American Forest & Paper Association Releases March 2021 Packaging Papers Monthly Report

Berry Global Group, Inc. announced its Chairman and CEO, Tom Salmon, has accepted the appointment as an Officer of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste (Alliance), a global non-profit organization. As a founding member and first converter to join the Alliance, Berry continues its leadership role to help convene a global network of over 80 member companies and partners in the mission to end plastic waste in the environment. Salmon continues to stand behind the power of plastics, known for its versatility, innovation, and lower overall environmental impact than other packaging alternatives*. Through his leadership, he will help guide the Alliance’s decision-making on global projects that are sustainable, circular, and scalable businesses.

*Revenue growth of 11% *EBITDA of €781 million with an EBITDA margin of 16.7% *Corrugated growth of over 10% and over 9% versus 2020 and 2019 respectively *Accelerating investment plans to meet customer needs and capitalise on growth *Agreement to acquire 600,000 tonne recycled containerboard mill *Strong and progressive corrugated price recovery offsetting significant input cost increases *Interim dividend increased by 5% to 29.3 cent per share. Tony Smurfit, Group CEO, commented: “I am pleased to report a strong first half performance with revenue growth of 11%, EBITDA of €781 million and an EBITDA margin of 16.7%. Growth in corrugated was over 10% against the same period in 2020 and over 9% on 2019 and we continue to see strong demand for our core products.

In 2021, the global consumption of paper cups reached more than 244.7 billion units. Most of them still have a non-recyclable plastic lid on. Finnish entrepreneur Matti Salonoja wanted to create an option for plastic. Stora Enso Cupforma Natura Aqua+ gave a great base for the groundbreaking solution. Matti Salonoja ended up making paper lids partly by chance. In 2008, he and his friend thought about having a business and ended up importing branded paper cups to Finland. When his friend left the company after a couple of years, Salonoja started selling cups full-time, and in 2014 he decided to get a cardboard cup machine himself. Back then, the coating on the paper cups prevented them from being recycled. During 2015, however, several cardboard manufacturers started to develop an alternative to plastic used in cups, made of water-based coated cardboard.