GPI announcement – Mike Weinhold

Industrial Packaging Corporation (IPC) has announced the addition of a new Kraft Paper Honeycomb panel line in Arcadia, WI, located 40 miles northwest of La Crosse, WI. This new equipment adds to IPC’s Honeycomb capacity, currently supplied from Wilton, IA. With two Honeycomb operations in the Upper Midwest, IPC will better service the states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Additionally, this will free up capacity restraints in the Wilton, IA facility to better serve Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, and Illinois. IPC is a family owned and has been in business since 1989. In addition to Kraft Paper Honeycomb, IPC manufactures Build Up A-flute products of Angle Pads, U Channels, and Flat Pads, in Tomahawk, WI, Arcadia, WI and Fort Payne, AL.

If you have an interest in packaging policy or sustainable packaging, you have likely heard the term “EPR” or “extended producer responsibility.” But what exactly is EPR, and how will it ultimately affect the types of packaging we use? In this Deep Dive, we will explore the current EPR landscape in the U.S. and what is likely to come over the next several years. A note of caution: this article is intended as a general overview of packaging EPR with some basic advice for companies trying to navigate the new legislative landscape. It should not be taken as legal advice, and we highly recommend that companies who think they are regulated “producers” seek legal counsel to better understand their responsibilities. Extended Producer Responsibility, or EPR, refers to a policy approach that shifts the responsibility for waste management of a given product from consumers/taxpayers and municipalities onto the producers of that product. Typically, the main goal of EPR is to minimize the environmental externalities of a product’s end of life – that is, minimize the unintended consequence of what happens to a product when we’re done with it. EPR prompts a society to start thinking on a large scale about where products end up when we’re done with them and how we can better manage them. EPR regulations are not new to the U.S. and have been around for over a decade to manage products like e-waste, mattresses, paint, tires, batteries, etc. Let’s take the example of paint. “Producers,” meaning paint manufacturers, are typically responsible for the paint up until the point where you, the consumer, purchase it. But there are some unintended consequences that come when you’re done with that paint can that likely has extra paint in it. While most paint is actually recyclable, many people throw it away or pour it down the drain, which can contaminate the environment with hazardous chemicals. Ultimately, consumers/taxpayers and the environment pay the costs to deal with this result, and paint companies don’t have an incentive to fix it.

Berry Global Group, Inc. announced an agreement with PureCycle that will provide Berry with PureCycle’s Ultra-Pure Recycled (UPR) advanced recycled resin. This agreement is the latest in a growing list of advanced recycling material sourcing announcements from Berry and is the Company’s second based in North America. If given the option to buy products with recyclable or compostable packaging, 47% of Americans opt for recyclable products as their first choice, and 20% prefer compostable products. (Ipsos, Aug. 2021) *77% of Americans are concerned about the environmental impact of products they buy, and 78% are more likely to purchase a product that is clearly labeled as environmentally friendly. (Greenprint, April 2021) *64% of consumers say that buying sustainable products makes them feel happy about their purchases (this reaches 72% in the 25-35 age group). (Capgemini Research Institute, July 2020). As demand for sustainable products grows, customers look to Berry for access to recycled material and packaging design expertise to maintain their brand image and package performance. As a result, Berry continues its leadership position in the converter market for access to recycled plastic material – over 600 million pounds per year by 2025.