Four Key Sustainable Packaging Trends

Suppliers and manufacturers continue to innovate, iterate, and collaborate, leading to significant progress in sustainable packaging for paper bottles and compostable overwraps.

In this PDF our editors discuss how paper bottles and compostable overwraps are gaining traction as practical commercial realities. Fill out the form below to download Four Key Sustainable Packaging Trends.

Carlos Ludlow Palafox, inventor of microwave-induced pyrolysis for recycling flexible packaging

Alternative for hard-to-recycle packaging waste

Carlos Ludlow Palafox, CEO of Enval Ltd. and the creator of a unique technology based on microwave-induced pyrolysis for flexible packaging including plastic laminates, shares his vision.

Stewart Leeth, chief sustainability officer for Smithfield Foods, accepts the “Profit with a Purpose” World Sustainability Award on behalf of the company.

Smithfield Foods Wins World Sustainability Award

The company has been recognized for aligning sustainability and profitability through its innovative renewable natural gas programs, which significantly reduce carbon emissions by converting methane from hog manure into clean energy.

Smithfield benefitted from a lower cost per foot of netting and decreasing the amount of packaging waste to be hauled.

Smithfield Packaging Reduction Nets Savings in Ham Production

Company wins third place in the Project Category of ProFood World's Sustainability Excellence in Manufacturing Awards.

RRD’s team works with the companies to assess their needs, examining current packaging formats, stock keeping units (SKUs), distribution networks, and the potential for future scalability.

RRD’s Single-Source Folding Carton Service for Sustainable Brand Design

The end-to-end service highlighted at PACK EXPO Las Vegas is designed for various sized companies, from emerging brands to Fortune 500 companies across an array of industries.

Mars Pledges Fresh Climate Action to Achieve Net Zero Emissions by 2050

The move advances Mars’s previous pledge to cut emissions in its full value chain by 67% by 2050 and reaffirms a near-term target to cut GHGs in its full value chain by 27% by 2025.

The idea for the project emerged when a Conagra Brands plant engineer attended PACK EXPO and discussed ways to improve the plant’s current operation with an exhibitor.

Conagra Brands Paper Waste Reduction Project Is on a Roll

Project ties for second place in the project category of ProFood World's Sustainability Excellence in Manufacturing Awards.

Del Monte Foods Publishes 2021 Sustainability Report

The plant-based foods leader’s report highlights progress toward the company’s sustainability goals and its efforts to increase food access and expand nutrition education.

Diageo Lebanon Distillery

Diageo Opens Its First North American Carbon Neutral Whiskey Distillery

Diageo’s new distillery will operate using 100% renewable electricity, zero fossil fuels for production, and virtual metering technology, reflecting its commitment to net-zero carbon across direct operations by 2030.

Mars Pledges to Achieve Water Balance in High Water-Stressed Operations by 2025

Mars will partner with 30 other global businesses to accelerate progress against the global water crisis as it joins the UN Global Compact CEO Water Mandate’s Water Resilience Coalition.

The simple change of installing photo eyes and timers on its air knives allows Smith-field’s Kinston facility to cut air to the air knife when it is not needed, providing energy savings.

Smithfield Air Knife Energy Reduction Project Saves Compressed Air Costs

Smithfield Foods ties for second place in ProFood World's Sustainability Excellence in Manufacturing Awards in the project category.

A switch away from cardboard to reusable plastic totes and baskets not only saves money for Smithfield’s Sioux City plant, it also reduces cardboard sent to landfill.

Smithfield’s Switch from Cardboard to Reusable Plastic Totes Pays Off

Smithfield Foods receives first place in the Project Category of ProFood World's Sustainability Excellence in Manufacturing Awards.

PepsiCo Announces Strategic Transformation With Sustainability at the Center

The pep+ (pep Positive) transformation will create growth and value for PepsiCo by operating within planetary boundaries and inspiring positive change for the planet and people.

Maple Leaf Foods Releases 2020 Sustainability Report

Company reports progress on its journey to become Earth’s most sustainable protein company, as it approaches 2 years as the world’s first major carbon neutral food company.

Nomad Foods Joins Race to Zero

Europe’s largest frozen food producer commits to Business Ambition for 1.5 °C campaign, setting new emissions reduction targets approved by the Science Based Targets initiative.

Replacing valves to limit water losses saved millions of gallons of water for Conagra Brands’ Fennville, Mich., plant.

Conagra Brands Cuts Water Usage for Its Cherry Fresh Pack Product

The company receives third place in program category of ProFood World's Sustainability Excellence in Manufacturing Awards.

Smucker Releases 2021 Corporate Impact Report

The document announces new environmental impact goals and reiterates the company’s commitment to positively influence the issues challenging people and pets.

Infinite Cooling developed an add-on process to capture cooling tower plumes’ water.

Bio-Inspired Retrofit May Save Manufacturers Millions of Gallons of Water Annually

Namib desert beetles capture water droplets from fog. To fight water scarcity, an MIT-spinoff uses the same concept to capture and recycle vapor from cooling tower plumes, saving water and cutting costs in manufacturing facilities.

PepsiCo to Develop Its Largest and Most Sustainable Plant in Europe

The snacks plant will provide extra capacity to respond to the rapid growth in the company’s foods portfolio, including brands such as Lay’s fried and Oven Baked chips, and Doritos corn chips.

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A Success Against Food Waste | JBS, Sanderson Farms, Coca-Cola Bottling Co. United News Update

Sanderson Farms to be sold to Cargill and Continental Grain, while JBS acquires aquaculture firm, and Coca-Cola Bottling Company United plans facility investment. Also on Take Five: Great Britain shares its food waste success in a Champion 12.3 webinar.

Torn Apron’s chef-prepared, restaurant-quality grab-and-go meals are packaged in vacuum skin packs that let the bright colors of the fresh ingredients shine through.

Tray Sealer Helps Startup Brand Become a Savory Success

Using a combination of vacuum skin packaging and High Pressure Processing, grab-and-go meal startup Torn Apron is producing 4,000 tray packs/week of restaurant-quality meals that have a shelf life from 50 to 60 days.

More in Sustainability

Working with a new vendor allows Conagra Brands’ Waterloo, Iowa, facility to ship waste instead of landfilling it.

Conagra Brands’ Waterloo Facility Pursues Zero Waste Recycling

Company receives a ProFood World Sustainability Excellence in Manufacturing Award for second place in the program category.

Conagra Brands’ Menomonie, Wis., team displays the ultrasonic imager that helps it identify air leaks.

Conagra Brands Earns Second Place in SEMA's Program Category

Conagra Brands succeeds with compressed air, steam, and vacuum leak reduction project, which ties for a position in ProFood World's Sustainability Excellence in Manufacturing Awards.

PepsiCo Announces “Net Water Positive” Commitment

The company has pledged to replenish more than 100% of the water it uses in high-risk areas by 2030, while the PepsiCo Foundation expands its Safe Water Access Program.

JBS USA Announces New Global Sustainability Targets, Shares 2020 Accomplishments

JBS USA's 2020 Sustainability Report details the company’s sustainability actions across its global operations in North America, the U.K., Continental Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.

Global efforts result in a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals, like Target 12.3

The Global Stand Against Food Waste

As the world strives to meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, Great Britain releases news of astounding progress.

Installation of an air-cooled air handling unit in place of a water-cooled unit at B&G Foods’ Cincinnati facility has significantly reduced water usage.

B&G Foods Pursues Water Reduction Program

Company's program empowers employees to make a difference and earns first place in the program category of SEMA.

Mc Cormick Grown For Good

McCormick Advances Sustainability Standard for Suppliers Around the World

Through a first-of-its-kind standard for the herbs and spices industry, McCormick is advancing its efforts to sustainably source ingredients while driving farmer resilience, women’s empowerment, and an ethical supply chain.

Dole Sunshine For All Report

One Year After Launch, Dole Reports on Its Promise of Sunshine for All

The new report details Dole’s sustainability actions over the past year, as well as what will continue the company’s drive toward achieving the ambitious goals set forth in The Dole Promise.

Smithfield and RAE Complete Renewable Natural Gas Technology Installation

The largest renewable natural gas project of its kind implements manure-to-energy technology on nearly all of Smithfield’s Northern Missouri hog finishing farms.

Come to PACK EXPO to meet the SEMA award winners and discuss their sustainability projects.

Eye on Sustainability

From packaging reductions and recycling projects to water, compressed air, and other utility savings, food and beverage processors have not taken their eyes on the ball when it comes to protecting the planet.

The newly patented packaging option, slated to be released to the market in late 2021, makes use of a mono-material while holding up to retort’s challenges.

Recycle-Ready for Pet Food Retort Pouches

Retort pouches are popular for moist and semi-moist pet food manufacturers because of their light weight. But finding a pouch material that can withstand retort conditions with excellent barrier properties while being recycle-ready has been a challenge.

Smucker Exceeds 2020 Environmental Impact Goals

Exceeding its waste-to-landfill diversion, reducing water-use-intensity, and reducing greenhouse-gas-emissions-intensity goals reinforces Smucker’s commitment to supporting a healthier planet.