Total U.S. Containerboard Production Increased Two Percent in Q2 2022

Sonoco announced it has completed the divestiture of its Europe contract packaging business to a subsidiary of Prairie Industries Holdings, a Wisconsin-based contract packaging and contract manufacturing firm backed by The Halifax Group, a Washington, D.C.-based global investment firm, for $120 million in cash. Sonoco’s Europe contract packaging business produced net sales of approximately $300 million in 2019 and provides full-service custom packaging and supply chain management solutions to global consumer product goods companies through six contract packaging facilities in three locations and a warehouse all in Poland. The business has been part of Sonoco’s Display and Packaging segment and has approximately 2,600 employees. The divestiture is part of Sonoco efforts to simplify its operating structure to focus on growing its core Consumer and Industrial packaging businesses.

Cascades Inc. announces that it will close its Etobicoke, Ontario Containerboard packaging facility as part of the strategic repositioning of its Containerboard platform in Ontario and the Corporation's continuing global optimization initiatives. Cascades' Etobicoke Containerboard Packaging operations will permanently close no later than August 31, 2021, and the property will be put up for sale. Over the coming weeks and months, Cascades will work to minimize the impact of this announcement on the 125 employees related to this facility. It is important to note that this announcement has no impact on the activities of our Cascades Recovery+ facility and offices that are also located in Etobicoke.

Following the recent news on Aptar Freyung receiving ISCC PLUS*- Certification, enabling the use of renewable feedstock material for closures production, Aptar Food + Beverage is excited to announce that the Neo™ closure solution for the infant formula market is now available in renewable feedstock material based on the mass-balance approach. This polypropylene (PP) closure is made using sustainably sourced renewable feedstock derived solely from vegetable oil waste and residue, such as used cooking oil and residues from oil processing. There are many sustainability benefits found in using recycled and bio-based materials. First, the reduction of fossil-based resins in food-grade products can reduce the carbon footprint of a closure. Another benefit, from a technical and manufacturing perspective, is that new quality or filling line evaluations are not required. As the resin’s characteristics of fossil-based and renewable feedstock are the same, the closures keep the same level of safety and convenience. In addition, it can help infant nutrition brands to achieve their sustainability goals related to the reduction of CO2 emissions, and the incorporation of recycled or bio-based content measured by the mass balance model.