Asahi to Become First Japanese User of WestRock CanCollar® Eco Packaging

With physical stores closed during the pandemic, the boom in online shopping resulted in record numbers of packages arriving on consumers’ doorsteps. Along with all that merchandise came a growing awareness of the materials used to package and ship products, and the impact those materials have on the environment. A new survey commissioned by Two Sides North America and conducted by international research firm Toluna found that U.S. consumers believe paper-based packaging is better for the environment than other packaging materials. Survey respondents were asked to rank their preferred packaging material (paper/cardboard, plastic, glass and metal) based on 15 environmental, aesthetic and practical attributes. Overall, paper/cardboard packaging was preferred for 10 of the 15 attributes, with half of respondents saying paper/cardboard is better for the environment. Consumers also preferred paper/cardboard packaging on other environmental attributes, including being home compostable (65%) and easier to recycle (44%).

Packaging Corporation of America reported second quarter 2021 net income of $207 million, excluding special items. Second quarter net sales were $1.9 billion in 2021 and $1.5 billion in 2020. Commenting on reported results, Mark W. Kowlzan, Chairman and CEO, said, “Demand in our Packaging segment remained very strong. Our mills and plants continued to do an outstanding job of meeting our customers’ needs while managing through certain material and chemical availability issues, a tight labor market, various freight and logistics challenges, as well as the planned maintenance outages at four of our mills during the second quarter. The mills executed the planned outages extremely well and, with the help of the No. 3 machine at the Jackson Mill, provided our plants the necessary containerboard to achieve an all-time record for total box shipments. We were also able to build some much-needed inventory; however, our weeks-of-inventory supply was at a new low for this time of year ahead of an expected very busy second half. The sales groups in both the Packaging and Paper segments are doing a great job of implementing our previously announced price increases, and we continue to deliver on the numerous initiatives and capital projects to reduce costs and improve efficiencies across all of our mills and corrugated products plants. These efforts are extremely important as we continue to experience significant cost inflation across the Company as well as logistics challenges with both our inbound and outbound freight needs.”

Koehler Paper has launched the world’s lightest heat-sealable flexible packaging paper - Koehler NexPlus® Seal Pure 36 gsm. Despite its low grammage, Koehler NexPlus® Seal Pure 36 gsm has high strength and is ideal for further processing on commercially available packaging machines for horizontal packaging formats, such as flow packs and wrapping paper. The paper’s outstanding surface makes it suitable for flexographic, digital, and gravure printing. The low grammage of Koehler NexPlus® Seal Pure 36 gsm helps to reduce the use of materials in its production, saving valuable resources without having to compromise on essential properties for packaging paper.