

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PEFC-certified CarrierKote® paperboard, the new sleeve comes from sustainably managed forests, is recyclable, and is produced using up to 15% recycled fiber, adding a circular element.

“Our comprehensive approach to packaging means that Kraft Heinz aims to make 100 percent recyclable, reusable, or compostable packaging by 2025. The biggest challenge with current multipack shrink-wrapped items is the recycling infrastructure of flexible plastics in the UK. Currently, 96 percent of these films are not being recycled,” says von Hanstein.

Automation used to apply these sleeves is part of a threeyear, £25 million ($35 million) investment and installation of three new packaging lines at Heinz’s Kitt Green, UK, factory.

Tertiary packaging and pallet configurations are not affected by the change as the carton multipacks will be packed in the same corrugated trays as current shrink wrap multipacks.

“With the launch of our e-commerce soup

bundle we have launched a national media and PR campaign to create awareness and drive education around the new packaging. Additionally, we are educating our consumers on our website and e-commerce platforms,” von Hanstein adds. “Our on-pack communication reflects clear messaging on recyclability and sustainability – calling out that it is from sustainably managed forests and is fully recyclable and from renewable sources. We have included the PEFC logo front and back of pack, as well as the UK recyclability OPRL logo.”

From a shelf impact and design perspective, the WestRock’s CarrierKote material employs a proprietary clay coating that gives it a smooth, opaque surface and enables crisp, vibrant graphics, as accompanying images demonstrate.

Available now across Heinz Soups product range as part of the “winter bundle” on the Heinz to Home e-commerce platform, these new paperboard multipacks will be launching across all Heinz’s canned products and major retailers in the UK in fall 2021. —Matt Reynolds

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NEWS

EXPO PACK México Canceled, PACK EXPO Las Vegas Scheduled for September Due to the ongoing global pandemic, PMMI has canceled the in-person EXPO PACK México 2021 in Mexico City. An online platform, Enlace EXPO PACK (June 8-9), will provide a robust education program, brought to you by Mundo PMMI, and alternative access to leading industry suppliers. PACK EXPO Las Vegas and Healthcare Packaging EXPO 2021 remains unchanged and in-person, Sept. 2729, 2021, at the Las Vegas Convention Center and registration for attendees will open in May. “As we continue to contribute to the exhaustive work that society, health authorities, and governments are doing to reduce the possibility of contagion, we are confident that we will be able to return to face-toface events in Mexico City in 2022,” says Jim Pittas, PMMI president and CEO. “Until then, Enlace EXPO PACK provides a Spanish language platform for the industry to come together, and reinforces our commitment to keeping the Latin American market engaged.”

The most comprehensive online event for the packaging and processing industry in Latin America, Enlace EXPO PACK will feature a wide-ranging educational program produced in conjunction with Mundo PMMI, product presentations on demand, and a robust catalog of suppliers providing packaging and process-

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ing professionals easy access to the solutions they need. Exhibitor showrooms will allow attendees to explore what’s new and connect with exhibitors to learn more about each product.

“While in-person events are always the preferred way to see technology and discuss projects, the past year has taught us it is essential to continue to offer ways for the packaging and processing industry to connect and learn about the latest trends in the industry,” says Laura Thompson, PMMI vice president, trade shows. “We are going to expand on our successful webinar series to provide quality education combined with a platform to facilitate supplier/customer connections at Enlace EXPO PACK.” The event will kick-off each morning with Mundo de Expertos, featuring industry thought leaders discussing the latest topics impacting the industry. Exhibitor-led Innovation Stage sessions will immediately follow, showcasing technology breakthroughs and real-world solutions, complete with live chat Q&A. Attendee registration for Enlace EXPO PACK will be free of charge and will launch in April. For more information on Enlace EXPO PACK, visit expopackmexico.com.mx. EXPO PACK Mexico will return to Mexico City in June of 2022. —Sean Riley

Consumers/Collectors

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Czech Craft Brewer Adopts Paperboard Can Handle System Czech beer brewer Pivovar Clock became the first adopter of a new paperboard can handle system designed to help smaller brewers and beverage producers appeal to consumers’ sustainability sensibilities. This commercialized project, specified for the brewery’s 500-mL (17-oz) can format, is part of Smurfit Kappa’s TopClip product range. TopClip is a paper-based replacement for plastic shrink films used to bundle beverage multipacks. This packaging system within the larger product range—designed specifically for smaller businesses and brands— comes after last year’s launch of Smurfit Kappa’s high-speed TopClip applicator machine designed for larger, higher volume brewers and beverage producers. This now completes the portfolio of Smurfit Kappa’s end-to-end solutions for TopClip, the company says, ensuring it is suitable for beverage companies of all sizes.

consumer experience with good branding opportunities.

TopClip is part of Smurfit Kappa’s Better Planet Packaging, a portfolio of innovative packaging solutions designed to be more sustainable and always made from a renewable and recyclable raw 21-496_Cannabis 1-2 island print ad FNL.pdf 1 1/13/21 10:38 AM material. —Matt Reynolds

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“As a company, we pride ourselves on only using the highest quality ingredients when making our beers,” says Jiří Andrš, CEO at Pivovar Clock. “We want to provide this standard across our business and Smurfit Kappa’s TopClip solution offers us a new sustainable alternative while providing an excellent consumer and branding experience. At Pivovar Clock, we are committed to significantly decreasing our carbon footprint, so by choosing TopClip we are also meeting our environmental obligations by reducing single-use plastics.”

Smurfit Kappa has now launched complete solutions, including automation, for every shape and size of beverage company, which will be a key characteristic in facilitating the roll out of TopClip with many different brands. this implementation proves TopClip’s viability both to the large global brands requiring high-speed machines, and to smaller craft breweries.

With a 30% lower carbon footprint than a shrink-wrap consumer pack, the company says that TopClip is plastic-free and 100% renewable, recyclable, and biodegradable. Since it’s made from less material and does not require glue, TopClip is significantly more sustainable than other recently launched same-purpose packaging solutions on the market and offers a premium

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NEWS

Post-Consumer Recycled Material Getting Traction Argentine dairy producer Mastellone Hnos of Buenos Aires positions its La Serenísima Original milk brand as a natural product. But that product now will also deliver optimum shelf life and increased sustainability benefits that many natural products currently don’t. The brand worked with Amcor to develop a custom-designed 1-L container that the companies

say is the first fresh milk bottle made of transparent post-consumer recycled (PCR) polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin.

Latin American dairy companies are increasingly using clear PET bottles to showcase freshness and premium quality. The cold-fill bottle contains 20% PCR content and is designed to drive consumers from aseptic packages to the chilled section of the grocery store. The breakthrough bottle follows the October 2019 launch of Mastellone’s shelf-stable, ultra-high temperature (UHT) white milk in aseptic, white-colored PET bottles also from Amcor.

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“Mastellone wanted to align its grass-fed sourced, ultra-pasteurized fresh milk product with Amcor’s clear plastic bottle. Amcor responded to the challenge with a distinctive transparent solution combined with an effective barrier to preserve our premium product,” says Gaston Dominguez, Manager, R&D Packaging for Mastellone. “Along with meeting key functional requirements, we were also able to reduce our impact on the environment.”

The container includes a 38mm finish and a HDPE screw cap from Bericap North America (a joint venture between Amcor and the Bericap Group). A key technical challenge was limiting light exposure and preventing damage to the product. To preserve the contents, a special barrier was developed to help extend shelf life.

“In a market that has remained stagnant for several years, we’ve broken the rules by developing an entirely new format offering for fresh milk,” says Martin Darmandrail, Amcor’s Specialty Containers Director (Argentina). “We’ve shaken things up with a unique fresh milk package with the durability, freshness, performance, and sustainability benefits of PET.” In Argentina, the new fresh milk product will be available in select metropolitan areas with broader distribution later. —Matt Reynolds

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NEWS

Microwavable, Retortable Mono-Material PP Rice Pouch FEI Foods, a major processor of ready-to-eat (RTE) rice and grain pouches in Europe, launched a recycle- and retort-ready mono-material polypropylene flexible pack that maintains all the mechanical properties of a conventional stand-up pouch. The new packaging material comes from JM Packaging (JMP), a supplier of bespoke flexible packaging to the UK food industry. The pioneering pack format is available in supermarkets now.

Both FEI and JMP began working on the project in early 2019.

A press release from JMP indicates that this launch will be the first in the industry to provide consumers and food manufacturers with a product that can be retorted, is ready-to-heat, and is recyclable where recycling framework permits.

In December 2020, Mars Food also announced the launch of a microwavable mono-material stand-up polypropylene pouch for a range of its rice brands (read more at pwgo.to/6055), rolling out fully later in 2021. Regardless of who was first, the bigger and more noteworthy picture is that both projects reflect a larger movement toward more easily recycled, mono-material flexible packaging that’s still functional for consumers.

“Quality and innovation are at the forefront of our DNA at FEI Foods,” says Simon Lewis, Managing Director of FEI Foods.

“As a market leader in this category in Europe, it was imperative that we led the way in developing a recycle-ready pouch. We are

determined to provide the most sustainable product possible, and the development of this pouch has been a key strategic objective for us for some years. 24 months of diligent testing of this new material has culminated in this launch. We are delighted, and proud to be first to market with this solution. As a predominantly Private Label manufacturer, this is an outstanding achievement for our business, and the major retailers that we work with, now have a more sustainable offering for their customers.”

The pouch size, shape, and function remain the same as the previously existing packs, and the design continues to provide attributes required by customers such as food-safety, ease of use, and convenience, all while providing ground-breaking environmental benefits. —Matt Reynolds

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Unilever Brand Joins Mono-Material Movement Lux Luminique Sachet Set Limited Design, from Unilever Japan, represents yet another data point in the trend toward mono-material flexible packaging. The sachet-style pack design using a more easily recyclable monomaterial PET film is set to launch in Japan in April, 2021. The company chose this material, which comes from the GL Barrier range of films by Toppan Printing, after successfully collaborating with Toppan on quality tests.

With the problem of plastic waste receiving significant attention, demand for more eco-friendly packaging continues to increase, and companies around the world are taking measures focused on timeline targets for better circulation of plastic resources used for packaging and containers. Unilever has announced global commitments for a waste-free world, aiming to halve

low adsorption to prevent loss of aroma and quality, and make it possible to prevent reduction of product weight during storage over long periods.

The use of a single material improves recyclability, and the absence of aluminum film enables a reduction of roughly 25% in CO2 emissions during packaging manufacture, according to the company. —Matt Reynolds

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its use of virgin plastic, help collect and process more plastic than it sells, and ensure that 100% of plastic packaging is designed to be fully reusable, recyclable, or compostable. The major brand owner is transforming its approach to plastic packing through its Less plastic. Better plastic. No plastic. framework, and making progress toward its sustainability targets around the world.

Conventional single-use plastic sachet packages combine a PET substrate with materials such as aluminum and polyethylene. Toppan’s mono-material packaging uses a PET-based grade of GL FILM, a vapordeposited transparent barrier film from the GL BARRIER range, and combines it with PET sealant. The manufacturing method and material composition ensure strong oxygen and water vapor barrier performance, provide

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The NECOFLO-G6 has been designed from the ground up and provides the following features: • Controlled valve actuation • Single piece, FDA approved, long life, elastic polymer container seal • Bi-flow, self cleaning vent system • Recipe driven, multiple zone, product settling system • Stainless steel measuring flasks • “Lift Table” for each container • Variable height fill head • Closed loop MAP gassing system • “no-container no container no-fill” no fill system For more information and specifications call Nalbach at: +1-708-579-9100, go to www.nalbach.com, or scan the QR Code to the right.

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3/19/21 6:19 AM

18 PW APR2021

NEWS

Loblaw and Loop Pilot Circular Shopping Platform in Canada In early February, global reusable packaging platform Loop officially launched in Canada with Loblaw Companies Limited, Canada’s leading grocer, as its first retail partner. Initially being offered to a select number of Ontario residents, the platform enables customers to shop online for nearly 100 food and household products delivered in refillable packaging. With the launch, Canada joins the U.S., the U.K., and France, as the Loop platform continues to expand around the world.

Food and pharmacy retailer Loblaw operates more than 2,400 corporate, franchised, and associate-owned food and pharmacy locations. Its private-label brands, which include President’s Choice, no name, Farmer’s Market, and Life, are among the top in the country.

According to Loblaw Senior Vice President, Plastic Reduction Ian Gordon, the company’s decision to join Loop as its first retail partner in Canada is part of its strategy to address plastic pollution. “We know there is too much plastic waste, and we are working on dozens of initiatives across our business to reduce plastic,” he says. “This partnership with Loop is an exciting way to bring our customers along with us, allowing them to make choices that make meaningful change. Loop is an innovative company with a great idea to help consumers go from disposability to durability with their purchases. We’ve seen the success in other markets like the U.S. and U.K., and are excited to bring this to our customers.”

Among the products being offered are ice cream, sauces, snacks, pet food, and toothpaste from some of the country’s most popular brands, including Hershey Canada, Kraft Heinz, and Nestlé Canada as well as from a number of smaller brands, such as skincare company Meow Meow Tweet, dental product producer NOICE, and clean beauty company World Hair and Skin. In addition, 15 of Loblaw’s President’s Choice products are also available on the site.

Loop consumers shop for products in durable packaging that is reused until the end of its life.

When ordering through https://loopstore.ca/, consumers pay a deposit on each package that is fully refundable when the package is returned. Packages are shipped using Loop Canada’s exclusive logistics provider, FedEx. After use, consumers place the empty containers back into the Loop Tote, and then return the tote by either scheduling a free pickup online or dropping it off at one of the more than 500 participating FedEx retail locations in Ontario. Loop sorts and professionally cleans the packaging and tote bag to stringent health and safety standards so products can then be replenished as needed.

Given the reusable nature of the packaging, Loop enables brands to add in greater functionality and innovation, which can be seen in a number of products on the Canadian site. Unique formats include a glass jar with screw-on metal lid for Meow Meow Tweet’s deodorant cream and a rigid plastic container with screw-on cap for Hershey chocolate chips.

Read more about the participating brands and see their packaging at: pwgo.to/6019 For the launch of Loblaw’s President’s Choice products—among them, lemonade, sauces, and cooking oils—Gordon says the company will be using the products’ original glass packaging. He adds, “We are diligently working on introducing a redesign of the packaging for the iconic PC Decadent Chocolate Chip Cookie. We hope to have this available later this year.”

The pilot was initially scheduled to launch in 2020, but was delayed due to COVID-19. Gordon shares that Loop and Loblaw have chosen to test the pilot in Ontario with a few thousand customers to start with and, depending on the adoption of the program, they will look to expand from there.

There are no plans at present for an in-store offering of products in Loop reusable containers, but it is something Gordon says Loblaw is considering. —Anne Marie Mohan

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3/19/21 6:19 AM

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20 PW APR2021

NEWS

Optimized Case Coding TruFood Manufacturing is a co-manufacturer specializing in protein bars and chocolate products. A lot of corrugated cases run through its three Pittsburgh facilities, and not long ago management took a big step toward optimizing how lot and date code information is applied to those cases.

LA102-Half-Page-Island-Spread-2.pdf 7/21/20 10:26 AM “Many times we were printing2a sticker for this information and then

that was applied manually to the case,” says Engineering Manager Rob Ulishney. “Imagine how much labor is involved with that and the time spent manually applying those stickers. Ink-jet printing directly on the case is much more efficient.”

The flow wrappers used by TruFood for primary packaging have their own date code printers on them. Then a robotic pickand-place cartoner puts bars into corrugated cartons before closing and gluing the cartons shut, at which point the cartons are manually inserted into corrugated

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Though it wouldn’t be far-fetched to assume that COVID-19 was the catalyst for the launch— fueled by a rise in drinking-at-home brought on by a year of stay-at-home orders and closed bars and restaurants—the new brand of cocktail mixes was actually initiated two years ago based on a rising consumer trend that was accelerated by the pandemic.

According to Nielsen retail data, U.S. consumers spent $304.6 million on cocktail mixes in the last year, a 36% increase. In 2019 the increase was 1.2%. According to PepsiCo, the cocktail mixers category (including total mixers, ginger beer, club soda, and tonics) saw a 28% growth in 2020 and is worth more than $858 million.

“With at-home cocktail consumption on the rise, we saw an opportunity to build and disrupt this fast-growing category with a product that meets consumers’ needs for convenience—to

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cases in a variety of counts from 2 to 18 per case. It’s at this point that manual application of stickers with lot and date code information is being replaced by ink-jet printers from Videojet. “When we’re done we’ll have installed a total of four of the Videojet 2361 models,” says Ulishney.

In the most recent application, one case run on the line is taller than the others. “So for that one we need one ink-jet printer to print the top half and another to print the bottom half,” says Ulishney. “At the end it looks like one solid imprint clearly and efficiently identifying the best-by date, customer name, flavor, bar code—the usual information.”

Ulishney adds that the Videojet template management software called ClariSuite brings its own level of accuracy and efficiency. “We have a data base on our server,” he explains, “and we have a bar code scanner at the printer along with all the SKU bar codes printed out on a laminated sheet so they can be easily scanned. All we need to do when it’s time to change what we want to print on a case is scan the bar code. It tells the printer what needs to be printed. It’s a great way to avoid human error because no one needs to punch in the new information. We scan it in.”

The ClariSuite software package consists of the following: • A template management database that stores all print jobs and associated code information • A user interface that enables the status of all printers to be viewed and print jobs/data to be downloaded

• A WYSIWYG design package for creating print job files.

With the end-of-line coding upgrade now nearly complete, Ulishney says he’s pleased by the operational benefits gained and by the outstanding service the Videojet sales and service techs have provided. “OutstandLA102-Half-Page-Island-Spread-2.pdf 1 7/21/20 10:26 AM ing,” he says. —Pat Reynolds

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Targeted to consumers between 21 and 34, the brand will launch with four non-alcoholic flavors that won out in taste tests: Margarita, Strawberry Daiquiri, Mojito, and Whiskey Sour.

Each 7.5 aluminum can is made with real juice and no artificial sweeteners, and has enough mix to make two cocktails. The cans will be packaged in paperboard six-packs. —Kim Overstreet

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QUOTABLES

“The Heineken Original Slim Can launch in Florida has emerged from millennial and multicultural demand. With over 20 percent of can volume in the category now being sold in slim cans, we see an opportunity to further capitalize on growth trends to accelerate Heineken’s can business in the U.S.”

BY THE NUMBERS

7.5

oz

The can size for PepsiCo’s new Neon Zebra line of cocktail mixers, which are sold in single-flavor six packs for $7 or $8 per pack

$100

The amount of the incentive bonus that JBS said in January that the company would give to any of its 66,000 U.S. employees who voluntarily chose to receive a COVID-19 vaccine

4%

The percentage of consumers who say they do not find recycling confusing— the rest find it more confusing than doing their taxes, building Ikea furniture, or understanding the opposite sex—according to the Consumer Brands Assn.

$12

billion

The amount in sales lost by Big Food to small Consumer Packaged Goods and private-label brands in 2020, according to IRI

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–Chuck Boddy, Senior Brand Manager for the Heineken brand, as quoted in an article from Beverage Industry magazine, “Heineken now in slim cans in Florida”

“Clearly, we did less innovating in 2020. We’ll be increasing meaningfully the degree of innovation in 2021, very focused on [questions like] are these attracting more consumers to our portfolios? Is it allowing them to enjoy our beverages perhaps more frequently? Ultimately, we’re looking for more impact. We’ll continue to learn more as we go through 2021. But none of this rationalization of the portfolio is about stopping anything, quite the contrary: it’s about clearing away the least successful, so there’s more room for the most successful, and for the next generation of innovation.”

–James Quincey, CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, in an article, “Coca-Cola: ‘Our 2021 innovation pipeline has been shaped and coordinated for scale and impact,’” from beveragedaily.com

“Consumers should be reassured that we continue to believe, based on our understanding of currently available reliable scientific information, and supported by overwhelming international scientific consensus, that the foods they eat and food packaging they touch are highly unlikely to spread SARS-CoV-2. …Considering the more than 100 million cases of COVID-19, we have not seen epidemiological evidence of food or food packaging as the source of SARS-CoV-2 transmission to humans.”

–The U.S. Food & Drug Administration in a statement, as reported by CNN in an article, “Food and food packaging highly unlikely to spread Covid-19, experts say”

“While there appears to be an end in sight with a vaccine, we really don’t know how long until the economy improves and consumers feel safe spending. So, we predict that consumers will be costconscious in 2021, which will drive demand for products that provide more for less money— whether that be more product for less money or more premium products for less money.

–Holly McHugh, Marketing Associate with Imbibe The Drink Tank, in an article from foodnavigator-usa.com, “Cost-conscious consumers’ embrace of bulk packaging, private label reshapes competitive landscape”

3/18/21 2:40 PM

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3/18/21 2:40 PM

24 PW APR2021

FIRST PERSON

Safety, Sanitation Drive Foodservice Packaging Foodservice Packaging Institute President Natha Dempsey unpacks the results of the association’s 12th Annual Report, which explores industry opinions around foodservice packaging during COVID-19.

Packaging World:

What was the most significant finding of FPI’s 12th Annual Report?

Natha Dempsey: Like everything in 2020, COVID was the dominating theme. This has continued into 2021. We’ve seen an enhanced focus on keeping food and beverages safe and sanitary, still coupled with the modern-day necessities of convenience and mobility.

Do you think consumers trust single-use foodservice packaging more now, during COVID-19, than in the past (versus other packaging, such as reusable formats)?

I don’t think consumers trust packaging more, but they are more aware of the role it plays in keeping their food and beverages safe and sanitary. This is the exact reason foodservice packaging was invented in the first place—to help stop the spread of communicable diseases.

What types of innovations have suppliers introduced to ensure packaging is tamper-evident and tamper-resistant?

We’ve seen more tamper-evident and tamper-resistant packaging entering the marketplace, for sure. Delivery was already a big topic of interest prior to COVID, but many of those manufacturers who already had tamper-evident and tamper-resistant packaging lines have expanded out the number of products they offer. For example, offering newer sizes (both smaller and larger) and shapes to suit the needs of their customers. With the continued increase in third-party delivery and ghost kitchens [a professional food preparation and cooking facility set up for the preparation of deliveryonly meals], we expect to see more innovations around keeping items safe and secure.

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Can you talk about the misinformation that has occurred around the amount of foodservice packaging that is being produced?

Absolutely. There has definitely been a lot of misinformation around foodservice packaging and the perceived increase of waste from it.

Unfortunately, due to COVID, the foodservice industry has been one of the hardest hit. In addition to restaurants, foodservice packaging is used in segments like travel, hospitality, stadiums and arenas, catering and events, and business and school cafeterias. Looking at that list, many of those segments suffered closures or reduced patronage throughout 2020 and have yet to recover.

In the restaurant sector, many operators had to pivot from dinein to to-go only. With resurgences in virus outbreaks, that pivot may have happened multiple times in the past 10 months. With operators trying to stay afloat, they have relied heavily on foodservice packaging to provide customers with the products they desire. As they did with so many places, customers had to interact differently with the restaurants they enjoy. Much of what had been consumed outside of the home, like at a restaurant, in the office, or during school, is now being eaten in the consumer’s own kitchen. This has increased the amount of foodservice packaging that the consumer sees and has to dispose of within their own home. That is where the “influx” of packaging myth came from. It doesn’t mean that more packaging is being used, but that everything we consume is regularly being directed through one channel. It’s like the increased number of boxes delivered to homes because people aren’t getting those items delivered to offices or going out to shop at retail establishments. It doesn’t mean we’re purchasing more because shipping boxes are piling up in the garage, just differently.

Many restaurants have closed for good. The restaurants that switched from primarily dine-in to takeout did not offset the number of restaurants that were/have closed. Those who did offer takeout and delivery may not have seen the same levels of business, as consumers have chosen to stick close to home rather than frequent retail establishments of all kinds.

Do you think consumers’ concern with safety and hygiene over sustainability will slow down “after” the pandemic, or do you think this is a trend that will continue?

As I mentioned earlier, foodservice packaging was created to stop the transmission of communicable diseases. This has always been a key aspect. Safety and sanitation are the inherent characteristics and benefits of foodservice packaging and not just a trend.

We expect innovation will continue to evolve as we ride the rest of this pandemic wave, offering even more assurance to consumers about the safety of their food and beverages. —Anne Marie Mohan

3/18/21 2:29 PM

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26 PW APR2021

THE LEGAL SIDE

By Eric F. Greenberg, Attorney-at-law

A Chain of Changes This month, we will check in with several topics, and as it happens, the topics flow from one to the next like a chain of crucial information for packagers.

1. An organization called the Toxics in Packaging Clearinghouse has been known since the 1990s as the source of an influential model state law that put limits on four heavy metals in packaging (lead, cadmium, mercury, and hexavalent chromium). Though only adopted in 19 U.S. states, the model law’s prohibition on intentional addition, and a total limit of 100 ppm of the four heavy metals, have become a worldwide fixture in product stewardship and guarantee documentation for packaging.

Now the TPCH has updated its model legislation, most notably by adding “the class of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and ortho-phthalates as regulated chemicals.” (For more on the changes, go to pwgo.to/6052 and pwgo.to/6053).

Under the newly changed law, a package or packaging component would be prohibited if “PFAS has been intentionally introduced during manufacturing or distribution in any amount,” and “There shall be no detectable PFAS in any package or packaging component.” How exactly that standard can be met is unclear (see below re baby food).

The new model law also would prohibit sale or distribution of a package or of packaging components containing intentionally added phthalates, and the incidental levels of them couldn’t exceed 100 ppm by weight. The revised law also sets general safety standards for chemicals used to replace the limited ones.

The impact of this change won’t be fully known until individual states adopt these new provisions, but the change could represent important new burdens.

2. Speaking of heavy metals, a Congressional committee issued a report in February alleging that many manufactured baby foods contain heavy metals as impurities, and that the levels were dangerous. The report said that neither manufacturers nor FDA were doing enough to limit the levels.

In response, FDA said that “Toxic elements, such as arsenic and lead are present in the environment and may enter the food supply through soil, water or air,” so they can’t be “completely avoided” in food, even organic food.

It further noted, “The FDA has been actively working on this issue using a risk-based approach to prioritize and target the agency’s efforts. Consumers should know that FDA scientists routinely monitor levels of toxic elements in baby foods,” and others. When toxic elements “present a potential health concern, the FDA takes steps to reduce levels, such as using science to set action levels, making data public, and working with industry on identifying effective mitigation strategies.” (All you folks who think “regulation” is always bad: This is regulation. Do you want FDA to stop doing this?)

To me, the real headline is that FDA addressed directly the original sin of public discussions of debates about safety, namely, misunderstanding of degrees of risk.

It’s so important, but often is not part of debates over undesirable substances in food and other products. But here FDA noted first that ubiquitous substances cannot be fully kept out of food, but second and importantly, that the risk related to those exposures is low and things can be done to keep it low, all because of the concept that very, very small amounts of substances that are a danger at higher levels, are not a danger.

Different people can disagree about whether FDA is trying hard enough to limit exposures to dangerous substances, but it’s good that at least FDA is evaluating the riskiness of the risk, instead of simply assuming any level of exposure is dangerous.

3. Speaking of risk, remember COVID-19? Packaging companies took careful note early in the pandemic when officials announced that it’s unlikely one could catch the virus from contact with packaging of foods or other articles, even though studies show the virus can live on some packaging surfaces for some number of hours.

Well, in a recent statement, government agencies say it’s still true that “there is no credible evidence of food or food packaging associated with or as a likely source of viral transmission” of COVID19. In February, FDA and other agencies issued a joint statement saying their own data and data from around the world indicate it’s “highly unlikely” that packaging or food would spread the virus.

They also explained, “Given that the number of virus particles that could be theoretically picked up by touching a surface would be very small and the amount needed for infection via oral inhalation would be very high, the chances of infection by touching the surface of food packaging or eating food is considered to be extremely low.”

4. Speaking of getting sick, or not, from stuff in or on food or food packaging, there’s a move afoot to add sesame to the list of “major allergens” whose presence would be legally required to be listed on food labels. People with food allergies need that information to avoid serious illness, and ever since 2004, there’s been a federal law that required disclosures on food labels of major allergens, whether the allergens consumers might be exposed to are in food or even food packaging, unless exempted. The current major allergens are milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, and soybeans, and failures of labels to disclose the presence of these is a significant public health threat and a chief reason for food recalls.

(That’s “regulation,” too, just saying.)

Well, the U.S. Senate recently passed a bill that would add sesame to the list of major allergens. If made into law, this new requirement would kick in starting in 2023.

Count on it happening: The bill passed the Senate unanimously, and the House passed a similar bill last year. PW

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

INFORMATIONAL ONLY, NOT LEGAL ADVICE.

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28 PW APR2021

THE BIG PICTURE

By Sterling Anthony, CPP, Contributing Editor

Speed-to-Market in the Wake of COVID-19 can be a protracted process. Packaging’s position on the organization At the time of this writing, vaccinations chart and its sway vis-à-vis other disciplines (product development, are in high gear. Still, what passed as marketing & sales, manufacturing, logistics, legal, etc.) impact how normal before COVID-19 will not return entirely. Companies need to efficiently communications are conducted, conflicts are resolved, and envision the enduring effects of the pandemic and to strategize for the approvals are reached. Packaging, managed competently, can increase associated challenges and opportunities. What will remain constant, speed-to-market, and the methods used can serve as models for other however, is the importance of speed-to-market, along with the pivotal disciplines. role played by packaging.

Speed-to-market needs to be research-driven, supported Speed-to-market is self-explanatory, but a few truths are with systems and software that facilitate information-gathering, worth mentioning. The sooner a product goes from concept to arrangement, analysis, and decision-making. Specific to packaging, commercialization, the sooner revenues are received. Speed-to-market time is sacrificed when research and testing only are used to decide also is a boon when responding to an initiative of a competitor. Taken among pre-developed alternatives. Knowing upfront consumers’ together, speed-to-market is a cornerstone of any strategy aimed at demands, wants, and expectations is better than trying to determine achieving and sustaining a competitive advantage. whether they’ve been met after the fact.

COVID-19 vaccinations are prime examples of speed-to-market.

Research helps companies exercise discipline regarding the So too are the flood of protective products, such as masks and face features designed into the packaged shields. In the U.S., vaccine developers— product. The objective should be to match Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson— Speed-to-market is a the offering to the targeted consumer, had a federal escort down the expressway cornerstone of any strategy without superfluous bells and whistles and share in common with protective which can extend development time and products the luxury of having everyone aimed at achieving and decrease speed-to-market. Another possible as a potential target consumer. Other sustaining a competitive effect of an over-designed packaged companies, alas, must be more focused in advantage. product is a non-competitive price. their targeting, post-pandemic.

The total time that constitutes The pandemic has foisted changes on speed-to-market is not evenly distributed across its components. major aspects of consumer life, including home, work, recreation, Prioritizing on the basis of time-consumption makes sense. Packaging travel, shopping, education, communication, socializing, and health. demonstrates that concept. For one company, supplier lead times The changes overlap in a variety of combinations. The changes, might head the list. For another, it might be regulatory clearance. furthermore, vary along demographic and psychographic strata.

For yet another, it might be coordinating with design agencies. Such It’s impractical to believe that, post-pandemic, there will be no examples underscore that speed-to-market is the result of in-house residual effects on consumer thinking and behavior. Companies need activities and those of external partners. A company’s entire supplyto identify the changes to which they can best assign their resources chain offers opportunities to increase speed-to-market. and capabilities. Then, the task becomes converting ideas into No matter how exacting, plans seldom, if ever, play out without a products and getting them to market, fast. hitch. The faster the speed, the shorter the reaction time; therefore, It’s important to know one’s history, in terms of the average flexibility and agility are invaluable. The best-suited project managers time taken for various types of projects, e.g. new product launches, are nimble thinkers who give new meaning to “traveling at the package redesigns, brand extensions, and product-line extensions. speed of thought.” An enabling culture has to be endorsed by top From there, companies need to decide what changes to make, aimed management, emphasizing speed, but never at the expense of quality. at increasing speed-to-market. Ambition can range from streamlining Cut time, not corners. And, yes, due to the interdisciplinary nature of to revamping. their function, packaging professionals should excel within such an Gone are the days when it was common for product development environment. and package development to proceed sequentially. Gone, too, are the Normal is relative, and any so-called new normal won’t remain more recent times in which the two proceeded mostly along parallel new indefinitely. Companies must define today’s and tomorrow’s tracks. The greater the integration, the better, given that packaging consumers in order to satisfy them better and faster than the carries an inherent potential to impede speed-to-market. competition. Given the certainty of post-pandemic impacts, companies That’s because packaging is interdisciplinary, subject to competing need to take time out to strategize about how to take time out. PW inputs from other disciplines. Managing trade-offs and compromises

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SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING

By Anne Marie Mohan, Senior Editor

Coca-Cola Moves to 100% rPET, Unveils ‘Sip-Size’ Bottle Producing more than a fifth of the world’s PET bottle output of 500 billion bottles per year, The CocaCola Company has a significant stake in advancing the sustainability of single-serve plastic packaging. Not only are consumers looking to global Consumer Packaged Goods companies to make more eco-friendly packaging to reduce plastic pollution, but proposed legislation in a number of U.S. states will also likely demand such innovation in the near future.

In its ongoing efforts to tackle plastic waste, which the company says is “one of the globe’s largest environmental concerns,” Coca-Cola has begun transitioning a selection of plastic bottles across its U.S. beverage portfolio to 100% recycled PET, or rPET, excluding the cap and label. As part of this transition, the company has also launched a new bottle size, has switched from green to clear plastic for Sprite, and is moving away from bioplastics for its Dasani brand.

Through the use of internal company tools and analysis, Coca-Cola says it has determined these innovations will reduce the use of virgin plastic by more than 20% compared to 2018—a 10,000-metric-ton reduction in greenhouse gas emissions annually, or the equivalent of taking 2,120 cars off the road for one year.

Brands making their debut in 100% rPET—beginning in February and rolling out through summer 2021—include all Coca-Cola Trademark varieties (Coke, Coke Zero Sugar, and Diet Coke), as well as Fanta, Sprite, Dasani, and smartwater. Of particular interest, the first of the 100% rPET bottles launched is a new, never-before-seen 13.2oz “sip-size” bottle for the Coca-Cola Trademark brands, Sprite, and Fanta. Says Coca-Cola, the conveniently sized, sippable bottle was introduced to make sustainable innovations accessible to all.

Also included in the launch is a 20-oz 100% rPET bottle for CocaCola Trademark brands, Dasani water, and smartwater, as well as a 20-oz bottle for Dasani made from 30% rPET, and a new 18-oz aluminum bottle for smartwater.

The move to 100% rPET is a major step forward in Coca-Cola’s sustainable packaging strategy. However, given the U.S.’s woefully low PET recycling rate of 30% coupled with the increasing demand by CPGs for more and more of the material, the question becomes, how will Coke find the quantities of rPET needed?

Shares Alpa Sutaria, Vice President and General Manager, Sustainability; North America Operating Unit of The Coca-Cola Company, “We are working with several suppliers to source rPET for use in our

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packaging across the United States and are also continuing to invest in local recycling programs and infrastructure. In turn, this ensures that Americans can recycle our bottles and cans conveniently whether at home, at work, or in public spaces, that are—in turn—recycled and reprocessed to make rPET for use in our bottles and other products.”

In addition, in the largest on-pack messaging effort ever by the company, each 13.2-oz bottle features a prominent “Recycle Me Again” message on the label to encourage consumers to take action and recycle their bottles so they can be remade into new ones.

Another notable change to its packaging—the use of clear PET, rather than green—for its Sprite beverage in the 13.2-oz size was made, says Coca-Cola, to make it easier for bottles to be recycled and remade into new bottles. The company’s long-term goal is to transition all Sprite bottles to the new, clear packaging by 2022.

Sutaria acknowledges that one hurdle to introducing 100% rPET bottles in the past has been the haziness resulting from recycled materials. “There is a slight tint to 13.2-ounce 100% recycled plastic, which has to do with the fact that these bottles are made from recycled plastics, and it is challenging to make the plastic perfectly clear,” she says. “Clear or blue-tinted bottles are necessary to make new bottles made from recycled PET, so for this reason, we introduced the new 13.2-ounce bottle made from 100% recycled material in a new, clear package.”

Also of note, Coca-Cola is moving away from the bioplastics-based PlantBottle, in use since 2009 for its Dasani brand, opting instead for a new 20-oz 100% rPET bottle. Explains Sutaria, “New 20-ounce bottles made from 100% recycled plastic began rolling out in March 2021, building on Dasani’s growing portfolio of more sustainable packaging. The evolution from PlantBottle to HybridBottle [announced in 2019 and made from 21% PlantBottle material, 30% rPET, and 49% virgin PET] to 100% rPET reflects Dasani’s ongoing commitment to finding more sustainable solutions that meet consumer demand.

“We have pivoted our plans in 2021 to focus on 100% rPET for sparkling and water brands in response to consumer testing, which showed a clear preference for 100% recycled content packaging over other choices, including renewable material.”

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Thermal Insulation at Intersection of E-Comm and Sustainability This e-comm startup hit the big time only a few months ago.

A big step in getting there was bolstering its package sustainability profile to better align with its brand positioning.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

Hyperlocal brands expand reach with e-comm

Paper-based material replaces EPS

By Matt Reynolds, Editor Headquartered outside of Toronto, truLOCAL was founded in 2016 as a monthly subscription platform for meat and food delivery that’s uniquely tied to independent local farms, butchers, and clean-meat processors. At its core, it’s a platform for a business like an organic farm or a neighborhood butcher shop to go Direct to Consumer (D2C)— something increasingly valuable when the pandemic has consumers nervous about stepping inside a supermarket.

“People had started looking for value-added meat products with qualities like 100% grass-fed, pasture raised, or organic,” says Marc

LaFleur, CEO and co-founder. “And it was always really tricky to find those things. You either had to drive out to the farm or find a specialty butcher or settle for something like Whole Foods, which doesn’t really focus on local.”

LaFleur had first-hand knowledge of the emergence of the valueadded meat trend as a door-to-door meat salesman in a previous life.

He realized there was no good channel to deliver such goods, so he created one.

“There was nobody in the online meat busines borrowing best prac-

This e-comm play for specialty and value-added proteins like wild-caught fish, free-range poultry, and grass-fed beef uses a striking printed corrugated shipper that’s fully recyclable.

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The secondary packaging system is curb-side recyclable in any municipality that uses full curb-side recycling. It consists of a printed corrugated outer box, paper insulation to allow dry ice packets to keep temperature, and a recyclable (in Alberta and BC; material not specified) bag to keep the corrugated and insulation from getting soggy due to any condensation in transit. tices from e-comm, SaaS [Software as a Service], and online real estate,” he says. “With e-comm, you’re looking at things like paid customer acquisition. And if you look at SaaS, you learn about user onboarding and customer retention. Even highly applicable lead-generation practices can be learned through real estate. No one was really doing that. So we figured why not take these proven business models and apply them to a niche market like online meat. We quickly realized we were solving a problem on the supplier side, too. The producers of these meats didn’t know where to sell their product. We’re trying to be the best company at connecting buyers to a source, and that should benefit both the consumer and the supplier.”

Recently, truLOCAL ’s growth has exploded, with business already expanded to four locations in both the U.S. and Canada when we spoke with founder Marc LaFleur in December of 2020. And as of Dec. 31, the company was acquired to the tune of nearly $17 million by EMERGE Commerce Ltd., an acquirer and operator of niche e-commerce brands.

And while the company story is an interesting one, the packaging went through a transformation of its own that’s worth noting.

Packaging transformation As attractive as e-comm and D2C might be, consumers see them as sources of excess packaging waste. Leadership at truLOCAL had to address that perception.

As a cold-chain shipper of perishable meat, the company initially was using unrecyclable expanded polystyrene (EPS) for thermal protection during transit. Customers indicated that they didn’t like that the containers couldn’t be recycled; it defeated one of the purposes of shopping local to begin with.

“Like a lot of startups, [packaging] was the furthest thing from our mind when we started. The path of least resistance was what was already an accepted cold chain food delivery—EPS boxes. That was sort

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of an industry standard,” LaFleur says. “It wasn’t until we started getting that customer feedback, and saw it for ourselves in our warehouses and seeing these stacks and stacks of EPS, that it really became front of mind.”

So truLOCAL set out to replace the coolers with a sustainable alternative that still protects shipments and maintains freshness. After all, the founders always wanted to be a business that did good, something accomplished by connecting consumers to these more boutique and niche producers by delivering value-added meat products. “But our packaging wasn’t lining up with that,” LaFleur says. “So that’s where we started realizing that we need to make a change.”

The company entered a year’s worth of testing, using the latest cooler materials running the gamut from lint-filled bags to corn-based insulators, even a few lowly crumpled-paper solutions (which LaFleur initially dismissed out of hand). The company needed a thermal solution to be flexible enough to handle their wide range of products, yet protective enough to maintain proper temperature range during transit—the success metric was 48 hours of rock-solid frozen product using dry ice.

Following an in-depth internal analysis of a multitude of different solutions, truLOCAL chose Ranpak Protector, a paper-based thermal insulation solution for use with dry ice or gel packs. “Protector cross-pads have been transformative products for us,” says Lafleur. “Their flexibility and performance made it an easy choice to replace our unsustainable, bulky Styrofoam coolers.” But LaFleur took some convincing.

The specially developed waved-paper pad system is an effective and eco-friendly alternative to plastic dunnage or expanded polystyrene (EPS) thermal insulation.

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“It wasn’t until we had one of the guys come down from Ranpak and do the whole demo that I started to come around to the paper solution. I still wasn’t sold.

And it wasn’t until we tested it side-by-side with the other solutions that I started to come around. It was the only thing we used that actually kept product refrigerated and frozen the way that we needed it. And I must’ve given it more tests than any of the other options because I still wouldn’t believe it. Eventually after just testing it a million different ways, it was the thing that beat everything out and we haven’t looked back since.”

The Ranpak system includes the semi-automatic WrapPak Protector (video at pwgo.to/5993). This rollstock-fed Kraft paper converting system creates waved paper pads at programmable sizes and increments.

For fulfillment centers interested in box lining, the wide paper pads produced on the system can cover an entire box surface with just one insert. Wrapping, blocking-and-bracing, and interleaving are possible with the pads, and with a double layer as is used in the truLOCAL application, the air trapped in the waved Kraft paper provides sufficient thermal insulation for dry ice for 48 hours.

According to Ranpak, the features listed above

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mean the WrapPak Protector unit can replace a wide range of existing packaging materials that truLOCAL used to require, including corrugated shippers, dunnage, aluminum-coated plastics, tapes, and inserts.

The WrapPak Protector converter is also highly programmable to match evolving needs, and it’s small enough to use at a pack table, either inline or as a standalone unit.

The small piece of machinery was easily integrated into truLOCAL’s

facility as it freed up nearly 50 sq m (520 sq ft) of space, previously dedicated to EPS packout, for more pack lines. But not only did Ranpak help with the storage space, it also made the packaging process easier and reduced the time needed to package boxes thanks to the on-demand delivery of the pads.

The response from customers has been equally positive, according to LaFleur. Social media posts feature customers embracing the experience of opening their truLOCAL boxes to enjoy their products wrapped beautifully and safely in Ranpak Protector pads. Consumers appreciate that the all-paper replacement solution is 100% curbside recyclable.

“People understand paper,” he adds. “Not only did Ranpak improve the unboxing experience for our customers, but we now spend less time packing our boxes. The on-demand delivery of the pads from the Protector makes the process so quick and easy. The simplicity of the paper is beautiful.”

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The truLOCAL platform offers two different corrugated shipper sizes, a small for CA$125 and a regular for CA$249. Members can customize the meat and poultry contents of their box by clicking the green “Build Your Box” button on the company website: www.trulocal.ca.

No more excuses Early on in the global adoption of e-commerce— especially for food or pharma in the e-comm cold chain—LaFleur says that the market and its customers had an understanding about sustainable packaging. There just weren’t a lot of sustainable packaging options on the market that could do the job without breakage or return, so sustainability would just have to be sacrificed at the altar of e-comm ease and convenience.

“But now, when you see there’s a solution like this one that gets you exactly where you need to be on both a functional and a cost perspective, there’s no excuse anymore not to build sustainability into your packaging,” he says. “This e-comm wave is creating a lot more

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Opinion: Pandemic Only Accelerated Permanent, Inevitable Shift Marc LaFleur, CEO of truLOCAL, is introspective about the pandemic and the boost it gave his fledging business. Nobody could have predicted it, so he certainly didn’t build the extra e-comm nudge into his business model, as much as it helped.

Meanwhile, other start-ups that relied on bricks and mortar suffered just by the luck of the draw; if the global emergency was of a different nature, it could have been his business that was negatively affected. He knows he landed on the lucky side of the coin in terms of omni-channel landscape shifts.

But he won’t apologize for having the foresight to know that the best practices rolling out of e-comm, SaaS, and online real estate are permanent. The old normal is gone, and when normalcy returns, it’ll be a new normal that looks more like what we thought 2030 would look like, had we asked in January 2020.

“Look, it’s all here to stay, and I’ll argue that all day,” he says. “From a business perspective with e-comm, it didn’t change a whole lot. All it did was accelerate the trends that were already happening. Everybody who has any sort of a lens on business was seeing that over time e-comm was eating into retail sales. That’s not to say that it was going to kill retail, just a move to more of an omni-channel approach between retail and online. But it’s been marching forward, and just forced some adoption curves upward even more steeply.”

He believes that a lot of people who otherwise wouldn’t have touched e-comm for another five years have been forced to try it during these past 14 months. The scales fell from a whole lot of eyes.

“It’s kind of like they realized, ‘wow, maybe I kind of get that this makes sense. So I think a lot of it’s here to stay. Now, let’s be honest.

The Bank of America put out that chart that showed that we were at like 15% e-comm adoption at the cusp of the pandemic, and in six weeks we went to 30% e-comm adoption.

Let’s say we dropped that down by 10% after things normalize. We’re still at 20% e-comm

adoption, so it’s still a dramatic increase. I think that’s a major takeaway. A lot of things have changed in the world— work from home, adherence to hygiene—but when it comes to the e-comm business, nothing changed but scale. We just accelerated the trends.” PW

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Both standard wraparound cases and a retail-ready format are handled by the case packer. Closeup photo below shows the corrugated lid being applied to a retail-ready case.

Liquid Filling Upgrade at Hartz Mountain From unscrambling straight through to case packing, this versatile new line features filling and capping out of Italy and a small-footprint case packer from Germany.

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Small-footprint case packer

Retail-ready packaging

By Pat Reynolds, VP Editor Emeritus In business since 1926 and headquartered in Secaucus, N.J., Hartz Mountain Corp. offers 14 well-known brands of products for dogs, cats, birds, and fish. Its facility in Pleasant Plain, Ohio, recently witnessed the installation of new compounding and packaging capabilities for its liquid pet shampoos that included a very capable packaging line.

Seven different bottle formats—an even split between HDPE and PET—are run on the line.

Some bottles get pumps and others triggers, while a third group gets a press-on cap. Cases, too, are varied, as both a standard wraparound case and a retail-ready format are run on the line. But Hartz Engineering Manager Jake Wojt-

HartzMountain.indd 38

Shown here is a typical example of the retail-ready packaging format used by Hartz. kiewicz is just as impressed with the Somic 424 case packer’s footprint as he is with its versatility.

“To be honest I was not that familiar with Somic until we went into this project,” says Wojtkiewicz. “We looked at a number of other options and saw some very good equipment. But when it came down to the amount of space required by the Somic machine combined with its versatility, it was very impressive. Plus the machine is very open and accessible. It’s a novel setup for a case packer, at least from my experience it is.

I’m more used to a giant chain running down the

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middle and a bunch of tuck arms and all that. With this machine everything kind of gets folded all at once in two different stations. There’s just not that many steps to the folding process before the bottles are in and the case is being discharged. A lot of it has to do with its servo technology. Everything is done at the HMI, so you’re not loosening bolts or adjusting belts or sprockets.”

The first piece of equipment in the line is an Omega Design bottle unscrambler that Hartz already had on premise and had Omega rebuild. Then bottles move into filling, then pump or trigger insertion, and capping equipment—all supplied by Weightpack.

“It’s basically three machines in a row,” says Wojtkiewicz. “If we’re not running bottles that take pumps or trigger sprayers, the bottles just run straight past the middle unit to get to the capper.” One advantage of having three separate machines is that changeover from pump or trigger spray to press-on cap can be scheduled in such a way that the filler is always running. When it’s necessary to change from pump to trigger spray, the filler feeds the press-on capper.

Net-weigh filler Bottles enter the first Weightpack machine, a 24-station rotary netweigh filler, by way of a feed screw that delivers bottles to one of 24 platforms on the filling carousel. Each platform has its own load cell, as filling is done by weight. “The fill accuracy is really impressive,” says Wojtkiewicz. “We’re at about a half gram standard deviation, which is fantastic for shampoos.”

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The 24-station rotary netweigh filler is extremely accurate.

Unlike many liquid fillers that fill by weight, there is no tank onboard the machine. The product is delivered by way of a volumetric pump drive. One advantage to this approach is that the Clean-In-Place routine is reduced when there are just tubes to be cleaned and no tank.

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“Not only does it mean one less part to clean,” says Wojtkiewicz, “it’s less water that we have to pay someone to take away.”

Also, the liquids run on the line range from viscous to watery. According to Weightpack Sales Director John DeFayette, the volumetric pump drive is best suited to handle all varieties with the same accuracy.

Containers exit the filler by way of a star wheel exchange that places them on what DeFayette calls a 12-head stretch carousel. “It pulls the

pump or trigger spray up to straighten the dip tube,” explains Wojtkiewicz. “Then the part is pushed into the container, so the tube is in and the part seated on the bottle’s neck finish before it even reaches the next carousel, which is where torqueing is done.” The torqueing carousel, which has nine stations, is also servo driven so there are no pulleys or cables involved as there would be if the machine were driven by mechanical linkages.

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pressure-sensitive labeler. It applies either wraparound or front-and-back labels. Supplied by Valley Forge Tape and Label, the labels are either paper or plastic film. Some are of the fold-out extended text variety, too, so that additional usage information can be conveniently included. Immediately after the labeler is a Keyence continuous ink-jet coder that puts date and lot code information on the label.

‘Remarkably robust’ Dual-head labeler applies either wraparound or front-and-back labels.

Bottles that get neither pump nor trigger spray move directly from the filler to the eight-head rotary capper that applies a 23-mm press-on flip-top cap. Injection molded of polypropylene by Berry Global, the caps pass through a Cognex vision system that looks at the orientation of each cap as it’s fed in. If it’s oriented wrong, the capper gets a signal to rotate it 180 deg.

Exiting the Weightpack system, bottles go through a dual-head Herma

“As we started to evaluate coding equipment we found that the Keyence machinery was remarkably robust,” says Wojtkiewicz. “It also has this smart dock system that was very attractive. Anytime we’re not running the line, we plug the print head into this smart dock and it basically goes through all of the preventive maintenance of rinsing the head off and checking the flow and all that. So it’s functionally hands-off. Or, if we do experience any issue with clogging, we plug it into the dock for a five-minute cleaning cycle. It’s one of those machines that requires very little operator intervention.”

Next in line is a shrink bundler from EDL that groups bottles in bundles of three in clear shrink film. “Our customers request this,” says Wojtkiewicz. “They don’t necessarily want to bring an entire case of 12 out to the shelf each time, and the bundles make restocking easier.” He also

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notes that this bundle format is what’s used for all wraparound cases.

But when the firm is running retail-ready packaging, which involves a corrugated tray plus corrugated lid, bottles bypass the shrink bundler and are packaged on the Somic 424 case packer in a five-count format.

The photos accompanying this story show the 12-count wraparound case in production. Flat blanks are pulled from a magazine feed by vacuum cups and advanced a short distance to the loading station.

Along the way the blanks pass a Nordson adhesive applicator. Incoming three-count bundles of bottles each are grouped in a staging area and when four bundles are in place, a pusher advances them onto a flat blank. The tooling wraps the corrugated case around the bundles.

Then the filled case is advanced to the next station for flap closing and discharge past a C6000 large-character in-jet printer from Domino.

See Hartz Mountain’s packaging line in action at pwgo.to/6027

Shrink bundler unitizes bottles in three packs that then proceed to the case packer.

Wojtkiewicz says 150 bottles/min is the sweet spot on the new line, which has been running since mid-December and now typically runs for a 10-hour shift five days a week. “Once you start looking at speeds much higher than that,” he notes, “you’re looking at a considerable price jump. We’re very proud of the setup we installed. It was a huge undertaking, especially in the middle of what became a global pandemic shortly after we got started. Somehow we managed to keep everything more or less on track and hit our targets. In the future we will probably automate the palletizing, but for now we’re very pleased with where we’re at.” PW

W!

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Seraphina Therapeutics discovered a trace fatty acid called C15:0, branded as Fatty 15, that the company says has evidence of significantly promoting cellular resilience and general health.

Subscription D2C Supplement Makes Sustainable Impression at Unboxing A new-to-science fatty acid supplement promises to improve human longevity.

Seraphina Therapeutics needed to create a packaging experience to align with and amplify the discovery.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

Starter kit/subscription refill model

Sustainable e-comm pack design

By Matt Reynolds, Editor The founders of nutraceutical company Seraphina Therapeutics, producer of the new Fatty 15 essential fatty acid supplement, come with an origin story that’s fit for a Bond movie. Dr. Stephanie Venn-Watson, the CEO, is a veterinary epidemiologist with a host of degrees and credentials across disciplines. Dr. Eric Venn-Watson, her husband and COO, is a Navy physician that spent years internationally deployed as a military orthopedic surgeon and aerospace medicine specialist before entering the private sector. Recently, the two have been featured in publications like Forbes,

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Authority, and Worth as examples of an entrepreneurial power couple.

But here’s a wrinkle that could be straight from a comic book: the Seraphina pair discovered their first product—a new-to-science variety of healthful fatty acid—by working on a long-standing project studying Navy-raised and -trained dolphins. The discovery was corroborated with the aid of 60 years’ worth of Navy-collected experimental dolphin data and cell samples. You read that correctly, military dolphins.

More specifically, the discovery is of a trace fatty acid called C15:0,

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eventually to be branded as Fatty 15, that Seraphina says has evidence of significantly promoting cellular resilience and general health. The company claims this fatty acid boosts human longevity by strengthening cell membranes, supporting mitochondria, and activating receptors in our bodies that regulate metabolism, immunity, mood, sleep, and appetite.

I’ll have to take their word for it, but the discovery was impressive enough for lauded scientific journal Nature to publish Venn-Watsons’ findings. Packaging’s World’s coverage area is a little narrower than the publications listed previously. Luckily, Fatty 15’s packaging origin story is a good one as well.

Shift from academia to commercialization The C15:0 ingredient itself spent more than a decade in research and development.

But as promising as it appeared to science and academia, Seraphina knew that C15:0 wasn’t going to sell itself to consumers.

“It’s our intellectual property, we’ve published on it, and we now have 28 patents on this technology, nine of which are issued,” says Eric Venn-Watson. “We finally had to ask ourselves how would we bring this discovery to the masses? How could we improve global health? More practically, we asked ourselves how we would manufacture this. And what kind of packaging would we need?”

Upstream, the processing and manufacturing of C15:0 involves a whole lot of regulatory oversight and hoops through which to jump. Seraphina has to keep its whole supply chain FDA appropriate for a food facility, including manufacture of the ingredient itself. Considering its target market of healthand sustainability-minded Millennials and Gen Xers, Seraphina also must certify that the product is both vegan and sustainably sourced. Then, once the artificially synthesized product is manufactured, there are guidelines on safely getting the ingredient into a capsule and safely getting the capsules into a package to protect it.

based go-to-market format meant consumers’ first physical interaction with the brand would be by way of a shipper arriving on their doorstep.

That, plus unboxing, would be the true zero-moment of truth.

To maximize its impact at this critical point, the company enlisted L.A.-based creative and brand design agency Phenomenon (which goes by phno) to work out brand positioning, naming, identity guidelines, and most importantly for our purposes, the sourcing and implementation of the packaging. Ali Filsoof, Design Director at phno, led this process.

An exploded view of the Fatty 15 starter kit demonstrates the use of corrugated inserts to safely handle a glass bottle through the many-touchpoint e-comm channel in a compact format without extra space or the need for dunnage.

More freedom in packaging But once those capsules were safely sealed in a suitable pack, many of those regulatory burdens subsided. Non-food-contact secondary packaging afforded the brand a lot more freedom for artistry and latitude for brand positioning.

At the time of the January 2021 launch, C15:0 was (and still is) a Direct to Consumer (D2C) distribution play using the Shopify D2C logistics software platform. This e-comm-

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The branded “pill pattern” is used on the tape and various decorative spots on the pack. The design is meant to recall the C15:0 chemical name for Fatty 15.

He was involved in an early, tenor-setting brand decision to move away to the clinical-sounding C15:0 ingredient name to the more engaging Fatty 15. The name plays on the juxtaposition between consumers’ historical vilification of fats and the fact that certain fats, like C15:0, are required for life (putting the “essential” in essential fatty acids). The name Fatty 15 is a bold attention getter and conversation starter to the brand’s health-aware target market.

Another branded design element that would end up being reused across the packaging is a “pill pattern” graphic depicting alternatingly oriented horizontal and vertical capsules (image above). One half of each capsule is represented by an unbroken “C” shaped line, the other half consists of 15 dots outlining the same, but inverse “C” shape. Taken together, this design is meant to recall to consumers the C15:0 chemical name.

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As Filsoof’s brand strategies and designs began to crystalize, he brought in Erin Moharita, CPP, principal of boutique packaging agency EKM, to make sure they were on point on the technical and procurement side of packaging. Moharita’s specialty is connecting entrepreneurs—many of whom are unfamiliar with the packaging supply chain or lack enough volume to meet their MOQs—with her extensive network of larger or premium packaging suppliers that might not otherwise engage with smaller, emerging brands.

Balancing sustainability with product protection, shelf life The set of health and wellness consumers that are likely to be drawn to Fatty 15 is of a piece with the set of consumers who value sustainability and seek to protect the environment.

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sules. Consider that a 25-pack and a 100-pack of ibuprofen might use “That’s why one of Seraphina’s early directives on packaging was to the same size of HDPE bottle—it may be simpler for a brand to limit be as environmentally friendly as possible. When I think about packpack formats, but it’s perceived as wasteful. Also, though they tend to aging in general—particularly in e-comm, D2C, and Amazon though carry decoration, these bottles aren’t exactly artistic. they’re working to change things—I think of a box, in a box, in a box, Fatty 15 takes a different tack with an elegant, durable glass bottle in a box. There are multiple layers of packaging that come to you in meant to be displayed in full view on a counter instead of hiding in a the mail,” Filsoof says. “I challenged the team and myself to practice medicine cabinet. The easily recyclable bottle is sprayed in the brand what I’m calling un-packaging. We’re not putting beautiful graphics on a box that’s bound to go into a plain shipper filled with unnecessary extra material like padding. We thought about what materials we could use that are unconventional but more sustainable. We researched for weeks on what those possibilities could be and then we started designing different packaging options for Seraphina’s Fatty 15.”

The team arrived at a dual-pronged packaging strategy that consists of a sustainability-minded starter Closure solutions for Home & Office kit shipper, designed to impart a carefully conceived Delivery Containers aesthetic during unboxing. The centerpiece of the starter kit is a durable glass bottle designed to contain the product—eventually. The bottle is delivered empty. Also within the starter kit are three metallized film pouches that each contain a month’s worth of Fatty 15 capsules (30).

“The pouch is a laminate foil—we needed that for shelf life, for the capsules to survive the warehouse setting prior to getting to a consumer, and then opening, and then being used,” says Moharita. “We wanted to make sure it had the longest shelf life possible.”

While multi-layer metallized films aren’t recyclable themselves, they accomplish the essential logistical task of getting the product into homes safely, and provide requisite oxygen and moisture barriers. But the lightweight pouches have some sustainability bona fides of their own. In this case, the top layer of the lamination is made from post-consumer recycled paper that is 100% FSC (Forest Stewardship Council)Certified. This paper layer is flexographically printed in three colors: white, green, and blue. White is used here as a base layer since printing on a paper layer over foil can be challenging.

Consumers are meant to open the starter kit, open the first three pouches, and fill the durable bottle with the 90 capsules. Thereafter, a quarterly, subscriptionbased e-comm delivery of three of the same three metallized film pouches incrementally restocks consumers.

After the initial starter kit, only a kraft-style flat mailer envelope is needed to deliver the refill pouches.

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color specified by Phenomenon, similar to sea foam green, then decorated with simple messaging via silkscreen printing directly on the bottle, one color—dark blue, bordering on black.

“Considering that the bottle is meant to be used over and over again, to be refilled month after month with refill pouches, it was really important that we had very high-quality decoration on the bottle. We need it be able to be handled multiple times with no issue, with no deco coming off,” Moharita says. “Printed labels in a bathroom over months can become damaged and not look so nice. We really felt that direct deco to the bottle not only gave it a really nice premium feel, but it just would be a longer standing product on your shelf that looks nice and clean.”

But wouldn’t a nutraceutical bottle be required to contain lots of dosing, instructional, and ingredient information that would clutter up the bottle or even require a label on the back? Remember, the capsules are primarily packaged in metallized foil pouches.

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closure. A wood closure was originally specified in the design briefs, but there were some problems marrying the bottle threading to the closure. After expanding a closure search, bamboo’s advantages quickly became evident. First, bamboo is a plentiful, fast-growing grass, so the material’s renewability profile is strong.

“And from a shipping and environmental standpoint, bamboo is a lot lighter than the wood, so I think in the end it was a better choice,” Moharita says. “I think the wood cap still was a great avenue that we explored, but the end result with the bamboo cap, in my opinion, is better.”

The lone piece of decoration that isn’t directly printed directly on the bottle and closure combination is a piece of recyclable pressure-sensitive tape. It provides tamper evidence, but also affords a narrow strip of billboard space to reinforce the “pill pattern” design.

“What’s really cool is that each and every bottle is unique because the grain pattern on bamboo is like a fingerprint,” Filsoof adds. “Essentially each consumer gets their own unique bottle. We wanted something that could really sit on your countertop and be really beautiful, something you’re proud of.”

The bamboo closure includes an inner polypropylene (PP) fitment to accept the bottle’s thread that is

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made out of 100% post-consumer recycled material.

“Anywhere we could, we were as environmentally friendly as possible in terms of the material we were sourcing,” Moharita says. “Durability and lifespan of the piece were really important as well.”

Based on estimated sales, the company says that in 2021 alone, the use of a durable glass bottle instead of a typical HDPE pill bottle will save 9.24 tons of plastic.

Secondary packaging’s strong sustainability profile

Fatty 15 uses a shipper made from 100% post-consumer recycled kraft corrugated, adding a circular quality to what already was recyclable. Instead of printing directly on corrugated, the Fatty 15 team decided to print a top sheet and laminate it to one side, the inside-facing corrugated wall. The top sheet is also recyclable and is made out of FSC-certified paper.

“We didn’t print directly on the kraft since we just felt that the top sheet gave a little bit of a cleaner look.

The color was a little more vibrant going down this route, and we just could get better quality. Also, I find that when you print on these top sheets, you’re getting less corrugated ‘dust’ coming from the shipper as it travels through the supply chain. That was really important since we feature a beautifully decorated glass bottle with no carton protecting it,” Moharita says.

A corrugated kraft insert is used to hold the glass bottle in place, and to orient it toward consumers as they unbox the product. This bottle-holding insert rests on a second corrugated insert, this one seamed and erected to be a 3D, shelf-like structure that forms a collar around the inside bottom of the shipper (see exploded view on page 45). This corrugated collar cradles Gain the advantage of 50+ three pouches-worth of capsules, three packs at 30 capyears of shrink packaging sules each, the amount that arrives with the starter kit.

“This box was made completely custom for this expertise, unmatched supply project, and [Moharita] and her team engineered it resiliency, 24/7 technical to have the smallest footprint possible,” Filsoof adds. service and today’s broadest “There is no extra room—there’s only enough room to portfolio of sustainable, hold the corrugated inserts, which are holding the bottle and the pouch of capsules underneath, but that’s high-performance polyolefin it. Everything was engineered so it could be handled shrink films. and shipped across the country and remain intact. The insert that holds the bottle is perfectly laser cut to the bottle’s size, so we didn’t have to put any additional New! Clysar® EVO™ Recyclable Shrink Films padding on top. We really just have an [instructional pamphlet] insert that sits on top. We went through a couple iterations of this to land here and we’re really proud of it because there’s not an inch of excess of corrugated; it’s precisely what we needed to get this shipped properly.”

With the secondary packaging format decided, it fell to Filsoof to design what would be printed on the internal top-sheet. As we’ve seen with other successful subscription-based D2C personal care plays (see Grove and Truman’s), text printed on the top sheet is punchy, upbeat, and implies a wink. The design uses infographic-style visual cues and the brand’s “pill pattern” graphic, flexographically printed in two colors, the brand’s sea foam green and blue. Of note, the inks used here are vegetable-based, thus more sustainable.

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The inside of the corrugated shipper is laminated with a printed top sheet that conveys the upbeat, quippy brand messaging. Stacked shippers illustrate how little space is wasted in this packaging system. to the rescue,” explaining how this product is going to replenish a user’s cells. We were trying to educate people at every touchpoint, even though they’ve previously researched it on the website, by reminding them what’s going on with this product,” Filsoof says.

The final top sheet-printed flourish appears on the inside bottom flap, intended to be read as a consumer removes the last of the three pouches of capsules. There, dark blue text on sea green paper reads, “Okay, now you can recycle me,” serving both as a closing remark on the brand’s sustainability profile, and practical reminder to the consumer (see exploded view on page 45).

One final sustainability-related element of note on the shipper—the company is using a recycled kraft paper, water-activated tape that’s custom printed. What’s particularly interesting about it is that it is fully recyclable while still stuck to the corrugated shipper—no need to remove it. Tapes that are reinforced by fiber crosshatching technically should be removed before 21_0569_Packaging_World_APR Mod: February 22, 2021 4:08 PM Print: 03/11/21 page 1 v2.5

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entering the recycling stream, but this variety of tape doesn’t require that. The custom printed tape features the brand name, Fatty 15, surrounded by the branded capsule pattern illustrating the C15:0 chemical.

“As much as you might not think about tape when you’re looking at the whole package, with the careful branding, beautiful packaging, and everything we designed in the brand, I think that the tape was a really huge win,” Moharita says. “Because of the weights, and how we designed everything in consideration of how these ship, we were able to use this type of unreinforced tape, which is really cool.”

Refill Packs Since the starter kit contains 90 days-worth of capsules (three pouches at 30 capsules each), about three months pass before the next delivery from Fatty 15 arrives at consumers’ doorsteps. The brand calculated that it’d be favorable for its customers to have enough time to really start feeling the positive effects of the supplement before they started the subscription portion of their account.

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Metallized pouches, with an FSC-certified, printed paper layer exterior, carry the capsules through the supply chain while providing a moisture and oxygen barrier. These pouches easily fit into a small kraft mailer for the subscription-based refills.

“We’re just using a mailer envelope that is fully recyclable. On top of the mailer envelope, all the printing on there is done with an algaebased ink which is really interesting, it’s kind of a newer product in the industry that’s highly renewable,” Filsoof says. “I started investigating it a little further and we found a vendor. We’re really proud of the mailer as well because it’s as small as it can be to hold the three pouches [90 capsules] and it’s fully recyclable, and the algae ink is unique.”

The post-consumer recycled padded kraft paper is FSC-certified and uses a fiber-based padding that’s also recyclable, unlike bubble mailers.

The mail is printed with typically quippy text that reads, “Don’t worry, cells. Reinforcements are here.” The tape closure is the same waterbased recycled and recyclable tape found on the starter kit’s shipper.

r.

What’s next?

The first product produced by Seraphina Therapeutics, Fatty 15’s initial foray as a D2C play is likely to be exactly that—only its first. The brand is currently looking into other channels, retail and otherwise, that will be able to accommodate their current pack format, and also is considering new packaging formats tailored to the channel. All of this is top of mind for Eric and Stephanie Venn-Watson.

Another next step, one that Eric Venn-Watson think might really blow the doors off of this discovery, is FDA recognition as GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) categorization for C15:0 as a food additive or food ingredient. This takes the fatty acid outside of the capsule and beyond the nutritional supplement category, and into the food ingredient category for healthful foods.

“And I think from the Seraphina Therapeutics and Fatty15 standpoint, and the ingredient FA15, our goal is to just really improve global health. This is important and we want to get this out to people and dolphins,” he says. Wait, dolphins? Bringing the story full circle, Eric adds that, “This supplement’s going to go back to the dolphins as well, to continue to improve their health, which is neat.” PW

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Pasta Purveyor Replaces Fossil-based with Plant-based Rollstock The new PBR material is RIC1 approved so it is identified as PET in typical sorting processes, meaning it can be recycled along with its accompanying PET without a problem.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

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Labels call out sustainable package material

From humble beginnings as a vendor in Seattle’s famous Pike Place Market more than 30 years ago, Cucina Fresca Gourmet Foods is now a leading U.S. producer of natural, prepared pastas and sauces. Owned and operated by executive chef Brad Glaberson since 2005, the brand is inspired by fresh, high-quality ingredients like vine-ripened tomatoes, premium cheeses, and garden-picked basil. The Cucina Fresca line of prepared foods has grown to more than 130 products that are available in more than 1,500 grocery stores, specialty shops, and foodservice channels nationwide.

Cucina Fresca strives to create great tasting products while staying true to a philosophy of sustainability, a position that further endears the company and its products to a wide range of consumers.

“If we don’t do it at home, we don’t do it at work,” Glaberson says.

This philosophy translates into company initiatives include everything from composting food waste to choosing more sustainable packaging materials.

Fans of Cucina Fresca products have come to appreciate this approach. So when the company started expanding its retail line of handcrafted pastas and sauces, some began to express concerns that the products came in plastic packaging.

To address this, the company first transitioned from its original PVC with EVOH barrier sealant semi-rigid, to PET with EVOH barrier sealant.

But the changes didn’t stop there. Sealed Air then introduced CRYOVAC® Brand Plant-Based Rollstock (PBR) to Cucina Fresca, which they would eventually choose to use to replace all of the EVOH and part of the PET.

When Cucina Fresca started expanding its retail line of handcrafted pastas and sauces, some fans of the brand began to express concerns that the products came in plastic packaging.

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A Wardrobe Change For Cans.

So, you have some beautifully decorated cans that have outlived their usefulness? Maybe all they need is an updated look to serve a new purpose. Verst Logistics Packaging Division’s latest offering can preserve current unused cans and help put existing inventory to good use. With the help of cold foil backer, a new shrink sleeve eclipses all present imagery, enabling you to completely cover over the current printed design. It’s easy, resourceful and works for beverages* and foods.

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“We were getting emails from some of our customers with concerns that our packaging was plastic. We knew we needed plastic MAP to keep the products fresh, but we also wanted to address their concerns. We’d been talking to Sealed Air about PBR but weren’t sure it was right,” says Cucina Fresca President Patrick Clingman.

That’s because the brands’ stakeholders were initially skeptical when introduced to packaging with barrier properties that come from cornbased materials. It’s a common response from brand owners facing these choices. But once they tested the material, saw that it also ran flawlessly on existing equipment, and ably protected their products, they were believers.

The new multi-layer tray structure

While exterior layers of the multi-layer tray Cucina Fresca redesigned its labels to call out the use of CRYOVAC® brand plant-based structure remain traditional PET for safety, dura- rollstock, and the brand will be developing content on its website to help educate its bility, and thermoforming properties, the corn- customers on the benefits of using renewable resources in plastic packaging. based renewable PBR barrier layer is sandwiched for their lidding film, so to account for the lidding, we would say apbetween the two external layers of either PET or recycled PET. proximately a 24% reduction of fossil-based plastic for the whole pack.

“The PBR layer replaces 28% of the ‘regular’ plastic content in the We also introduce a very thin sealant layer to seal to top webs on tradiforming web,” says Monty Kayes, Director of New Business Developtional packaging equipment.” ment, Sealed Air. “They continue to use traditional barrier flexible film

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When we hear “plant-based,” the mind leaps to PLA. This is not PLA, nor is it related to PLA. Supplier Kuraray uses a unique process to produce its Plantic® resin, used in this Sealed Air PBR, from a specific highamylose corn. This special corn is grown separately from corn intended for human or animal consumption and requires minimal land usage for this product. Also, PLA is not easily biodegradable or combatable with the PET recycle stream. The Plantic portion of this web is biodegradable

and when combined with PET skin layers is compatible with the PET recycling stream. Unlike PLA, says Kayes, Plantic supports both a renewable and a circular plastics economy.

The Plantic layer offers oxygen barrier that is equal or better than most traditional barrier resins, according to Kayes. Many barrier packages use EVOH or PVDC for the oxygen barrier, but this is no longer needed thanks to the plant-based layer. So not only does PBR offer excellent product protection and shelf life, its more sustainable since it replaces significant portions of the petroleum-based plastic.

This is owing to the fact that renewable materials like corn are agricultural crops that can be replenished by natural or other recurring processes in a reasonable amount of time. Renewable materials added to plastics help reduce dependence on petroleum-based resources, and also help to reduce the carbon footprint of packaging.

“Growing and converting corn requires much less energy than extracting oil and converting that oil to resin. It is a major step in reducing our dependency on oil, again while not sacrificing protection of our perishable food products. Food waste is a major contributor to our carbon footprint so we know any solutions we bring to the market should not sacrifice protection,” Kayes says.

Recyclability profile While the remaining portions of the material are traditional oil-based plastics, the PBR forming web is designed to be recycled right alongside them. The PBR material is RIC1 approved so it is identified as PET in typical sorting processes. In the recycling process, the materials are ground and washed. During this process, the corn layer can wash away, leaving PET to complete the cycle. It is not advertised as recyclable because these thermoforms are not generally collected curbside in the U.S. at rates high enough (Federal Trade Commission’s Green Guides suggest >60% of the population must have direct access to collection).

“But we will be ready when the collection infrastructure catches up,” Kayes says. “So, we are introducing renewable content and will also be able to introduce recycled content—offering a very strong beginning of life impact. Once collection improves, we will be able to complete the circular economy with our Plant Based Rollstock.”

Adds Clingman, “Once we understood how it took [a portion of the] regular plastic out of the equation it was a no-brainer. Now we’re excited to share this change with our customers.”

In fact, they’ve redesigned their labels to call out the use of CRYOVAC® brand plant-based rollstock, and they will be developing content on their website to help educate their customers on the benefits of using renewable resources in plastic packaging.

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Over 1 in 4 CPGs are Exploring Renewable Packaging by Testing Plant-Based and Bio-Based Packaging Options One of the UN Sustainable Development Goals: Packaging materials that can be renewed to create a circular economy.

Suppliers Recognize That Resin Content is a Key Component to Future Material Innovation One of the UN Sustainable Development Goals for Materials:

We just implemented an initiative for next year to look into adding some sustainable packaging to our products.

Packaging Engineer, Vitamins and Supplements

We need to improve our material selections from resin suppliers and use more post-consumer recycled content to offer a more diverse product portfolio.

VP Technical Excellence and Innovation, Material Supplier

Work towards increasing the share of renewable content to at least 75%, sourced responsibly.

Source: Packaging Sustainability: A Changing Landscape, a 2020 report from PMMI’s Business Intelligence.

Get the full report, or download a free Executive Summary, at pwgo.to/6024

“To us, it’s pretty simple. We want to leave this world a better place, not just for us, but for our kids, our customers, and our customers’ kids.

We want to make sure the plastic we use leaves the least environmental impact, and that’s what we’ve got with CRYOVAC,” Glaberson says.

So why aren’t more companies making this transition? Because, says FeedersConveyorsAd.qxp_Layout 2:15Also, PM it’s Page 1 Sealed Air, it’s still 1in3/13/20 its infancy. a technology that Sealed Air

has exclusivity rights over in certain food markets in North America. The company partnered with Kuraray to expand this technology and have made significant investments in new assets to produce these products in the U.S. And while the materials are able to run on traditional packaging equipment, the production of these materials is a very specific technology that requires specifically designed equipment. —Matt Reynolds

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AUTOMATION

OEM APPLICATION NOTE

New Tech Comes to Heat Seal Bars This packaging machinery OEM is pioneering the use of a brand new method of making heat seal bars that is adapted from printed circuit board manufacturing.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

Integrated control electronics

Energy savings through tooling design

By Pat Reynolds, VP Editor Emeritus SN Maschinenbau is a German manufacturer of horizontal pouch packaging machines, primarily roll-fed form/fill/seal machines as opposed to machines that handle pre-made pouches. In the past few years SN has led the way in the use of a new heat-seal bar technology from Germany’s watttron called cera2seal. Unlike the technology used for many years, where the same temperature is delivered across the entire length of the seal bar, with cera2seal the temperature can be controlled in a targeted manner.

Integrated control electronics inside the watttron sealing bars deliver varying Not all pouch-sealing operations require this temperatures to electrical circuits printed on the seal bar’s ceramic/aluminum oxide dynamically regulated temperature control. But in surface. a standup pouch or a pouch with side gussets or a machine body,” says Gunnar Flossbach, Head of Development and Design pouch with a zipper or spout, the material is thicker in some areas due at SN. “We’ve seen lower energy consumption, which of course is a great to folds that are required. Thus, in some areas across the length of the advantage in view of today’s emphasis on environmental concerns.” seal being made, the tooling needs to close on four layers of flexible Another reason it’s desirable to have greater control over heat sealfilm while in other areas it closes on just two layers. With watttron’s ing temperatures has to do with recent and increasingly rapid developtooling, it’s possible to deliver 200º to the four-layer areas and just 150º ments in monomaterial packaging films. The idea behind such films, to the two-layer spots. And that, of course, brings cost and sustainability of course, is that if you’re not combining things like aluminum foil, benefits. polyester, or nylon, for example, in a largely polyethylene composition, “When we started to integrate the watttron sealing tools into our mathe resulting material fits far more readily into the existing and wellchinery, we noticed that we had a significantly lower heat input into the

Among the machines featuring the new heat seal bar technology is the FM 060 horizontal form/fill/seal machine.

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as higher than traditional conductive sealing but lower than ultrasonic established PE recycle stream. But these new mono-materials are more sealing. But if it delivers such things as more uptime, flexibility, manueasily damaged or tend to stretch too much if the heat being applied facturing consistency, and improved quality control, Stein believes that to them is not optimally controlled. The watttron tooling delivers this OEMs and Consumer Packaged Goods companies alike will be only too optimal heat control. happy to make the investment.

A third benefit to the cera2seal technology is that due to the low Go to pwgo.to/6028 for a video animation showing the wattron thermal mass of the system—i.e., the tooling is much lighter—heat up tooling in action. PW and cool down are very quick. This allows easy access to the machinery by operators and minimizes potential for danger.

Included is an LED display that signals the operator when the sealing element is safe to touch.

So much for the “what” of cera2seal, which, it’s important to point out, can be retrofitted onto existing form/fill/seal machines. What about the “how?”

According to watttron CEO Marcus Stein, the manufacturing process behind cera2seal is based on ceramic thick film technology commonly used in the making of printed circuit boards (PCBs) in the computer industry. So it’s fundamentally a matter of printing electrical circuits onto a ceramic/aluminum oxide substrate. A key difference is that the PCBs found in the computer industry are not designed for a high-temperature environment. So watttron’s technology bears more similarity to the PCBs found in the automotive or aerospace industries, where electrical circuits are printed onto ceramic/aluminum substrates in a way that permits them to function in high-heat environments.

What’s actually printed along the length of a watttron seal bar is a series of individual zones each measuring 5 mm sq (about 1⁄2 sq in.). Each zone is independently controlled by integrated control electronics.

A central information and intelligence unit called the watttrix server functions like a small PC and communicates to each zone what temperature it should deliver and receives back the real temperature of each zone.

SN currently has horizontal form/fill/seal systems running commercially at customer plants where side and bottom seals are made via watttron cera2seal technology. In development are machines that will also use cera2seal tools to seal pour spout fitments to flexible film pouches.

One note of interest is that before watttron delivThe simplicity of pneumatics combined with the advantages of ered its unique flexible film sealing capabilities, it was electric automation working on a similar version of the technology that was designed for the tooling used on thermoforming The Simplified Motion Series is ideal for movements between mechanical machinery. In fact, at PACK EXPO Las Vegas 2019, CEO end positions with a reduced number of parameters.

Stein delivered a presentation on this cera2heat topic as part of the Innovation Stage series. But making • Operation without any software based on the plug and work principle thermoforming tooling a commercial reality proved a • Easy and quick commissioning without a computer, software or other little more complicated than heat seal tooling. Stein accessories does indicate, however, that pilot applications in ther• Connection via IO-Link for enhanced functionality including diagnostics moforming are in place and that he expects that 2021 • Simple control with 2 digital inputs for basic functions or enhanced will see an announcement on progress made in the control with IO-Link for additional functions thermoforming space.

Finally, watttron readily acknowledges that its heat seal tooling comes with an upcharge. Stein describes it

Looking for cost effective and energy efficient positioning?

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Visit the link below each item for more info.

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Linear Electric Actuator The SMAC LDL electric actuator, available in 1⁄2-in. and 1-in. widths, is said to be cost competitive with pneumatic cylinders.

SMAC Moving Coil Actuators pwgo.to/6031

AUTOMATION TECHNOLOGY

Modular IPC Pro-face America’s PS6000 Modular IPC Series features flexible options tailored to a customer’s needs. Units are available with multiple screen sizes and processor options.

Pro-face America pwgo.to/6032

Controllers PFC200 Generation 2 controllers from Wago supports MQTT protocol and can easily be configured to connect to cloud services. It includes four configurable Ethernet ports, SD card slot, and is IIoT-ready.

Wago pwgo.to/5795

Single-Phase Compressor Soft Starters Web Server Module Siemens introduces the Sinamics V20 Smart Access web server module designed to mount directly onto a drive, transforming a mobile device or laptop into a virtual operator panel for drive control.

Siemens pwgo.to/5996

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Carlo Gavazzi launches the RSBS Series compact, single-phase softstarter designed for single-phase compressors. It is an ideal solution in single-phase voltage networks that are prone to voltage fluctuations.

Carlo Gavazzi pwgo.to/5866

3/18/21 2:26 PM

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Infusing Culture into Craft Packaging Design An Inglewood, Calif.-based brewing company uses design and digital marketing to resonate with consumers who have traditionally been overlooked in the craft beer market.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

Craft label design

Improving equity

By Keren Sookne, Director of Editorial Content, Healthcare Packaging “One of the reasons we started a craft brewing company in the first place was due to the lack of accessibility of premium craft beer in communities of color,” explains Teo Hunter, COO and head of brewing operations for Crowns & Hops Brewing Co. He says it’s easy enough to find craft beer at Whole Foods, Bristol Farms, and Trader Joe’s but, “as soon as you start going into the inner city, you don’t see any of those establishments. You barely see grocery stores, and those grocery stores are inundated with mass marketed beer that don’t have the quality attributes we would hope people would identify the same way Beny [Ashburn] and I did.

“It’s amazing to see what has been accomplished over the past six years. Our efforts to push and truly achieve racial equity in the craft beer industry are being realized on so many levels—from Black beer influencers promoting the industry, to business owners that are now opening craft beer establishments from breweries to bars. We’re honored to be at the forefront of this movement. Black people have contributed to the beverage industry for generations. It’s like a full circle moment for us to now shine a light on these contributions along with leading the charge on cultural ownership in craft beer.”

Established in 2015 with CEO and co-founder Beny Ashburn, the duo’s Crowns & Hops is based in Inglewood, Calif., and is currently brewing out of two facilities in the state—one in Santa Rosa and one in Inglewood. By the end of the year they aim to centralize all of those efforts in Inglewood to sell directly to consumers.

Packaging aligns with mission

Wills of Steel, one of Crowns & Hops’ Women’s History Month releases, hit shelves the last week of March.

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Hunter explains that they package solely in 16-oz aluminum cans to align with current craft beer trends and to ensure the beer has the best protection and opportunity to survive. Full sleeved cans are from converter R.B. Dwyer supplied by Ball. The company also uses p-s labeled cans at the moment. Their next goal is to transition completely to sleeved cans versus labeled cans to boost efficiency and remove a process from the fulfillment stage.

With their package design, Crowns & Hops aims to resonate with consumers who have traditionally been overlooked in the craft beer market. Hunter notes, “Our goal from a visual standpoint was to communicate culture—in all the different varieties that Beny and I under-

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PFLOW INDUSTRIES

PASSION FOR LIFTING OUR WORLD

ENGINEERING VERTICAL LIFTING SOLUTIONS FOR THE PACKAGING INDUSTRY SINCE 1977 www.pflow.com

Visit the PFlow Industries Showcase at: WWW.PROMATSHOW.COM Teo Hunter (left), COO and head of brewing operations, and Beny Ashburn, CEO and co-founder of Crowns & Hops Brewing Co.

stand it—to the craft beer community so that our Black and Brown patrons could start to recognize themselves in an industry that otherwise they were invisible to.”

This means integrating Black culture into premium craft beer packaging. “We can execute that in ways beyond it just being some graffiti or a Hip-Hop verse on a can. Our goal is to really showcase in unique ways how we are not just this monolithic group of people,” says Hunter. “So we use monikers that are aligned with nostalgia, whether it’s the cassette tapes on our Beat Messenger pilsner or the topography of Inglewood in Urban Anomaly stout. In Elevated Cypher IPA, we actually use script as if someone was writing verses.

“We’re about to start segueing into other symbols that are significant to our culture in a way that frames it, but doesn’t rip off someone else’s IP, which is a huge issue in our industry. We think it’s lazy creative. A lot of times it’s utilizing and appropriating culture when it’s not intrinsic to the ownership. But we certainly are hoping to make sure that you can identify Black and Brown culture in our packaging. I think it’s important—if you see an Irish beer, you can tell pretty much immediately it’s an Irish beer. If it’s a Mexican lager, you can tell.”

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Defining the Equity-Minded Phrase “Doing the Work” Hunter explains, “I think one of the things that we really do our best to lean into is I think people use the term ‘doing the work’ a little too loosely. I’m not sure if people understand that ‘doing the work’ is generational work—the work that you’re seeing now has to stay consistent for longer than we’re going

to be on this Earth for us to have any true systemic change.

We put that message and that concept in our packaging, and any time we have an opportunity to have this conversation, we always want to take it. We remind people that it will probably be uncomfortable, but for us, it’s always going to come from a place of love, it’s going to come from a place of helping people understand that there needs to be accountability. We look at 2020 as the world being deputized to now be a part of change, because I think people now know that if they’re not a part of it then they’re failing, they’re not working towards the change that they may be saying that they want.” PW

Labels are designed by Matt Taylor from Varnish Studio, whom Hunter met 15 years ago through their backgrounds in packaging. Hunter explains, “At the time, he was doing a lot of design work for Warner Brothers music. He’s a Grammy Award-winning designer who’s designed for Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Roots…some phenomenal groups.”

The pair had a “wild idea” that they’d be in the craft beer industry one day. “Fast forward to today he designs for Mountains Walking, Coda Brewing, Eppig Brewing, Roadhouse Brewing, and Erosion Wine. He is probably one of the more impactful packaging designers I’ve ever met in my life,” says Hunter.

Because messaging plays such an important role, Crowns & Hops plans to eventually switch to printed cans versus sleeved cans to maximize print area for copy on the company ethos and each recipe’s story.

Elevated Cypher IPA’s design features script to signify handwritten verses.

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Packaging is performed in-house at the two California facilities. Currently, they package approximately four recipes a month, 250 to 300 cases per recipe.

When choosing contract partners, it was key that they had packaging in-house to remain as cost-effective as possible. “Craft beer is not cheap, so as many things that we could keep in-house just really allowed us to redirect those funds to phenomenal creative and digital marketing,” he says.

Digital marketing One striking thing about Crowns & Hops is the production value and frequency of its social media posts and videos (@CrownsandHops on Instagram). While both Ashburn and Hunter contribute, Ashburn’s extensive background in marketing production serves as the cornerstone. Hunter notes, “She helped build the internal creative team at Beats by Dre, worked at Sonos, and prior to that, she produced commercials for major marketing and advertising companies. So consumer products—framing them and presenting them to the community—is something that she’s always been a part of.”

For Hunter, working in home entertainment packaging for Warner Brothers, Universal, Paramount,

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Ashburn drives the creative strategy, having led creative efforts at Beats by Dre and Sonos, and more. The brand’s Island Anomaly was released the second week of March.

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and others was where he built his attention to detail, packaging, pre-press, and complete project management. He says, “I think most people, when they work with us for the first time, think they’re going to get home brewers that don’t know how to position or project themselves. But Beny and I are very intentional and specific, and do our best to create a process internally that allows for that execution to reach people.”

BPLB Artist Series: The ‘BLACK JOY’ label design, a limited edition run for Women’s History Month, features art from Kiki Kitty.

Accessibility and opening doors Currently, all sales are through their distributor and retail partners, partly because of COVID-19, but also to keep products accessible to communities of color. A transition to e-commerce will take place first, in Q2 of 2021.

Crowns & Hops holds its “8 Trill Pils” initiative, focused on achieving racial equity in craft beer by opening doors for the next generation. The 8 Trill Pils Grant, supported by Scottish brewery and multinational pub chain Brewdog, is a grant program that awarded a total of $100,000 to five Black-owned craft beer businesses, to provide financial support in the areas of business development, growth, and sustainability.

Sleeve Seal is focused on a new era of Automated Intelligence. The SSL-450 labeler integrates a more intelligent, precisely tunable set of controls with the capacity to label multiple formats from 25 to 450CPM. Get repeatable labeling performance in a small footprint with the SSL-450 for record setting efficiencies.

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Teo’s journey to packaging and beyond Hunter speaks fondly of his packaging journey. He started as a salesman at Kinko’s, selling so many copies that a small commercial printer took notice and hired him. He sold color copies during the day, learned commercial printing and pre-press in the afternoon, and went to school at night. He adds, “I was presenting to a group, and I’d run outside and go over these proof corrections, then I’d go back in and do a presentation then go back out and do more corrections. One of the guys in the class had been watching me and he pulled me aside one day saying, ‘We have a company that does entertainment, pre-press color correction, and printing, we could use you.’ With one meeting and about 30 days later, I was the new Universal Home Entertainment representative.”

the ropes of printing and packaging, things that I still carry with me today. I’m happy to say that he was one of our first investors when we were doing a crowdfunding campaign. Talk about emotional—when I saw Patrick’s name on our investor list, it rocked me. He taught me not only values in curating and keeping relationships and really honing my skills as a packaging professional, but also a ton of life lessons as well.”

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92 COMPLETE SNACK PACKAGING SOLUTIONS • • • • • • • •

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Accumulation Horizontal motion conveying Incline, belt and bucket conveyors Filling and multihead weighing Bagmaking and casepacking Checkweighing and seal checking Foreign object and defect inspection Controls and information systems

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Helping you bring your best products to market.

Hunter’s keen eye for branding comes from an extensive packaging background prior to cofounding Crowns & Hops.

Hunter relays a story of success despite the lack of diversity in the packaging industry during his time in home entertainment packaging. “I would bring my proofs to go over with the vendors. None of the other reps knew who I was—they assumed that I was the delivery boy,” he says. “It worked out great for me because I ended up going in and getting right into the client first every time. I would end up getting the next project before the other vendors came in because they didn’t realize I was talking to the client. And it took maybe about a year before they all realized that I was taking all their projects. By that time, I had expanded to Paramount, Fox, and Miramax, but I had a pretty good run due to the ignorance of some of my fellow salespeople in the printing and packaging industry.”

Hunter gives credit to Patrick Seeholzer (formerly of Color Service in Monterey Park, Calif.) for taking him under his wing. “He and his brother, Ken, showed me

Delivering Results.

With Heat and Control, you have a partner with the scale to support your success, the innovation to advance your operations, and a commitment to quality that will help you offer better products for consumers.

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We are successful when you are successful.

That’s why we apply creativity, engineering excellence, and determined perseverance to every project to help our customers get the performance their business demands—whether measured by flavor, efficiencies, sustainability, improvement, or innovation.

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info@heatandcontrol.com | heatandcontrol.com

LOOKING BACK. PRESSING FORWARD. ALWAYS INNOVATING.

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QC Boost through X-ray Inspection This high-quality pet product company cares deeply about what’s in the packages it ships, so management made x-ray inspection part of a recent plant expansion.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

Use of biopolymers

Getting data on raw ingredients

Since 1979, Earth Animal has been setting new benchmarks for the pet industry. Their wholesome chews, treats, dog food, healing supplements, and remedies are made with pure, fresh, and sustainable ingredients. To help meet their high-quality requirements, Earth Animal’s “Riverstone” facility in Westminster, Md., added a new X33 x-ray inspection system from Mettler-Toledo Safeline while they were renovating and expanding.

“Our pet foods are made with real, whole food and natural ingredients—these introduce a foreign material risk. Things like pebbles and

shell fragments are not uncommon. We are incredibly careful that no foreign bodies make their way into the final packaged product,” says Kelly Raiser, General Manager and co-owner of Riverstone. “Our new X33 x-ray system helps us achieve that every single day.”

Earth Animal’s Riverstone facility primarily produces Earth Animal’s Dr. Bob Goldstein’s Wisdom® brand of dog food. It’s packaged in foursided, gusseted stand-up bags made of Braskem’s sugarcane-based I’m green™ Polyethylene (PE) biopolymer. Bags weigh 1, 3, or 10 lb.

“Earth Animal has always been passionate about how, why, and what

This x-ray inspection system now helps ensure that no foreign bodies make their way into the final packaged product.

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Having trouble keeping up with the latest packaging and processing trends?

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The gusseted stand-up bags are made of sugarcane-based I’m green PE biopolymer.

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we do, and for us, we have felt that sustainability is a major part of our DNA,” says Stephanie Volo, VP of Marketing and Sustainability for Earth Animal. “Incorporating the I’m green PE biopolymer material into our Wisdom Dog Food packaging was a natural fit given each company’s commitment to sustainability. We couldn’t be happier with the result.”

Riverstone also produces pet treats in conventional stand-up pouches weighing between 4 and 7 oz. A movable roller conveying system from Hytrol allows either of Riverstone’s two primary packaging lines to feed into the new inline X33 x-ray system at a rate of 18 to 20 bags/ min. Packages that don’t pass inspection are automatically removed from the line with a pneumatic reject device, also from Mettler-Toledo.

“We added x-ray inspection while renovating and expanding our facility,” says Nick Stalder, Production Manager at Riverstone. “Our sales rep, Dick DeNenno at Reliant Packaging Machinery, encouraged us to go with x-ray inspection instead of metal detection for our application.

In addition to detecting metal, our x-ray system can identify stones and shells and other foreign bodies you wouldn’t want your pet to eat. The X33 provides us with the confidence that our products are free from foreign materials.”

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‘Particularly challenging’ “Our dog food is particularly challenging for inspection equipment because it’s like trail mix, containing dried meat, fruits, veggies, and our proprietary Vitality Cube™, which contains vitamins, mineral, grains, dried fruit, and sprouted seeds. There are so many little pieces that have different densities and moistures in the same mix,” says Claire Farrell, Quality Assurance – Quality Control Manager at Riverstone. “The X33 is able to adjust for all those tiny differences. You can actually see each of the ingredients on the screen as it runs them. Its sensitivity is quite impressive.”

Listen and subscribe for free wherever you get your shows!

pmmi.org/podcast

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Pilot Program for Recycling Pet Food Bags Earth Animal is the program brand sponsor of Flex Forward, an ongoing pilot program that is testing how retailers and consumers engage in the collection and recycling of plastic pet food bags. Led by the Pet Sustainability Coalition, the pilot is still underway, but all signs are pointing to a growing demand by consumers and the retailers, says Melissa Bauer, director of sustainability at the Pet Sustainability Coalition.

Packaging World:

How did Flex Forward start?

Melissa Bauer:

In 2019, we did a feasibility study where we found that each year in the U.S., 300 million pounds, or 99 percent of all pet food and treat bags in the U.S., are disposed to landfill rather than recycled. Currently, nearly all pet food and snack bags are made by co-extruding and laminating multiple layers of film plastics into a multilayer sandwich structure to form the package. Each layer performs a different functional purpose, and it is nearly impossible to separate layers from each other with the current state of recycling technology. It is a big problem. So, our regional pilot is testing the collection, recyclability, and full-circle product potential to inform an industry-wide expansion later.

How does it work?

Designed with a Purpose® • Small footprint - Large storage capacity • Ability to accumulate and single file • Smooth combining of products both round and irregular shaped • Keeps production lines operating at ideal timing

Contact Us for Details

Flex Forward is a collaborative initiative with Earth Animal, the Pet Sustainability Coalition, Pet Food Experts Distribution, recyclers, U.S.-based manufacturers, retailers, and pet parents. We are working with 135 retailers in the states of Washington and Oregon in August 2020 and we just finished the collection phase of the program. Consumers bring in their used bags and place them in a collection tub. After our distributor partner drops off their regular deliveries at the store, they pick up the bags for recycling.

At the warehouse, bags are collected and weighed, and we do an initial sorting to see what kinds of materials came in and if they can be recycled. Based on our initial recycling trials, we expect to successfully pelletize several hundred pounds of pellets to manufacture products such as pet bowls or toys, which will be the focus of the next phase.

What has been the reaction?

We are working with everyone from big box to small, independent retailers. Everyone is really falling over themselves to try to get this program in their stores. We are hearing that retailers really want to get into this program because they are hearing about the consumer demand. To us, it seems that sustainability has just reached a tipping point. It is a trend that is here to stay and if pet food manufacturers do not get on board now, they are going to get left behind.

Learn more at pwgo.to/6054 —Joe Derr, Contributing Editor

www.nerconconveyors.com 844-293-2814

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It only takes five minutes to load new settings, calibrate, run validation tests, and start running the x-ray system.

Mettler Toledo’s X33 x-ray system achieves the same outstanding detection sensitivity as the previous-generation SmartChek and AdvanChek models but uses a 20-watt generator to consume one-fifth of the power. “We love that this system is so energy efficient,” says Raiser.

“Sustainability is a huge part of every decision we make here at Earth Animal. We think about sustainability in every aspect of our products— from our Global Animal Partnership (GAP)-rated meats and upcycled veggies to our packaging and more. It’s important that our x-ray system fits into our environmental pledge.”

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“Sanitation is also something that we never want to skimp on. That’s why we look for systems that are engineered for dry cleaning and easy maintenance,” says Carl Hammond, Facility Engineer at Riverstone.

“Because we are only running finished packaged goods, the X33 only requires a dry clean and then a sanitizer on the conveyor. Its sanitationfocused design improves equipment hygiene while reducing downtime to support our overall operating efficiency.”

Riverstone changes over their X33 to handle a new product or package multiple times a day. It takes only five minutes to load the new settings, calibrate, run validation tests, and start running. Test standards are sent through at the beginning and end of every run, as well as every hour, to ensure accuracy. “We have never had a test standard fail to be rejected—the system works perfectly,” says Farrell.

“Overall, this is an extremely solid piece of equipment. We’ve had 100 percent uptime with our X33 so far,” says Stalder “We haven’t needed to talk to Mettler-Toledo’s customer service or use our maintenance plan because it’s been so reliable. Even installation was just a matter of plugging it in and setting up product programs and standards.”

“Our X33 x-ray system has already paid for itself by delivering information about our raw ingredients. We were able to set benchmarks and request refinements from our suppliers,” says Raiser. “The biggest thing for us as a company is knowing that our final product is up to our high food safety and quality principles. After our experiences with the X33, I never want to run another packaging line without this technology. The level of scrutiny it provides us is incredible.” —Pat Reynolds

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The 14-station rotary filler runs at a steady 35 bottles/min when 750-mL bottles are in production.

Utah Distillery Opts for Bottling Upgrade From hand filling and labeling to a fully enclosed rinse/fill/cork solution with a ‘de-dusting’ component, High West Distillery is making its mark in the whiskey category.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

How to combine operations

Dedusting enclosure

By Pat Reynolds, VP Editor Emeritus When High West Distillery launched in 2006 in downtown Park City, it was Utah’s first legal distillery since 1870. In short order it’s grown to be an internationally recognized brand. In 2015 the firm opened an impressive facility in Wanship, about 25 minutes from Salt Lake City, that is not only home to a 1,600-gal copper-pot still but also acts as a space for educational whiskey tastings, pairings, and tours.

Manual filling and labeling was the method of operation until the 2019 commissioning of a rinser/filler/capper from Fogg Filler. “We had a very small footprint in which we needed to fit our packaging line,” says High West founder David Perkins. “Fogg was able to incorporate the rinser, filler, and capper in one chassis, which made all the difference in

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the world. Three separate machines was not going to work.”

The capper—actually a corker—notes Perkins, is from Arol. Also new to the semi-automated line are the following: • a pressure-sensitive labeler from P.E.Labeller that applies either front-and-back or full-wrap labels • a case taper from 3M • a tamper seal applicator from ColloPack • a date coder from Videojet that prints lot and date code information on each bottle label • a print-and-apply thermal-transfer case labeler from Weber “In our manual bottling mode, we needed a crew of about 28 people,”

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says Perkins. “Now it’s more like three—one to take empty bottles from their reshippers and place them on the conveyor leading into the rinser, one to put filled, capped, and labeled bottles back into the reshippers, and one to palletize the reshippers.”

In addition to greatly reducing the amount of hand labor required to get bottles out the door, the 14-station rotary filler runs at a steady 35 bottles/min when 750-mL bottles are in production. Previously the top speed on that size was 27/min. And, says Perkins, a 375-mL bottle is also in the mix, and when that bottle is being filled the output is more like 50/min.

Two bottle styles are filled at High West, and both come from Pavisa.

A style called “rustic flint” represents the majority of the bottles the firm fills, but also in the mix is an apothecary bottle that’s amber colored.

Regardless of which bottle is being filled, the process begins with bottles being removed by hand from corrugated reshippers and placed on an infeed conveyor. The first stop is the rinser, which consists of 14 stations on a rotary turret. Each bottle is gripped and inverted so that a rinsing medium can be gently sprayed inside to remove corrugated dust and other impurities. Worth noting is that the rinsing medium, while largely water, also contains a certain percentage of whatever whiskey is being filled. If it were pure water it might alter the percentage of alcohol by volume.

Gravity-feed filler A pressure-sensitive labeler from P.E.Labeller applies either front-and-back or full-wrap labels.

By the end of the rinsing process, each bottle is returned to its upright orientation. A starwheel and feedscrew combination now transfers the bottles to the gravity-feed filler, which also has 14 stations. Each filling valve is polymer-tipped so that should the valve make contact with the glass as it enters, the chance of glass being chipped is eliminated.

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Filled bottles move through another feed screw exchange to enter the single-head pick-and-place corker. Corks move from a floor-level hopper up to an overhead position and then are fed down a chute to a reciprocating device that picks one cork at a time and presents it to an insertion device that lifts the cork out. As the reciprocating device strokes back to get another cork, a freshly filled bottle arrives beneath the insertion device, which strokes down to put cork into bottle. The filled bottles then are conveyed out of the Fogg system.

Watch a video of the High West Distillery line at pwgo.to/6026 Two last observations on the Fogg system. First, the whole rinse/fill/ cap block is fully enclosed by a roof of sorts. This is to keep plant dust from making its way back into a bottle after it’s been rinsed. Second, a very efficient “de-dusting” system is in place. Cork is notorious for generating dust, so vacuum hoses attached to the enclosed block do a good job of removing cork dust that might otherwise make its way into a bottle or might even cause machine downtime if given enough time to build up.

Once out of the Fogg system, bottles are conveyed through the pressure-sensitive P.E. Labellers machine. Next is a unit from Collopack that applies a tamper-evident seal around the neck. Then bottles are manually placed back into their corrugated reshippers. The 3M case taper and Weber print-and-apply labeler bring the line to a close.

“What we were doing in the past just wasn’t sustainable,” says Perkins. “Now we have equipment we can leverage for the foreseeable

After cases are taped shut, a print-and-apply labeler brings the line to a close. future—and it fits our space. Fogg was very good at setting us up for success. They’ve given us all the information and guidance we need for optimizing preventive maintenance. And they’ve been great about helping us with anything we can’t work through. The attention to detail they apply to their equipment and customers matches what we apply to what we do here at High West.” PW

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By Anne Marie Mohan, Editor, Shelf Impact!

Dog Food Carton is ‘Easy Like a Sunday Morning’ The inspiration behind the branding for new Sundays air-dried dog food has several layers, as does the packaging structure itself. In particular, say cofounders of the direct-to-consumer company Sundays Food for Dogs, Inc. Michael Waxman and veterinarian Dr. Tory Waxman, “Sundays are usually a day where pet parents can spend a relaxing day at home with their dogs, and we want every day to feel like that. Additionally, the food is designed to be served with the same ease of pouring a bowl of cereal, which we say is ‘easy like a Sunday morning.’”

The start-up company began as many new better-for-you emerging brands have, by creating their own product after failing to find one among the preservative-laden products dominating the market. As the Waxmans relate, when their dog Mabel got sick, they “became obsessed with finding the best dog food: something healthier than kibble, but easier than home-cooked foods.” They add, “When we couldn’t find it, we made it.”

Sundays dog food, which promises “Cleaner Ingredients, Cleaner Bowls,” uses all-natural, human-grade ingredients and is devoid of chemical additives and synthetic ingredients, instead using an air-drying method that gently dehydrates food to preserve nutrients and flavor while killing germs. The ready-to-eat food is sold

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in three box sizes—40, 72, and 144 oz—decorated in a sunny yellow with Mabel’s photo. The carton, supplied by Belmark, is made from a thin corrugated material, inside of which is an oxygen-sealed, squarebottom film bag with a hook-and-loop closure from Oliver Inc. that holds the shelf-stable product. Says Michael Waxman, the translucent white color of the bag was chosen to provide a clean look and to allow the customer see when they’re running low on product.

The concept for the box, Michael Waxman adds, “has a few layers to it.” He explains, “The main inspiration is that since our customers treat their dogs like family members, we thought the cereal box was a fun wink to the nostalgia of what we ate as kids. Another reason is that all of our food is going into shipping boxes anyway, so a box shape helps to protect the food and ship it more efficiently.”

The choice of a bright yellow background was driven by a fun bit of trivia known to Dr. Waxman. “Dogs are partially color blind; they can only see on the blue-yellow spectrum, which means they can only really see yellows, blues, and greys,” she says. “It made yellow an obvious choice for our primary brand color, since dogs can see it, and it underscores the ‘sun’ part of the word ‘Sundays.’”

Sundays partnered with branding agency Bondfire to develop their brand strategy, naming, and identity system. Packaging graphics include the Sundays wordmark designed with a subtle arc, which references the sun, a dog bowl, and even a dog collar. Because the cereal boxes themselves are nostalgic, Dr. Waxman says Bondfire and Sundays leaned in to that. “The greyscale dog image is an homage to classic cereal box designs, particularly Wheaties,” she says. “Word games on the back are also references to 20th century kids’ cereals.”

To reinforce the idea of a relaxing Sunday morning, Sundays ships a consumer’s first order with a newspaper, and the box itself features licensed cartoons from The New Yorker. Says Michael Waxman, “Our message is that by feeding your pup such a healthy and easy food, every morning can feel like an easy Sunday.”

Sunday dog food in a beef variety is available through the company’s website and is sold D2C as single orders or by subscription, shipped in a roll-end fronttuck corrugated box. The Waxmans say they will be releasing a chicken variety soon and have plans to sell offline—a strategy that was delayed from 2020 to 2021 due to the pandemic. PW

3/18/21 3:32 PM

LIP2021_A

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

M *These logos represent some of the recent Leaders in Packaging Participants. Sponsor recognition will alternate every other month. ©2021 PMMI Media Group

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INDUSTRY WATCH

Companies Colordyne Technologies and Neenah Performance Materials have partnered to offer customers the latest advancements in digital print.

The Krones Group joined the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform.

The Recycling Leadership Council (RLC) released the Blueprint for America’s Recycling System report on fixing the U.S. recycling system.

Columbia Machine Inc. Palletizer Division and Integra Systems executed a license agreement that will allow Integra Systems to produce Columbia Palletizers and Load Transfer Solutions in Brazil.

OMAC released The Practical Guide for Remote Access to Plant Equipment, which defines the best practices for secure remote access to plant equipment.

Multi-Conveyor integrated omnidirectional roller-top belting technology into several of its conveyor systems.

THK America is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Time to rethink end of line palletizing Introducing our new palletizer, combining productivity, flexibility, and simplicity.

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Setting the new standard for end-of-line robotics.

Email us at info.us@flexlink.com or visit us at flexlink.com to find out more about the RI20.

The Reusable Packaging Association (RPA) announced a call for entries for the 10th annual Excellence in Reusable Packaging Award. This year RPA added an award category for Business-to-Consumer Reusable Transport Packaging.

Columbia/Okura is celebrating its 25th anniversary.

Five ProAmpac facilities were certified to the Safe Quality Food (SQF) program in 2020: Appleton, Wis.; Cary, Ill.; Richmond, Quebec City; Rochester, N.Y.; and Wrightstown, Wis. Berlin Packaging acquired Roma International, expanding Berlin Packaging’s capabilities for cosmetics and personal care products in Europe.

Fort Dearborn Co. acquired Hammer Packaging Corp. to enhance its position in the decorative label and packaging markets.

Columbus McKinnon Corp. signed a definitive agreement to acquire Dorner Mfg. Corp. from global private markets firm EQT. Do-It Corp. acquired Tower Tag & Label.

SencorpWhite and Urania Engineering developed a strategic partnership that will link Urania’s engineering solutions with SencorpWhite’s technical expertise and broad service capabilities in medical heat sealers.

People Philipp Losinger was appointed Vice President of Subsidiary Operations in the Corporate Sales & Marketing division at Multivac. He will be responsible for the management and strategic development of the subsidiaries in Africa, the Arab Emirates, and Oceania.

Adam Rosenthal was appointed to the new position of Director of Marketing, Pharma business line for ProMach.

Gary Tantimonico was promoted to President of PDC International. He will replace Neal Konstantin who will retain the role of Chief Executive Officer.

Kim Povlsen was appointed President of Universal Robots.

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Visit the link below each item for more info.

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TECHNOLOGY

Recyclable Bag-in-Box Film Liquibox introduces Liquipure ultra, a recyclable bag-in-box film specially designed for medium- to highbarrier applications.

Liquibox pwgo.to/6037

Bulk Ink System for Thermal Inkjet Printers The Active Bulk Ink System (ABIS) from Matthews Marking features compact, high-resolution printing for both water- and solvent-based inks, allowing marking and coding on both porous and non-porous substrates.

Matthews Marking pwgo.to/6034

Recyclable Film for Frozen Food ProAmpac introduces ProActive Recyclable R-2000F designed for use in frozen food packaging. It is available in premade pouches or film for high-speed vf/f/s or hf/f/s lines.

ProAmpac pwgo.to/6039

Adhesive Melter Valco Melton’s EcoStitch adhesive melter series features Ethernet IP integration, digital pressure control, on-screen adhesive usage data, and full OEM integration with all digital-based data.

Package printing and personalization made easy

Valco Melton pwgo.to/6035

Bulk Bag Discharging System The Material Master bulk bag discharging system from Material Transfer features a scale system and crusher that provide for an efficient, controlled discharge of materials through a loss-in-weight operation into a customer’s existing process.

Limit your waste with accurate counts and print inspection Rapid change-overs with storage and recall of job setups Efficiently manage your catalog of packages with workflow software Reduce your inventory with end-of-line personalization

Material Transfer & Storage pwgo.to/6036

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TECHNOLOGY

Barrier Material Placon’s OxyStar barrier material utilizes an active oxygen barrier that stops oxygen ingress through a free radical chain reaction within the packaging sidewalls.

Placon pwgo.to/6038

Food Conveyor Fortress Technology’s tight-fitting food conveyor eliminates the need to loosen belt tension when regularly sanitizing food inspection machinery and equipment.

Actuator

Fortress Technology pwgo.to/6007

Lindal Group launches the Teo actuator suitable for personal care and home care applications.

Lindal Group pwgo.to/5804

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

A-B-C Packaging Machine Corp. www.abcpackaging.com

MASSMAN Automation Designs, LLC www.massmanllc.com

66

Mettler-Toledo Product Inspection www.mt.com/pi

36

AFM -American Film & Machinery www.afmsleeves.com Targeted Cover

Michelman, Inc. www.www.michelman.com

18

Allied Technology LLC www.allied-technology.com

mk North America www.mknorthamerica.com/

52

ABB Motors & Mechanical www.baldor.com

10

ADVERTISER WEBSITE PAGE

OBC 7

AR Packaging www.ar-packaging.com

19

Modular Conveyor Express www.modularconveyor.com

BEUMER Corporation www.beumergroup.com

33

Morrison Container Handling Solutions www.morrison-chs.com

73

Blueprint Automation, Inc. www.blueprintautomation.com

16

Nalbach Engineering Company, Inc. www.nalbach.com

17

Buskro, Ltd. www.buskro.com

81

Nercon www.nerconconveyors.com

72

CAMA Group www.camagroup.com

53

New England Machinery, Inc. www.neminc.com

67

Cloud Packaging Equipment www.cloudeg.com

57

Nita Sentient Labeling Systems www.nitalabelingequipment.com

Clysar LLC www.clysar.com

50

Norwix Inc www.norwix.com

31

Columbia Machine, Inc. www.palletizing.com

58

Novembal www.novembal.com

47

Columbia/Okura LLC. www.columbiaokura.com

40

Packaging World www.packworld.com

79

DAK Americas www.dakamericas.com

12

PDI Packaging Distributors, Inc. www.pdimachinery.com

49

DEKKA www.dekkaindustries.com

41

P.E. Labellers www.pelabellers.com

Dispense Works, Inc. www.dispenseworks.com

35

Pepperl + Fuchs www.pepperl-fuchs.com

76

EDL Packaging Engineers, Inc. www.edlpackaging.com

48

PFlow Industries www.pflow.com

65

Enercon Industries www.enerconind.com

42

Eriez Magnetics www.eriez.com

59

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

Fallas Automation Inc. www.fallasautomation.com

43

Festo Corp. www.festo.us

61

Fibre Box Association www.corrugated.org

23

FlexLink Systems www.flexlink.com

80

Fortress Technology Inc. www.fortresstechnology.com

34

Garvey Corporation www.garvey.com

11

Glenroy, Inc. www.glenroy.com

27

Heat and Control, Inc. www.heatandcontrol.com

69

High Tek USA hightekusa.com

15

HLP Klearfold www.hlpklearfold.com

25

IAI America, Inc. iaius.com

46

ID Technology www.idtechnology.com

5

Intralox, Inc. www.intralox.com

1

King Plastic Corporation www.kingplastic.com/ Klöckner Pentaplast PHD www.kpfilms.com Label-Aire, Inc. www.label-aire.com Marchesini Group USA www.marchesini.com

56 IFC 20, 21 49

6

IBC

Targeted Cover

71, 75, 82

Quadient www.packagingbyquadient

63

Roberts PolyPro Inc. www.robertspolypro.com

77

Ryson International, Inc. www.ryson.com

9

Schneider Packaging www.schneiderpackaging.com

37

Serpa Packaging Solutions www.serpapackaging.com

52

Sleeve Seal www.sleeveseal.com

68

Somic America, Inc. www.somic.us

39

Spee-Dee Packaging Machinery www.spee-dee.com

13

Standard-Knapp, Inc. www.standard-knapp.com

35

Triangle Package Machinery Company www.trianglepackage.com

3

TruTech Specialty Motors Inc www.trutechmotors.com

62

Uline www.uline.com

51

Van der Graaf www.vandergraaf.com

32a

Verst Logistics Packaging www.verstlogistics.com/pack

55

Weber Packaging Solutions www.weberpackaging.com

29

WestRock www.westrock.com Yamato Corporation www.yamatoamericas.com YUPO Corp. www.yupousa.com

OFC 14 36a

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

www.packworld.com/leaders

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THE INSIDER

By Ben Miyares, Packaging Sherpa

Amped-up Paper, Other Materials Make Inroads on Rigid Plastics It’s too soon to say if all the anti-virgin plastic rhetoric from environmental critics will have a lasting impact on the packaging materials mix. Still, it is interesting to note that recent market developments include a lot of high-profile moves away from plastic packaging. It’s hard to say if the changes are being made strictly out of a sincere belief that plastic packages are not as good an environmental choice as other materials, fear of coming environmental anti-plastic regulatory prodding, or simply, economics.

Nestlé’s transition to paper for its entire family of Smarties candies packaging formats certainly isn’t a cost-cutting measure. Last year the company invested some $2 billion to “lead the shift from virgin plastics to food-grade recycled plastics and to accelerate the development of innovative sustainable packaging solutions.” The move to recyclable paper candy wraps will help in achieving Nestlé’s commitment to make all of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025. Among the Smarties packs getting a materials redo, the most dramatic is the brand’s replacement of its iconic plastic tube by four hexagonal paper sleeves held together with a perforated paper label that permits the consumer to tear off one hex tube of candies at a time. The Smarties family move follows the conversion last year of Nestle’s Yes! candy bar to recyclable paper wraps. “By 2025, 100 percent of our packaging will be recyclable or reusable and we will reduce our use of virgin plastics by one third,” says Nestlé in a web post.

For certain flexible packaging applications, micro-fibrillated cellulose (MFC) may well provide packagers new moisture and oxygen barrier paper options that can compete with plastics. Researchers from North Carolina State University, Department of Forest Biomaterials who’ve been studying MFCs for at least 10 years, indicate “various nanocelluloses can be incorporated into packaging products and barrier layers by diverse means, with particular promise having been shown for solution casting, melt-extrusion, and electrospinning technologies, among others,” (read the study at pwgo.to/6049).

As part of its Ambition 2030 Environmental Sustainability goals, P&G Beauty in Europe now packs a number of its haircare brands in reusable/refillable aluminum bottles for refilling by consumers with recyclable polyethylene pouches. P&G sees this initiative halting production of approximately 300 million virgin plastic bottles per year starting this year. The refill pouches use approximately 60% less PE than the bottles they replace.

The COVID-19 epidemic introduced tough Valor® glass (read my column on it at pwgo.to/6050) to withstand the rigors of COVID-19 vaccine production and distribution. The Johnson & Johnson/Merck collaboration to produce and distribute J&J’s vaccine is boosting

demand for cold chain shippers, but ultra-low temperature shipper sales may tail off post-pandemic because J&J’s COVID-19 vaccine doesn’t require ultra-low storage temps, and the Pfizer/BioNTech vax got FDA’s okay for distribution/storage at conventional freezer temps (~0º F).

General Mills’ Nature Valley Crunchy Granola bar polyethylene wraps are now designated “Store Drop Recyclable” by GreenBlue’s How2Recycle. The newly packaged bars are on shelves this spring and bring Nature Valley closer to achieving GMI’s commitment to 100% recyclable packaging by 2025.

In a radical departure from the personal care norm, Tom’s of Maine, a subsidiary of Palmolive, is now filling its Natural Strength deodorant line in push-up paperboard sleeves instead of rigid plastic tubes to “reduce plastic waste, developing and using plastic packaging that is actually recyclable and opting for alternatives to plastic as well.”

Self-sterilizing polymers are the outgrowth of a collaboration among North Carolina State University, Boston University, and specialty chemicals manufacturer Kraton Corp. They’ve demonstrated a family of self-sterilizing anionic polymers they say are capable of deactivating coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2, the one causing COVID-19.

Another collaboration focused more directly on packaging is promoting recycled sugarcane fiber rather than traditional paper fiber for making dual-ovenable, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS)-free, molded bowls for refrigerated and frozen prepared foods. Branded Natrellis™, the bowl “provides an alternative to more traditional rigid plastic packages used by the majority of refrigerated and frozen food products on the market,” say its co-developers, Sonoco and Tellus (read Packaging World’s coverage of the first commercial application, with KraftHeinz brand Primal Kitchen, at pwgo.to/6051). “This new sugarcane-based package is further evidence of our commitment to developing more sustainable options for brands and consumers alike,” says Ernest Haynes, Sonoco division vice president and general manager, Rigid Paper and Closures, North America.

Whether anti-virgin plastic sentiment persists or not, it is not likely to spell the end to polymer packaging development and adoption. We do believe there are dramatic changes ahead. We expect further advances in the life and afterlife of plastic, paper, glass, and packaging. And we expect those advances, like the ones cited here, will come closer to balancing the environmental cost/user benefits equation of tomorrow’s packaging. Our products still need to be protected on their circular journey from birth to rebirth. And packaging—including plastic packaging—will play a vital, balancing role in that equation. PW

Ben Miyares, Packaging Sherpa, is a packaging market and technology analyst and is president of The Packaging Management Institute, Inc. He can be reached at bmiyares@packmgmt.org.

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