Sustainable Packaging

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In addition to energy reduction, Portola plants recycled in excess of 3.4 million pounds of scrap resin in 2012. Additionally, corrugated, paper, aluminum and steel were also recycled.

In response to the increasing and widespread demand for carton recycling access in communities large and small, the Carton Council of North America has unveiled a new website, CartonOpportunities.org, designed to provide comprehensive information on the opportunities created for recycling professionals, elected officials and the entire packaging supply chain through carton recycling. The site also supplements an existing and popular website, RecycleCartons.com, which is focused on educating consumers.

 

Appearances can be deceiving. Millennials represent the fastest-growing segment of luxury goods-and-services purchasers, according to a recent study by American Express. Yet they are also giving rise to a new lifestyle that can be characterized in two words: frugal and green. 

TricorBraun WinePak has launched a successful zero-waste program which has incurred no expense and has redirected 1020.91 tons of waste to recyclers, according to Jad Darsey, TricorBraun’s director of sustainability and plastics.

Every day, large quantities of milk and juice are consumed in schools across the country, so it’s a natural fit for schools to develop and implement school-based carton recycling programs. Recognizing the fast-growing pace of carton recycling, this year Keep America Beautiful created a special category for carton recycling in its popular annual competition called Recycle-Bowl.

The insatiable curiosity surrounding the Millennial generation (current age 18-35) is certainly not a new topic – but the importance of this complex demographic is growing, especially for grocery retailers. An apparent trend has surfaced, leading fickle (but abundant) Millennial dollars away from traditional grocery stores and into the hands of farmer’s markets, online and specialty retailers. A combination of factors, including health, status, convenience, freshness and ethics – all play an important role in these consumers’ purchase decisions.

Xpedx, a business-to-business distribution company in North America and a business of International Paper (IP), is pursuing a new set of sustainability goals in 2013 that will advance its leadership role in offering sustainable solutions to its customers in printing, packaging and facilities supplies.

The United States Air Force Academy Cadet Squadron 09 won the inaugural Great American Can Roundup contest by recycling a total of 4,166 beverage cans. Sponsored by the Can Manufacturers Institute, the GACR creates awareness of the environmental benefits of recycling cans.

Cartons are highly recyclable and are a growing commodity. In the first quarter of 2013, almost 1.8 million new households gained access to carton recycling, ensuring that over 50 million U.S. households now have access to carton recycling.

I recently read a report from Canadean about reusable beverage containers that really opened my eyes to the practice of reusing beverage bottles that I hadn’t much considered before.

Packaging Strategies’ Sustainable Packaging Forum focuses on the latest sustainable packaging practices, business strategies and technologies from across the globe that support company growth while meeting today’s sustainability challenges.

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Food security and waste are focal themes of the North American edition of the Sustainable Foods Summit.

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