Pregis Expands Production at Two Facilities to Meet Surging Demand for EverTec Mailers

Interfor Corporation announced that it is expecting production disruptions at its B.C. Interior sawmills during the third quarter of 2021 due to the ongoing impacts of wildfires and other factors on log supply. “The wildfires in the B.C. Interior and the related provincial state of emergency and governmentmandated curtailment of all forest harvesting activities are expected to have a significant impact on Interfor’s operations in the next several weeks or more. This is an active situation, and we are closely monitoring the implications for our operations. We are also doing what we can to help, working cooperatively with the provincial wildfire service and local communities to support the firefighting efforts. At this time there are over 230 Interfor staff and contractors and over 90 pieces of contractorowned heavy equipment dedicated to assisting the B.C. Wildfire Service in their efforts,” said Andrew Horahan, Senior Vice President of Western Operations at Interfor. Based on current information, Interfor is expecting to curtail a minimum of 50 million board feet of production across its B.C. Interior operations in August, with the possibility of further downtime in September and beyond, depending on evolving weather conditions.

Brand owners will now have access to enhanced folding carton printing capabilities—including exotic inks and coatings—with an improved cost profile that will heighten their shelf presence. PaperWorks Industries has invested $3 million in a sheet-fed lithographic press at its Greensboro, N.C. facility which will enable many value-added enhancements in a single pass that traditionally take two- and three-passes to achieve. These include matte and metallic inks, specialty coatings and pigments—plus seven-color printing. The capability is driven by the press' unique configuration. "Brand owners and private label packagers are constantly looking for ways to grab the consumer's attention with eye-catching package design. Traditionally, carton printers would have to run the board through a press additional times to gain the heightened visual and/or tactile effects. However, earmarking additional funds for enhanced shelf impact may not always be feasible. Our new one-pass printing capability creates visual attributes in a fast and cost-effective manner," said Brandon Clairmont, senior vice president, packaging sales and marketing, PaperWorks. Click Read More below for additional information.

Smurfit Kappa has made a simple but far-reaching change to its Vitop® taps. The taps used on its Bag-in-Box products are now free from carbon black pigment, making them much easier to recycle. Smurfit Kappa’s two largest European Bag-in-Box plants in France and Spain are now using the Vitop® Natural, a tap with a translucent body that was introduced two years ago as a sustainable alternative to the carbon black Vitop®. As the carbon black pigment is not always detected by the optical sorting near-infrared (NIR) scanners used by many recycling facilities, it can be classified as an unwanted component and can also give recycled plastic an unattractive grey colour.