California state lawmakers vote to ban all plastic bags (chainstoreage.com)

Sonoco plans to further expand Sonopost® cornerpost manufacturing in Europe. A new protective packaging production facility is set to open in Bursa, Turkey in November, one year after Sonoco established the first Sonopost® operation in Sochaczew, Poland. “Growing demand for our proprietary Sonopost technology created the need for a second production facility,” said Adam Wood, Vice President and General Manager of Global Paper Products in Europe. “Our protective packaging design team is working hard with our customers who are aligned with us in creating fully sustainable, paper-based packaging that protects and preserves both their product and our planet for generations to come.”

Pregis has invested in a new 1960 square meter (21,000 square foot) customer experience facility in Europe designed to provide a holistic solutions approach to protective packaging challenges and reduce costly waste incurred by damaged products. The new Pregis innovation headquarters, called the Pregis IQ, is located in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. It will open in April as a customer demonstration and training facility designed to optimize packaging methods.

The Covington Paperworkers Union says they have ratified the WestRock offer after a vote Thursday. This means that the union has agreed on a new contract that was presented by union representatives for the papermill's workers. 94 percent of the eligible members voted, with 54 percent in favor for the new contract. It is the first new contract offered to WestRock workers in Covington since 2010.