Eric Fish

Avery Dennison has some ambitious sustainability goals it wants to hit by 2025. It wants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 3 percent year-over-year, go up to 95 percent landfill-free, eliminate 70 percent of matrix and liner, and source film and chemicals more responsibly, among others.

It was about three years ago when Bear Naked Granola decided it wanted to overhaul the packaging on its line of best-selling granolas and granola bites. As a leading brand in the granola space, it wanted to take the lead in another important category: sustainable packaging. But the brand wanted to maintain the feel, function and appearance of its current packaging.

Hot on the heels of the second-annual Converters Expo South, which was held on February 5 in Charlotte, North Carolina, comes the flagship Converters Expo. Now entering its 12th year, the event returns to Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin, from March 27-28.

Eight seconds. That’s what’s believed to be the average human attention span, and it’s down about 4 seconds from what the average attention span was in 2000. Yes, just 8 seconds — about the same as a goldfish (perhaps even less than a goldfish, depending on the source). 

Sustainability and recyclability: What was once a trend in the packaging industry is now a necessity. Consumers are demanding it, brands are establishing ambitious goals and it’s up to the suppliers, equipment manufacturers and everyone else to work together in achieving it all.