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Kellogg’s Reveals Recyclable Paper Liners in Cereal Boxes

Kellogg’s Corn Flakes cereal packaging is testing fully paper-based films with the trial of a paper liner in the U.K. that can be widely recycled. The pilot is happening in partnership with Tesco in a small number of stores, having started in January 2022, with the results helping to shape Kellogg’s future packaging plans.

Even though the company’s cereal boxes’ outer recycled paperboard packaging is fully recyclable, and has been for many years, the plastic inner liner in cereal boxes is not currently widely accepted in curb recycling.

“We know people want to do more to help the planet and that’s why we are working hard towards meeting our commitment of all Kellogg’s packaging being reusable, recyclable, or compostable by the end of 2025,” says Chris Silcock, Kellogg UK and Ireland Managing Director. “This important trial of fully paper cereal packaging ensures we have explored all our options. Ultimately, we would prefer plastic liners to be accepted in home recycling as our data tells us that they are better for the planet over the full life cycle of the packaging, but this trial ensures we have an alternative.”

Kellogg’s packaging technologists worked to create paper-based inner packaging for its cereal that can survive the process of filling and sealing millions of bags in boxes of cereal produced in its factory and transporting them to retailers. It’s also important the cereal is kept fresh inside a paper liner as cereal has a 12-month shelf life.

This project is part of Kellogg’s Wellbeing Manifesto, launched in May of 2021. The action plan is a decade-long commitment from the company to improve its food and packaging so that it’s better for people, the planet, and the community.

The company says the results of this trial are crucial as it plans for fully recyclable cereal packaging, whether that’s plastic liners being recyclable at curbside, similar to countries like Ireland and Belgium, or the roll out of cereal packaging that is fully paper based.

“We are committed to working with our suppliers to remove, reduce, reuse, and recycle packaging, particularly plastic. It’s great to see that Kellogg is trialling a paper cereal bag in our stores—our customers will be pleased that they can easily recycle the bag at home. We call on suppliers to test and roll out actions like this; using as little material as possible and making sure that necessary packaging is easy to recycle,” says David Beardmore, Grocery Director, Tesco.

Kellogg and Tesco have been working closely on several initiatives to improve the recyclability of their packaging and previously trialled a fully recyclable Pringle’s paper can in 2020. —Matt Reynolds

Alexandria Tech Students Earn PMMI, PMG Packaging Scholarship

The Future Leaders in Packaging Scholarship from Packaging World and the PMMI Foundation was established in 2011 in conjunction with Leaders in Packaging—a print and online marketing program that enables suppliers to promote their innovations and expertise to the packaging community. A portion of Leaders in Packaging revenue funds the $5000 Scholarship—awarded each year to an educational institution that prepares students for careers in packaging. Each recipient institution then selects a student or students to receive the funds to defray tuition and other education-related expenses in the next academic year.

The 2022 scholarship has been awarded to Alexandria Technical & Community College, a member of Minnesota State, specifically the Center for Applied Mechatronics.

“Located in the epicenter of packaging machine manufacturing, the Mechatronics program here at Alexandria Tech College has graduated nearly 600 students over the past 20 years,” says Todd Zarbok, Instructor, Mechatronics, Alexandria Tech. “They are now employed as field service technicians, machine assemblers, electrical controls specialists, and CAD designer. This program

PACKAGING WORLD’ S Future leaders

IN PACKAGING

SCHOLARSHIP has become a critical resource for growth and innovation for our local industries. The PMMI Educational membership has given this program access to numerous resources to grow our program and advance the skill sets of our graduates.” The scholarship money will be awarded in the form of an impact scholarship, in fact two $2500 scholarships that each represent the approximate cost of one semester tuition. The scholarship money will be awarded on a needs-basis to first year students currently enrolled in the Mechatronics program. The mechatronics curriculum at Alexandria Tech is defined and traceable to international standards, which include hydraulic, pneumatic, electrical, mechanical, PLC, and CAD design, with emphasis placed on installation and troubleshooting skills representing the critical knowledge needed for success in the workplace. —Matt Reynolds

Evian’s New Sparkling Water in Aluminum, PET

Consumers can choose which recyclable container format they prefer for Evian’s new sparkling variety. It is now available in both a 33-cL aluminum can and a 100% recycled 1-L PET plastic bottle.

“Evian Sparkling represents new possibilities for the brand, as we reimagine our uniquely sourced water into an exciting new product,” says Shweta Harit, VP of marketing at Evian. “This new product contains the perfect level of sparkles with its fine bubbles creating a subtle taste and gentle intensity. Available for the first time in recyclable aluminum cans, this latest innovation demonstrates our longstanding pioneering spirit that runs through everything we do at Evian.”

Last year Evian launched a new in-home water ‘bubble’ solution, Evian re(new), with a significant reduction in plastic packaging.

The company was certified carbon neutral globally in spring 2020 and achieved a B Corp status certification in 2021. PW

CANNABIS FOCUS

Charlotte’s Web CBD Enlists Like-minded Sustainability Packaging Partner

Since 2019, CBD industry pioneer Charlotte’s Web, which produces “The World’s Most Trusted Hemp Extract™,” has been partnering with Diamond Packaging—recently named winner of Cannabis & Tech Today’s 2021 Sustainable Leadership Award in the Packaging category—for its CBD packaging, selecting the converter based on its like-minded sustainability vision.

Charlotte’s Web was founded in Colorado more than a decade ago, producing high-cannabidiol (CBD), low-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) whole-plant hemp health supplements in a variety of forms, such as tinctures, topicals, capsules, oils, creams, and gummies. Shares company Vice President of Marketing Reed Damon, Charlotte’s Web’s quality standards extend from field to final product. “This includes diligent soil testing, using Charlotte’s Web’s propriety seeds and cultivating certified organic plants on American family farms,” he explains. “By the time customers receive a Charlotte’s Web product, it’s been tested more than 20 times from cultivation through manufacturing.”

Built upon the motto of “Do well by doing good,” the Charlotte’s Web brand is committed to pioneering a better future for the planet and all who live upon it. That’s why its goal is to build and retain trust in the company through fully transparent actions, from its organic and regenerative farming practices to its products and the packaging that holds them—which is what led them to Diamond.

“Diamond packaging is an ideal partner for Charlotte’s Web because they offer not only sustainable packaging, but a fully sustainable mindset,” says Damon. “The company’s ability to incorporate a sustainability focus into their designs, materials, and methods allows Charlotte’s Web to innovate in multiple aspects of our packaging. Diamond Packaging is a true innovation partner for our company.”

Diamond’s sustainable converting methods include the use of recyclable or recycled paperboard materials, many of which are Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified, converted in a Zero Waste to Landfill (ZWL) and Carbon Neutral (Scope 1 and 2) facility that uses 100% clean, renewable wind energy.

Currently Diamond is producing paperboard cartons for several Charlotte’s Web product lines, including its Full Spectrum Hemp Extract (tinctures and capsules), CBD Oil, Hemp-Infused Balm Sticks, and Feist brand of CBD/botanical products. The cartons are made from Clearwater Candesce® SBS paperboard from Clearwater Paper. Damon says the material was chosen for its performance characteristics and because it’s 100% recyclable and made from a renewable resource. “Its smooth surface is tailored to faithfully reproduce the most sophisticated printed images and the high demands of flawless cold foiling and embossing,” he adds.

The cartons are offset-printed with PMS and dense black inks, in-line with a UV matte coating, a UV spot gloss coating, and Diamond’s DiamondTouch™ soft-touch coating. Says Damon, the overall soft-touch coating adds an appealing, tactile quality that promotes consumer interaction. Several of the cartons feature embossing and hot foil stamping. “Embossed accents, which include the logo, add depth to the graphic design and provide an upscale appearance unique to hemp-derived CBD products,” he notes. “Hot foil-stamped accents—for example, the logo mark, product name, and copy on quantity and size—add distinction and reinforce Charlotte’s Web as a premium brand.”

In 2020, Charlotte’s Web earned its B Corp Certification, which means that it is meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency on factors from employee benefits and charitable giving to supply chain practices and input materials. Says Damon, “This further solidifies our company’s ongoing commitment to being a business that is also a force for good.”

Charlotte’s Web products are available for sale on the company’s website, as well as in a number of retail locations, including pharmacies and health and wellness stores, in a range of price points. —Anne Marie Mohan

Paper Tube Differentiates a Very Different Brand of Cannabis

Colorado cannabis brand äkta is committed to authenticity and sustainability, both in its production methods and its product packaging. The company’s solventless cannabis products, which include live rosin batter, vape cartridges, and gummies, are made from whole, fresh-frozen flower, grown by parent company Hava Gardens.

Differentiating the brand is the fact that it is one of only two companies in the cannabis space that is single-source; all its products are made from plants grown by Hava. Also a differentiator, its supplier (Hava) employs a soil-focused growing technique, whereby all of its cannabis is planted in Living Soil, which contains a robust and complex collection of microbes. Äkta also stands out for its extraction method, which is based on the traditional artisanal hash-making process of using ice, water, heat, and pressure versus extraction with solvents, such as butane, ethanol, and carbon dioxide.

According to äkta CEO Blair Kralick, while its use of this extraction method is not unique—it’s currently the fastest growing segment in the industry—the brand is trying to create unique ways of using the process and new systems with newer technology and equipment that will allow it to continually innovate within the process.

Given the brand’s emphasis on clean and sustainable cultivation and extraction, when it came time to design packaging for its products, äkta was determined to follow suit. “We felt like the cannabis industry as a whole is extremely wasteful—a lot of plastic, a lot of things that get thrown away due to regulatory requirements within the market,” says Kralick. “So, we really wanted to be creative and look at packaging options that would meet these compliance requirements without being wasteful. We didn’t want to put a bunch of trash out there, a bunch of plastic filling landfills, just to sell products.”

Kralick adds that the brand also wanted to bring a touch of professionalism into the CPG world of cannabis. “I’ve worked with a lot of brands in the past, and we’ve always followed the norm of what the industry was doing,” he says. “We really wanted to raise the bar and bring something new to the market.”

The solution came from a Google search. It was there that Kralick came upon The Paper Tube Co., a supplier of eco-friendly paper-based packaging. Wanting to avoid plastic as much as possible and looking for a format that would align with the brand’s soft, approachable aesthetics, äkta selected a paper tube format. “When I came across the tube, I liked

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that it was made of paper and had rounded edges—it was everything I was looking for,” Kralick says.

Äkta is using two different tube designs. One is for its Live Rosin Vape Cartridges in three varieties. The tube measures approximately 3.5 in. tall x 1.5 in. wide and holds a cartridge with 500 mg of full-spectrum, strain-specific, solventless live rosin hash oil. The consumer accesses the cartridge by pushing up on a paper insert on the bottom of the tube, which features a round hole to hold the product upright. Says Kralick, the insert “slides up and down like a push-pop,” propelling the product out of the tube.

To meet regulatory compliance, the tube is topped with a plastic, child-resistant (CR) closure with a lineup feature that only allows the consumer to open the lid when it’s lined up on the ring of the tube.

The second tube, measuring 1.25 in. tall x 1.5 in. wide, is used for its Live Rosin Concentrates and is made from paper only. The concentrates are packaged in a CR jar, with the tube acting as a marketing vehicle.

For the tube graphics, äkta worked with a Brooklyn-based graphic artist, who designed the brand logo and the aesthetics for the entire line. Says Kralick, äkta was looking for a Scandinavian pop-art feel for the packaging to align with the brand’s name, which in Swedish means authentic, genuine, real, and true, as well as the inspiration for the brand, which the company says is “the untouched elements of the Scandinavian alpine.”

Approachability was also at the top of the design brief. Says Kralick, “In the solventless world, we see a lot of dark colors, a lot of edginess, kind of almost a cool factor, per se, but very masculine. We wanted to lighten that up and give it more of a feminine feel with more colors and more brightness, so even if you didn’t know what product was inside, it wouldn’t be intimidating.”

The resulting design uses a rainbow of colors— up to seven, according to Kralick. “It allowed us a lot of flexibility on which color we wanted to lean on for which variety, so there wasn’t necessarily a primary color,” he explains. “This also gives us a lot of flexibility as we expand the brand into the future.” Designs include stylized illustrations of marijuana leaves, water, and the sun, conveying nature and a breath of fresh air.

The design of the packaging took eight months, but it was time well-spent, says Kralick. “I’m glad we took our time and went in that direction because it really sets us apart,” he shares. “Especially when you’re looking at a lot of packaging in some of these stores, you can really see the difference in the work that went into it.”

Äkta launched its first vape cartridge SKU in October 2020, followed by two more in spring 2021. Its products are available in 120 retail cannabis locations in Colorado, primarily in the Boulder and Denver areas. —Anne Marie Mohan

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Read PW ’s Q&A with Blair Kralick on the need for sustainable packaging in the cannabis industry on p. 18.

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PetPlate Personalizes the Unboxing Experience

Direct-to-consumer pet food company PetPlate makes no bones about it: Its packaging is key to the overall PetPlate customer experience, its service, and the personalization it delivers. That’s according to company COO Jason Sussman who shares that in early 2021, PetPlate took the brand’s customization strategy and the consumer unboxing experience to new levels using personalized marketing technology from UnDigital.

Founded in 2016, PetPlate sells ready-to-eat meals and organic treats and supplements for dogs through an online subscription service and the independent pet retail channel. When a consumer purchases a meal plan via PetPlate’s website, the plan is customized to support their pet’s individual health needs, and the food is shipped directly to their door on a recurring basis.

PetPlate’s packaging comprises resealable containers, pouches, insulation, and the outer shipper. And now, through the UnDigital platform, a customer’s rst order also includes a colorful, personalized insert welcoming their dog to “the PetPlate family” and providing customized feeding instructions for their pet, customer service contact information, and details on how they can receive a discount when they refer a friend.

Explains UnDigital, “With the information they collect on their customers and their customers’ pets, PetPlate is able to personalize and customize each insert for every customer based on a variety of factors, including order number, pet’s name, sex, age, weight, breed, and dietary needs, and more.”

Adds Sussman, “This ensures that each and every pet receives the optimal nutrition so that they can live longer, happier, healthier lives.”

An example of an insert for a new customer whose dog is named Daisy (see image, top right) includes a reference to “her” in the Feeding Guidelines, as well as instructions to feed her 1⁄2 of an 8-oz container of food two times per day, treats as needed, and two supplements per day. “These are all dynamic elements that populate for every customer based on their pet and their pet’s needs,” says UnDigital. “All sections of the insert contain these dynamic, personalized elements.”

UnDigital’s automated platform comprises software and Epson ondemand printers that allow brands to personalize the inserts and then measure the results, directly at the ful llment center. Explains Sussman of the process at PetPlate, “Order data is transmitted from our e-commerce platform to UnDigital via their API [Application Programming Interface]. We have nine locations around the country. Each one has Epson printers supplied and con gured by UnDigital.”

Shares UnDigital, the software’s dashboard provides real-time conversion information from campaigns. It adds, “Conversions are tracked back to the customer who received an insert, so there is no guessing or misattribution. Merchants can easily see which campaigns are driving more conversions and use that data to optimize performance.”

According to Sussman, since PetPlate began using the UnDigital marketing solution, it has seen a 20% decrease in customer inquiries regarding feeding guidelines. There has also been an overall improvement in the customer experience and a clearer, easier transition in onboarding new customers.

While PetPlate started the marketing program with inserts in customers’ rst orders only, Sussman says the company’s vision is to have an insert with helpful, useful, or fun information in every order, “regardless of whether it’s the rst or the hundredth.” —Anne Marie Mohan

Free Download: Pet Packaging Sustainability

Two consumer trends that stemmed from the pandemic have been increased scrutiny on packaging’s sustainability, and a lot more time spent with—thus money spent on—pets. What kinds of packaging sustainability trends are affecting the pet food market? Find out in this report. Visit pwgo.to/7375 for the free for the free download from Packaging World and PMMI Media Group. PW and PMMI Media Group.

Pantone Color of the Year 2022 Unveiled

Pantone, a provider of professional color language standards and digital solutions for the design community, has introduced a new blue shade, PANTONE® 17-3938 Very Peri, a dynamic periwinkle blue hue with a violet-red undertone as the Pantone Color of the Year selection for 2022. According to Pantone, blending the faithfulness and constancy of blue with the energy and excitement of red, this happiest and warmest of all the blue hues introduces an empowering mix of newness.

“Displaying a carefree confidence and a daring curiosity that animates our creative spirit, inquisitive and intriguing PANTONE 17-3938 Very Peri helps us to embrace this altered landscape of possibilities, opening us up to a new vision as we rewrite our lives,” says the company. “Rekindling gratitude for some of the qualities that blue represents complemented by a new perspective that resonates today, PANTONE 17-3938 Very Peri places the future ahead in a new light.”

It adds that we are living in transformative times. “PANTONE 17-3938 Very Peri is a symbol of the global zeitgeist of the moment and the transition we are going through,” the company explains. “As we emerge from an intense period of isolation, our notions and standards are changing, and our physical and digital lives have merged in new ways. Digital design helps us to stretch the limits of reality, opening the door to a dynamic virtual world where we can explore and create new color possibilities. With trends in gaming, the expanding popularity of the metaverse, and rising artistic community in the digital space, PANTONE 17-3938 Very Peri illustrates the fusion of modern life and how color trends in the digital world are being manifested in the physical world and vice versa.”

Remarks Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director of the Pantone Color Institute, “As we move into a world of unprecedented change, the selection of PANTONE 17-3938 Very Peri brings a novel perspective and vision of the trusted and beloved blue color family. Encompassing the qualities of the blues, yet at the same time possessing a violet-red undertone, PANTONE 17-3938 Very Peri displays a spritely, joyous attitude and dynamic presence that encourages courageous creativity and imaginative expression.”

“The Pantone Color of the Year reflects what is taking place in our global culture, expressing what people are looking for that color can hope to answer,” adds Laurie Pressman, Vice President of the Pantone Color Institute. “Creating a new color for the first time in the history of our Pantone Color of the Year educational color program reflects the global innovation and transformation taking place. As society continues to recognize color as a critical form of communication and as a way to express and affect ideas and emotions and engage and connect, the complexity of this new red violet-infused blue hue highlights the expansive possibilities that lie before us.”

Regarding the use of Pantone 17-3938 Very Peri in packaging and multimedia design, the company notes that by fusing together the constancy and continuity of blue with the energy and excitement of red, the new color conveys a message of credibility as well as creativity. “Whether appearing in a fantasy digital realm or in physical materials, PANTONE 17-3938 Very Peri exudes a goodnatured warmth that quickly engages the eye, making it an ideal shade for many applications of graphic and multimedia design as well as packaging,” it adds.

According to Pantone, the selection process for the Color of the Year requires thoughtful consideration and trend analysis. To arrive at the selection each year, Pantone’s color experts at the Pantone Color Institute comb the world looking for new color influences. This can include the entertainment industry and films in production, traveling art collections and new artists, fashion, all areas of design, popular travel destinations, as well as new lifestyles, playstyles, and socio-economic conditions. Influences may also stem from new technologies, materials, textures, and effects that impact color, relevant social media platforms, and even upcoming sporting events that capture worldwide attention.

Says the company, “For 23 years, Pantone’s Color of the Year has influenced product development and purchasing decisions in multiple industries, including fashion, home furnishings, and industrial design, as well as product packaging and graphic design.” —Anne Marie Mohan

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