Sustainable Packaging

By Sterling Anthony, CPP, Contributing Editor The Importance of Pallet Patterns

Palletization provides ef ciencies and economies by treating multiple boxes of product as a unit load rather than individually. Those bene ts are inherent and self-presenting. Optimizing palletization, however, requires knowledge-based decision making. Optimization must include considering how many boxes are put onto a pallet and how they are arranged on the pallet. Such is the essence of pallet patterns.

Optimization differs from maximization. The latter seeks to achieve the most from a given variable. The former seeks to achieve the best trade-offs among multiple variables. Optimized pallet patterns balance requirements for density, stability, and strength. Those requirements must be consistent with product characteristics, but also with the limitations imposed by material handling equipment, transportation conveyances, and storage conditions.

Citing transportation as an example, pallet patterns influence cube utilization, and therefore, impact the number of conveyances needed and their fuel and emissions. So as with everything related to packaging, pallet patterns have a sustainability component.

By its nature, a palletized load is of a size and weight that makes it a hazard to nearby personnel, if the load were structurally compromised. A load should remain intact until disassembled. Any prior event in which it comes apart can result in injury. Even in the absence of injury, there is the potential for damage to the goods. When damage renders goods unsellable, all the expended labor, time, and resources will have been squandered. But pallet patterns should not be the sole means for achieving load integrity. Auxiliary means, such as slip sheets, corner boards, straps, and stretch wrap play a role.

Knowing what’s at stake does not make the choice of pallet pattern any easier. The choices are numerous, but they all fall under two aptly named categories: columnar and interlocking. A columnar pattern resembles stacked blocks. An interlocking resembles laid bricks. As might be suspected, each has its strengths and weaknesses, making the choice application-specific.

A columnar pattern provides strength, particularly against compression. That’s because the corners (the strongest part) of a stacked box is aligned with the corners of the box below. On the debit side, columnar patterns are more subject to toppling, a vulnerability that increases as stack height increases.

An interlocking pattern provides stability, due to the hold-down effect that a superimposed layer has on the layer below. Rotation of the layers results in a variety of iterations, in pinwheels and other configurations. Typically, an interlocking pattern will result in fewer boxes per pallet. Regardless of the chosen pallet pattern, there are fundamentals to be followed. One is to make sure that the pallet is of adequate design and construction. Another is to cover fully the surface area of the pallet, while avoiding overhang and its associated problems. Still another is to make sure that boxes are arranged such that bar codes and RFID tags are readable. As packaging levels go, palletization is tertiary, distinguishable from primary which contains the product, and from secondary (the boxes). There are two approaches to integrating the levels. The first and most common approach starts with the design of the primary package. Afterwards, a case-count is designated. Lastly, a pallet pattern is chosen. The approach is fraught with elements of default.

Optimizing palletization requires With the second approach, the knowledge-based decision design of the primary package and of the secondary package are done to best making. Optimization must include utilize the dimensions of the pallet. considering how many boxes are Such does not mean that marketingput onto a pallet and how they are related concerns have to be sacrificed, just that they be satisfied within certain arranged on the pallet. Such is constraints regarding size and shape. the essence of pallet patterns. Case counts—often arbitrarily a dozen or multiple thereof—instead, are designated to accommodate case dimensions that complement pallet dimensions. This approach requires a series of mathematical calculations that can be tedious, if done longhand. Decades ago, there were charts, displaying dozens of pallet patterns, each assigned a number. The charts had two slide-rule type scales, one for locating box length, one for locating box width. When the scales were aligned, a number(s) would show in a window. These days, there are software programs that integrate the three levels of packaging. The software takes imputed data and then cranks out dimensions for the primary package and for the secondary package, suitable with the dimensions of the pallet. Such software can be used for a new design project and for a redesign project. Ultimately, any chosen pallet pattern has to be assembled. Manual assembly is plagued by imprecision, along with worker fatigue. There comes a threshold of scale at which automation makes sense. There is a variety of conventional palletizers. What’s gaining increasing popularity, however, are palletizers that utilize robotics. The challenge is to invest in equipment that’s sufficiently versatile and programmable to accommodate the range of pallet patterns used by an organization. But whether pallet pattern assembly is manual or automated, it is a vital component of end-of-the-line operations. PW

Packaging Policy Update and 2023 Outlook

Overwhelmed by the quickening pace of packaging legislation and what it means for your company? In this annual Q&A, AMERIPEN Executive Director Dan Felton and the association’s principal lobbyist, Andy Hackman of Serlin Haley, break down current state and federal policy and what to expect in the coming year.

Packaging World:

The trend of more states enacting Extended Producer Responsibility [EPR] laws continued in 2022. Can you tell us more about that and what packaging companies can expect regarding implementation of those laws? Will there be more laws enacted in 2023?

Dan Felton:

Following Oregon and Maine in 2021, California and Colorado enacted their own packaging producer responsibility laws in 2022. Like their predecessors, packaging producers in these two new laws are generally de ned as brand owners rst, followed by brand/trademark licensees or owners, and then importers of covered Dan Felton packaging into the states. Packaging producers will start paying into all these new systems over the next three to four years—Colorado and Oregon in mid-2025, Maine in late 2026, and California in early 2027.

Oregon is moving the quickest with implementation, with a committee, council, and workgroup already discussing and formulating various components of the new law for rules to be proposed and implemented thereafter. Maine began an 18-month stakeholder engagement process in December to gather information that will inform their rulemaking, while Colorado seated its program advisory board in December. California will get underway with its implementation processes by seating its advisory board in mid2023. Just as they were with the legislative process leading up to the enactment of these new laws, brand owners and packaging companies are strongly encouraged to also get involved in the implementation and rulemaking for these new packaging producer responsibility laws, as there is still ample opportunity to influence the development of these new programs.

Andy Hackman:

In 2022, we saw 40 bills across 18 states addressing packaging producer responsibility in some way. We anticipate that trend will continue in 2023, especially considering the impact of the 2022 elections, and we will probably have even more proposed bills in more states and perhaps one or two more states enacting something into law. AMERIPEN is already, and will continue to be, deeply involved in the discussions and negotiations in these states to help shape the best possible outcomes for packaging companies. Andy Hackman

With four state packaging producer responsibility laws that are not alike, is there any possibility a federal bill gets enacted?

Hackman:

The Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act [BFPPA] and the CLEAN Future Act from the last session of Congress both included packaging producer responsibility language, and it’s likely that one or both bills will be reintroduced into the new Congress in 2023. BFPPA, in many respects an “anti-plastic” bill, included language to establish a national packaging producer responsibility program. CLEAN, a broader climate change action bill, carried many provisions from BFPPA, including language to establish a taskforce to study the possibility of a national packaging producer responsibility program. It’s unclear how much traction either of these bills, including their packaging producer responsibility language, might gain in 2023 given the partisan split in Congress and more pressing legislative priorities. However, discussions continue to grow in Congress, and in the long-term, there is potential for some legislation to pass if the politics align.

Felton:

AMERIPEN continues to believe there is merit in the packaging industry engaging at the federal level or across multiple states at the regional level on packaging producer responsibility to avoid a patchwork of onerous state laws with different requirements placed upon packaging companies and owners. This is even more so with enactment of the new laws in 2022 in California and Colorado that were not aligned with each other or the previously enacted laws in Maine and Oregon.

Might we see traction on any other packaging and recycling issues at the federal level in 2023?

Hackman:

In 2022, AMERIPEN supported the Recycling Infrastructure and Accessibility Act [S.3743/H.R.8183] and the Recycling and Composting Accountability Act [S.3742 /H.R.8059]. The Recycling Infrastructure and Accessibility Act would provide grants for projects to make recycling programs more accessible to rural and disadvantaged communities. The Recycling and Composting Accountability Act would require the development of data to provide the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] the resources that will help inform real and actionable composting and recycling policy with improved collection and access to reporting and data across current and emerging recovery and recycling materials and technologies.

While these two bills were not enacted in 2022, AMERIPEN hopes they will be reintroduced in Congress in 2023 and ultimately enacted to further improve and innovate the current packaging recovery infrastructure in the U.S., including for systems that can recover compostable packaging.

Recycled content continued to be a big issue in 2022, including proposed legislative mandates. What’s happening there, and how should packaging companies be planning for this?

Hackman:

Following Washington State’s relatively broad recycled-content mandate law in 2021, which includes plastic beverage containers, household and personal care products, and trash bags, New Jersey went even further in early 2022, enacting a new recycled-content mandate law covering rigid plastic containers, glass containers, paper and plastic carryout bags, and plastic trash bags.

In November, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection [DEP] began a stakeholder engagement process that should continue well into 2023 and offers an excellent opportunity for packaging companies to help shape pending rulemaking around this new law. Washington State considered legislation to expand its 2021 recycled-content mandate law to additional forms and types of plastic containers, but that bill language failed to advance. AMERIPEN expects to see some form of that language introduced again in 2023, along with several other states likely to consider recycled-content mandates as standalone legislation or wrapped into packaging producer responsibility proposals.

Felton:

AMERIPEN also hopes to see additional traction in 2023 on implementation of the EPA’s National Recycling Strategy that began in 2022 to expand data collection, standardize recycling de nitions, and advance end-market development for recycled materials. Finally, AMERIPEN is optimistic there may be some consideration of federal uniformity around the issue of recyclable, compostable, and reusable labeling for packaging following enactment of rather onerous legislation in California in 2021 that will restrict recycling messaging on packaging beginning in 2025.

With other states actively considering similar legislation, AMERIPEN believes the EPA and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission [FTC], which may soon begin a formal review of its Green Guides, are good forums for efforts to establish national definitions and a labeling language so we can avoid multiple state-specific labeling standards, which we believe will result in increased consumer confusion and additional packaging material going to landfill. It appears there will be ample additional opportunities for packaging companies to engage at the federal level this year on packaging policy for recycling, recyclability labeling, increased recovery, and end-market development.

Felton:

There were a handful of other state legislatures that considered recycled-content mandates in 2022, including an onerous proposal in California that would have mandated recycled content speci cally for thermoform containers. It was ultimately vetoed by Governor Gavin Newsom who recognized that enacting such a proposal right on the heels of the state’s new packaging producer law that contains recycledcontent language didn’t make a whole lot of sense.

AMERIPEN released a study in 2021 that looked at packaging goals

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for recycled content versus available supply and capacity. At that time, we identified a shortfall for all plastic resins except for high-density polyethylene. Now add in more state mandates and more companies increasing their post-consumer recycled content goals, and that pressure is anticipated to increase. This could add significant pressure and additional complexity on smaller converters and brands, further exacerbated by the slow pace of U.S. Food & Drug [FDA] approvals for food-contact recycled content. Packaging World readers are encouraged to join AMERIPEN in discussions in 2023 to help shape legislative and regulatory outcomes that are achievable and reasonable and that recognize that “one size” doesn’t always fit all.

AMERIPEN has been working with PMMI on a packaging trends study. Can you tell us more about this and why it matters to AMERIPEN?

Felton:

AMERIPEN has been collaborating with PMMI – The Association for Packaging and Processing Technologies to learn more about the trajectory of packaging design over the next 10 years and the factors that will drive cutting-edge innovation. Through a survey and a series of focus groups and workshops, we heard from more than 400 Consumer Packaged Goods brands, converters, raw material suppliers, and operation equipment manufacturers, and we were able to identify which materials and packaging formats are on the rise or in decline. Their input also helped isolate when and where packaging substitutions might occur and offered insights into the dynamics fueling such decisions. Working with peers and stakeholders, we then explored the potential implications of these packaging shifts on public policy and our recovery systems.

The study, which should be released this month, indicates that public policy is not fully aligned with the projected growth of some packaging materials (i.e., compostables and flexibles) and the need for more recycled content and that proactive public policy should look beyond just design for recycling and toward more recycling infrastructure and innovation. We believe this forward-looking perspective will help advance necessary dialogue to ensure recycling investments through packaging producer responsibility or federal or state funding initiatives to address recycling infrastructure are directed toward the future needs of the system and not just to support the system as it’s designed today.

Any other packaging policy considerations you think our readers should know about as 2023 begins?

Hackman:

There was an increased focus on toxics in packaging in 2022, with ongoing interest from policymakers in certain chemicals, like PFAS and phthalates, either in or used to manufacture packaging and other products. This trend is expected to continue in 2023. There was also an increased focus on advanced, aka chemical, recycling in 2022 that will likely continue during 2023 at least within the context of packaging producer responsibility and recycled-content discussions. Finally, there is a growing policy discussion about the potential for additional deposit return systems, aka bottle bills, in the U.S. as some material sectors see that as a path forward to increasing the use of PCR content while some environmental organizations want beverage containers to be covered by this policy rather than packaging producer responsibility. This may result in more traction for bottle bill proposals at the state level, as well the potential for some more pressure at the federal level for a national bottle bill.

Felton:

Overall, AMERIPEN believes 2023 will be one of our most active years for packaging policy ever. We encourage PW readers to get involved with their trade associations, state chapters, and chambers, and/or AMERIPEN to ensure their voices are heard. —Anne Marie Mohan

AMERIPEN, a material-neutral trade association for the packaging industry, is focused on the intersection of packaging policy and the environment and educates the industry on the value of packaging.

Tropicana capitalized on the #ThePerfectMimosa social media trend with this in uencer-targeted, packaging-centric campaign.

Buzz-Worthy Spray Closures Go Viral for Tropicana Campaign

In a social media campaign targeting TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook influencers who are pushing the tongue-in-cheek #ThePerfectMimosa trend, Tropicana scored big-time buzz.

Rapid prototyping In uencer campaign

By Matt Reynolds, Chief Editor

In 99 out of 100 cases, packaging’s primary deliverable to a big brand is to safely transport a product through the supply chain—intact and without spoilage—to a consumer. That’s not to diminish packaging’s secondary jobs, like conveying product information or engaging consumers while on the shelf. But at its core, packaging is a practical endeavor.

But occasionally, packaging vaults into the limelight by playing a starring role in splashier CPG goals, like buzz marketing. Such was the case with a November 2022 Tropicana (Tropicana Brands Group) campaign that seized on a recent TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram trend led by in uencers in the mixology space, among both professional bartenders and their brunching in-home weekend warrior counterparts. In this trend, mimosas, which traditionally are half Champagne, half orange juice, are made using diminishingly small amounts of orange juice, or “just a hint of OJ” as one in uencer in the hash-tagged #ThePerfectMimosa Twitter feed said. The tongue-in-cheek joke at work behind the scenes is for the mixologist, with a wink and a nod, to be heavy on the boozy portion of beverage, and light on the non-alcoholic portion.

Instead of a ham- sted pour of OJ into the Champagne- lled ute, these social media in uencers apply the OJ in just a few drops or a mist. To achieve this effect, home mixologists and in uencers use their own bottles to “apply” the OJ—some with spray closures, others with liquid droppers, likely repurposed from other standard CPG product packages, like body mist spray bottles or cosmetics droppers.

But the trend gave the notably creative Tropicana team, who isn’t new to buzz-worthy campaigns, some big ideas.

“Tropicana introduced the Tropicana Mimosa Maker to celebrate the beloved brunch beverage and offer mimosa lovers a fresh, rst-ofits-kind way to enjoy their perfect mimosa at their next gathering,” a

Tropicana spokesperson tells Packaging World. “Mimosas are undoubtedly a brunch classic. As long as brunch lovers have enjoyed the adult beverage, they’ve had an opinion about the ‘perfect’ OJ-to-bubbly ratio. In fact, in the last year alone, more than 1.6 million videos were created sharing #ThePerfectMimosa. As an iconic breakfast brand that celebrates the brightness that even a single sip of orange juice brings, Tropicana recognizes there may never be a one-size- ts-all approach to the perfect mimosa. What they do know for sure is that the perfect mimosa includes Tropicana orange juice.”

The company turned to packaging design, prototyping, and testing agency Fuseneo to create a spray closure with a trigger that would be compatible with Tropicana’s existing 12-oz bottle and threaded screw cap. Notably, the project wasn’t designed to roll out to market at scale. Instead, a small scale run of trigger sprayers were sent, in kit form, to so-

cial media in uencers. Each Tropicana Mimosa Maker kit includes a 12-oz bottle of Tropicana Pure Premium Original orange juice, two Champagne utes, two iconic Tropicana red and white striped straws, and a Tropicana Mimosa Maker screw top that was developed through the company’s partnership with Fuseneo.

“There’s been a trend amongst brands to create buzz-worthy social experiments and get content to be promoted in uencers, creating this kind of natural, organic public discussion,” Fuseneo’s Brent Lindberg

An example of #ThePerfectMimosa in uencer trend, as it appeared on Twitter. In this case a single squeeze of orange, only a few drops, is added to a full glass of Champagne.

says. “The Tropicana team has done some other cool social campaigns in the past, with OJ- avored toothpaste and OJ- avored cereal [meant to obviate the famously clashing avors of mint toothpaste with OJ, or cereal milk with OJ]. They weren’t ever meant to scale, but these are projects that have been fun to watch. It creates something memorable for consumers and for the brand. Tropicana wanted to leverage this #ThePerfectMimosa, but how would they do it? How would they enable consumers to have this kind of fun experience? That’s what really set up this project for us. When they came to us, we asked ourselves, ‘how can we create a controlled dose closure that allows consumers to spritz just a little bit, just a hint of OJ, or a dash of it, or just take the closure off and pour it in, if that’s what the consumer really wants?’ That variable experience, allowing consumers to dial-in their Mimosa, was really the driver behind the project.”

Function was one important element, but so were elements like look, color, and brand mark.

“We wanted to ensure the design of the Tropicana Mimosa Maker was uniquely ownable to Tropicana, so we pulled inspiration fromTropicana’s branding and colors, and included nods to the brand’s iconic red and white striped straw and signature offering – OJ,” the Tropicana spokesperson says. “Through partnership with Fuseneo, the result was a fun, brand-forward accessory intended to bring brightness to brunch responsibly.”

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We wanted to ensure the design of the Tropicana Mimosa Maker was uniquely ownable to Tropicana, so we pulled inspiration fromTropicana’s branding and colors, and included nods to the brand’s iconic red and white striped straw and signature offering – OJ.

Designing for small- to mid-scale projects

Fuseneo has a long-standing relationship with the the Tropicana teams, having worked closely together to design to the original Tropicana Pure Premium Original OJ bottle structures that are that are in-market today. The companies worked on all three different sizes, including family sized 89-oz bottle, the mid-size 52-oz bottle, and the 12-ounce, single-serve size that reappears in this mimosa project. The two teams’ familiarity on the bottle dimensions made Fuseneo a natural choice, but still, the project wasn’t without challenges.

First, the timeline was tight. One never knows when the eeting gestalt of a hash-tagged social media trend will dry up (or “jump the shark,” as the kids say). So Tropicana and Fuseneo had to strike while the iron was hot.

“And then you’ve got food contact, that’s a complicating factor. And you’ve got a lot of a lot of different elements involved with variable dosing,” Lindberg says. “Even though the scale was small, we were

setting out to create a whole production tool, and production molds around triggers, and they’re very complicated. The, the initial stage of the project was really about nding out what was the right way to allow

consumers to dial-in and dose for themselves, to create that variable experience. “We explored everything from droppers to puffers to triggers to see what would best give consumers this kind of an experience. Triggers and sprayers were really the impetus from the beginning, but we had to try and gure out if we were even going to consider them. How do you create a new trigger within these kinds of timelines and project constraints? But it made too much sense, so that was the chosen direction. After a couple rounds of iteration and concepting, we locked-in on this on this direction, where we would be able to source an in-market, food-safe trigger that was certi ed for food contact and would allow consumers to adjust the experience as they wanted. Taking off the existing external housing of this in-market trigger and sprayer, we The full set, sent to in uencers, includes a 12-oz can of OJ, two iconic red and white were then creating new housing components— straws, two Champagne utes, and a new trigger spray bottle cap and closure that kind of snap-on style pieces. Those pieces don’t allows personalized dosing. have any food-contact surfaces themselves. We ultimately applied that trigger and housing to the existing Tropicana Pure Premium threaded closure, to act as its base. So it works with any off-the-shelf 12-oz Tropicana bottle, with the in-market closure that’s already on the bottle today, since that closure