Caraustar Announces a $50 Per Ton Price Increase on All Uncoated Recycled Paperboard (URB) Grades

The convenience of online shopping is shifting a larger share of the retail marketplace to e-commerce. In 2019, e-commerce was 16.4 percent of total retail sales globally. But recent indicators show a strong rise in e-commerce that will lead to busier fulfillment centers. For example, Sally Beauty saw a 555 percent increase in its U.S. digital growth in the third quarter of 2020 compared to last year, and 163 percent growth in its European arm in the same time period. By 2023, e-commerce will amount to 22 percent of global retail sales. This jump in online purchasing will lead to big changes for fulfillment centers, particularly as consumers purchase a larger variety of items from the comfort of their homes. The future of e-commerce holds an increase in perishable purchases online, demand for rapid fulfillment, a need for more warehouse space, and more direct-to-consumer brands creating a memorable unboxing experience. As a result, fulfillment centers will need to find ways to package more orders and ship them out faster. click read more below for much more info

Green Bay Packaging of Green Bay, Wisconsin, has announced it is expanding manufacturing space at its Great Lakes Packaging Division facility in Germantown, Wisconsin, with the addition of a new building. The company held a groundbreaking ceremony at the location in early July. On its website, GBP describes its Germantown Great Lakes Division as a provider of corrugated containers, point of purchase displays, wood/foam specialty packaging and contract packaging and fulfillment services. While the facility does not convert recovered paper into new paperboard, it engages in downstream functions for GBP corrugated materials, including those made at its recycled-content mill in Green Bay, in which it invested $500 million earlier this decade. The mill consumes old corrugated containers (OCC), mixed paper and other recovered paper grades. The new downstream facility will consist of 270,000 square feet of manufacturing space “for increased capabilities and streamlined operations,” says GBP. Equipment within the facility will include a rotary die cutting (RDC) machine, a laminator and a specialty folder-gluer.

Smurfit Kappa has announced the opening of a new International Safe Transfer Association (ISTA) certified lab at its new eCommerce packaging facility in Northampton, UK. This brings with it an expansion of Smurfit Kappa’s network of packaging testing labs and centres that support retailers and producers to develop, test and launch disruptive packaging solutions for eCommerce at minimal risk and with reliable implementation. ISTA certification is often required by online selling platforms such as Amazon, Alibaba or eBay. From its ISTA lab in the Netherlands, Smurfit Kappa has over 14 years of experience and data from testing new and innovative packaging solutions to ensure they are fit for purpose and meet the challenges of the eCommerce supply chain. Most recently, Smurfit Kappa was the first to secure Amazon’s ‘Frustration-Free Packaging’ pre-certification for a three litre Bag-in-Box solution. All this expertise is now also extended into the UK market.