Rigid Ruminations – From Paper to Plastic and Metals (digitalputput.net)

Greif, Inc. and IonKraft, a barrier technology company specializing in plasma-based coatings, are pleased to announce a new pilot-project partnership. The collaboration aims to revolutionize the challenges of recyclability and sustainability in plastic jerrycan packaging that requires an additional barrier solution. Industrial plastic packaging is highly recyclable, but certain applications that require barrier solutions can make recycling more challenging. IonKraft has developed a game-changing coating that utilizes a plasma-enhanced vapor deposition process to create a strong barrier that is non-reactive, chemically inert, and 100% recyclable. Beyond recyclability, the IonKraft barrier technology offers a sustainable alternative to fluorination.

A decade or so ago, Ben Miyares, a regular contributor to this magazine and President of The Packaging Management Institute, was teaching a module for our on-line Packaging Masters Program Course “The Value of Packaging” at Michigan State University. We had just started PTIS and believed that packaging value was very understated and that there were big opportunities ahead. The Miyares module was about packaging being bigger than an “industry”—he referred to it as an “economy.”

Total boxboard production increased 4.0 percent when compared to April 2017 and increased 2.6 percent from last month. Unbleached Kraft Boxboard production increased over the same month a year ago and increased compared to last month. Total Solid Bleached Boxboard & Liner production increased when compared to April 2017 and increased compared to last month. The production of Recycled Boxboard increased compared to April 2017 and increased when compared to last month.