In the April issue of Packaging Strategies we focus on advances in sustainable packaging. Also covered is how to redesign your packaging playbook, an RFID track-and-trace solution for the pharmaceutical sector, adding pick-and-place robotics to end of line and packaging machine safety. Enjoy!
In January, U.S. plastic bag manufacturers and recyclers signed a sustainability commitment for the industry and renamed its coalition the American Recyclable Plastic Bag Alliance (ARPBA). The agreement by ARPBA members includes a target that 95% of plastic retail bags be reused or recycled by 2025.
Marketers have done a pretty good job training consumers to recognize visual signals on packaging. Green indicates freshness, white cues purity, hand-rendered typography means a product is “artisan” and so on. But what happens when most consumer packaged goods companies play by the same rules in the packaging playbook? It’s a recipe for uniformity.
In 2020, the goal of reducing supply chain inefficiencies has become especially true for the healthcare industry, as hospitals and healthcare systems work to reduce the billions of dollars spent on unnecessary supply chain operations every year.
Typically, we think of packaging machine safety in terms of hard wiring, e-stops, guarding, lock out/tag out and regulatory compliance. Those are important considerations, of course, but today’s networked safety technologies can achieve substantial increases in productivity.
Green Cell Foam by KTM Industries Inc. has been creating bio-based material for thermal protection and protective packaging applicants for nearly 20 years. The Michigan-based company takes U.S. grown, non-GMO corn and extrudes its starch into foam material.
The environmental problem of plastic pollution is a high concern among a surging eco-conscious global population who are striving to reduce plastic use. When used responsibly, plastic packaging plays a crucial role in mitigating an even more critical problem of food waste.
End-of-line packaging using robotic pick-and-place is gaining acceptance as the go-to packaging system for the pharmaceutical and medical device industries — and the reasons are clear.
Sustainability impacts the conversation around packaging as consumers become progressively more aware of the impact brands have on the environment. Sustainability is especially important among younger consumers.