Pregis introduces AirSpeed Ascent, next generation, high-pressure air cushioning system

Amcor Rigid Packaging (ARP) and Danone have launched a 100% recyclable bottle for the Villavicencio water brand, made exclusively for the Argentinean market. The new label-less bottle is made from 100% recycled content and has a reduced carbon footprint of 21% compared to the previous bottle. “As longtime partners, we are excited to support Danone’s mission to have a positive impact on the environment and our health,” said Juan Cazes, general manager of Amcor Rigid Packaging Argentina. “Over the last two years, we have worked closely to produce a bottle that fully represents the Villavicencio brand, keeping the same visual elements. We used top-quality materials, helping to ensure the safety of the container and the consumer in the process, while we manufacture a bottle that, with the help of the consumer, will become another bottle once recycled.” The Villavicencio bottle can be recycled over and over, helping to support a more circular economy. Like this new bottle, many of the containers ARP designs are made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is easily recycled with mechanical or chemical recycling in most markets, even when that container uses a label. Removing the label, like in the Villavicencio design, provides a greater opportunity to increase yields of recycled PET resin.

WestRock Company announced an expansion of its CanCollar® family of multipack solutions with the introduction of CanCollar® X, a fiber-based solution for sustainable large format canned beverage packaging enabling as much as fifty percent material reduction compared to fully-enclosed traditional packaging. As the newest addition to the family of solutions automated by the patented CanCollar Fortuna® platform, CanCollar® X uses a similar fiber-based, glue-free minimalist design preferred by consumers to maximize can visibility, is comfortable for consumers to handle and optimizes the use of material to bundle multipacks for larger formats. “Whether it’s beer, soft drinks, or sparkling water, across the globe large multipacks of cans are packaged in shrink film,” said Chris Davidson, vice president, Sustainability at WestRock. “With CanCollar® X we have an opportunity to significantly reduce materials when compared to fully-enclosed cartons and replace hard-to-recycle plastic shrink wrap with recyclable fiber-based packaging, improving circularity at impressive scale.”

Packaging Corporation of America reported second quarter 2024 net income of $199 million, and net income of $199 million, excluding special items. Second quarter net sales were $2.1 billion in 2024 and $2.0 billion in 2023. In the Packaging segment, corrugated products shipments per day were up 9.2% over last year’s second quarter and total shipments, with one additional shipping day, were up 10.9%. Containerboard production was 1,281,000 tons, and containerboard inventory was up 16,000 tons compared to the second quarter of 2023 and up 20,000 tons versus the first quarter of 2024. In the Paper segment, sales volume was up 12% compared to the second quarter of 2023 and down (8%) versus the first quarter of 2024. Commenting on reported results, Mark W. Kowlzan, Chairman and CEO, said, “results for the quarter reflect our strong market conditions in the Packaging segment. This drove a new all-time containerboard production record in order to service corrugated products and containerboard demand which grew stronger each month, ending with a new corrugated shipments-per-day record for the month of June. We were also able to build some inventory ahead of what we expect to be a busy second half of the year. Packaging segment prices and mix moved higher from first quarter levels as we continue to implement our announced price increases. Paper segment prices and mix as well as volume came in as expected, and the scheduled outage at our International Falls mill was managed very well. Results also reflect our constant focus on minimizing inflationary cost increases through efficiency and usage initiatives and capital project benefits throughout our mills and converting facilities.”