packaging

McDonald’s Corporation has announced a global partnership with TerraCycle’s circular packaging service, Loop, to test a new reusable cup model for hot beverages. The initiative, which will first be trialed in 2021 across select McDonald’s restaurants in the UK, helps customers enjoy their favorite McDonald’s hot drink in a reusable cup, while cutting down on packaging waste. The model marks significant progress toward innovative circular packaging solutions that help protect the planet for communities today, and in the future.

Coca-Cola in Western Europe today takes another important step on its journey to eliminating new virgin oil-based plastic as Coca-Cola in the Netherlands and Coca-Cola in Norway announce their transition to plastic bottles made from 100% recycled plastic (rPET). Following the announcement (December 2019) that Coca-Cola in Sweden would become the first market to switch to 100% rPET, Coca-Cola in the Netherlands has announced that from October 2020 it will transition all its locally produced small plastic bottles to 100% rPET, including iconic brands such as Coca-Cola, Sprite and Fanta.

Bottom line, the look and feel of packaging are primary drivers that influence a customer’s purchasing decision in the aisle. It’s a powerful enabler that meets consumers’ need for a personalized brand experience. One of the key ways to create that experience is the use of finishing technologies. Amcor’s AmPlify™ finishing technologies for packaging is a portfolio of solutions designed to create engagement opportunities through more intense experiences with packaging elements that embody a product’s flavor, texture and scent.

By promoting the use of more sustainable materials in packaging, such as those produced with Neste’s hiqh-quality drop-in hydrocarbons produced from renewable and recycled raw materials, the partners wish to help other companies using such rigid plastic packaging to meet their materials-related sustainability targets. The joint aim of Neste and Jokey is to work towards a future with an increasing share of renewable and recycled materials and a plastics economy built upon solid circular value chains.

The Camden-based carmaker said the new program, created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the related use of items like disposable masks and gloves, expands on its current partnership with the Trenton-based firm. The goal, Subaru said in a news release, is to keep improperly discarded PPE out of landfills and incinerators. The automaker will collect PPE at more than 20 offices nationwide, including ports, training centers and its Camden headquarters.

Many brand owners and companies along the supply chain invest heavily to bring sustainable packaging solutions to the shelf. However, deciding on suitable sustainable solutions is often not easy, says Syntegon. What appears like a simple choice of material, at first glance, often turns out to be a more complex task requiring information along the entire value chain. Capturing and storing data such as material production parameters, product properties and packaging processes as well as logistics and disposal can contribute to optimizing sustainable packaging.

Called Loop, the platform enables shoppers to purchase refillable versions of food and drink, health and beauty and cleaning products online. Brands signed up in the UK include Heinz, Coca Cola, Unilever, Danone and Nivea. Customers pay a deposit fee on each piece of packaging that is refunded to them when they return the containers. They can make returns from home, by completing an online request for a pick-up, or by dropping used packaging to one of DPD’s 2,500 collection points. TerraCycle then receives the used packaging for cleaning.