17 Nov 2023 — This week in industry news, Eco-Products received B Corporation certification, and iA signed a distributor agreement with Euclid Medical Products for Euclid’s Adherence Packaging Technology. Meanwhile, Malaysia’s Wepack Asean 2023 trade show began preparing to open its doors next week. 

In brief: Certifications and awards
Eco-Products was recertified as a B Corporation, achieving the distinction for meeting “high standards of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency.” To achieve this distinction, Eco-Products met the score requirements of the B Impact Assessment, which rates business factors such as employee benefits, civic engagement, diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, product environmental benefits and the impacts of business operations. 

Carbios and L’Oréal won the “Pioneer Awards” in the Industry category, presented by the Solar Impulse Foundation at the first World Alliance Summit. The prize was awarded to Carbios for its enzymatic PET recycling solution and to L’Oréal for using he technology for the first time in a cosmetics bottle prototype. Carbios’ solution offers brands an alternative to petroleum-based plastic that helps them meet their environmental sustainability commitments. The advancement was said to pave the way for future applications in other sectors, such as packaging, F&B and textiles.

Carbios’ CEO Emmanuel Ladent (left) and Jacques Playe, Packaging and Development director at L’Oréal (right) at the “Pioneer Awards.”The Biomimicry Institute awarded the 2023 Ray of Hope Prize to Sparxell, a UK-based start-up creating the next generation of colors and effects with vibrant, metal-like pigments from plant-based cellulose. Sparxell developed the “first” environmentally sustainable, non-toxic pigments, glitters, sequins and films. By utilizing cellulose in pigment creation, Sparxell shows how nature can color our world without the harmful environmental and societal effects of mined and synthetic minerals. As the 2023 Ray of Hope Prize recipient, Sparxell will receive US$100,000 in recognition of its work.

In brief: Partnerships and expansions
IA, a company that provides an integrated Pharmacy Fulfillment Platform for retail, health systems and government pharmacies, announced a distributor agreement with Euclid Medical Products, a provider of high-quality, efficient multi and unit dose automated packaging and barcoding systems. As a result of the collaboration, iA will be a distributor of Euclid’s Adherence Packaging Technology, enhancing the dispensing capabilities available within iA’s Pharmacy Fulfillment Platform. Adherence packaging built into centralized fulfillment solutions can offer significant value-add by enhancing medication safety, adherence, efficiency and workflow. 

Labatt Breweries of Canada announced it is expanding its production capability by investing US$26.6 million into its London, Canada, brewery to fund the addition of a new four-tank fermenting cellar and two new packers. The company is also expanding its operational capabilities with a US$13 million investment to fund two new packaging lines in the brewhouse. The packaging technology uses an environmentally sustainable paperboard, enabling products to be packaged with significantly less glue than previous models. The lines also improve inspection capabilities in operations to ensure packaging is robust and meets the demands of Canadian consumers. We Pack Logistics chose Nulogy to digitally enable its operation to manage increasingly complex orders for FMCG customers.

Nulogy announced that We Pack Logistics joined the Nulogy community, which consists of hundreds of contract packagers, logistics providers, manufacturers, suppliers and FMCG brands that run their operations and network on Nulogy. Identifying a strategic opportunity to upscale its contract packaging operations to fuel business growth, We Pack Logistics chose Nulogy to digitally enable its operation to effectively manage increasingly complex orders for new and existing FMCG customers, gain visibility and control over shop floor costs while automating and realizing efficiency gains; and standardizing its co-pack workflows across their multiple sites.

Evian revealed its latest designer collaboration with Coperni, the pioneering luxury fashion brand that combines technical innovation with Parisian refinement. Following the footsteps of iconic design houses such as Balmain, Virgil Abloh and Jean Paul Gaultier, the latest evian x Coperni limited edition 750 mL glass bottle is now available at select restaurant and hospitality partners. The company plans to make all of its plastic bottles from 100% recycled plastic by 2025, adopting a “circular approach” to plastic usage.

Industrial Labelling Systems (ILS) marked its tenth year as the distributor of Evolabel products in the UK and Ireland, as the business continues to grow by adding two new support team members. Evolabel is a pioneer in print and apply systems, enabling fast and precise automatic labeling in production and warehousing. ILS distributed the company’s extensive range of machines worldwide by ILS over the last ten years.

Wepack Asean 2023 aims to leverage the international cooperation advantages of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.In brief: Other news
Wepack Asean 2023, organized by Reed Exhibitions, will be held at the Malaysia International Trade & Exhibition Centre between November 22-24. Wepack Asean 2023, the international trade show by Wepack featuring themed sections including Corrugated Asean 2023, Folding carton Asean 2023, Dprint Asean 2023 and Paper Asean 2023, aims to leverage the international cooperation advantages of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. Participants can establish close collaboration channels through exhibitions, forums and in-booth demonstrations with major Southeast Asian national industry associations and packaging manufacturers.

A new study revealed that coffee capsules made with Ingeo’s PLA biopolymer from NatureWorks outperform aluminum, conventional plastics and other compostable capsules regarding sustainability performance. The independent study conducted by Netherlands-based Wageningen Food & Biobased Research, a part of Wageningen University & Research, assessed the environmental impact and circularity of single-use coffee capsules made from compostable bio-based materials, aluminum and conventional plastics through multiple end-of-life scenarios including industrial composting, recycling, incineration and landfill. The study also accounted for the fate of the spent coffee grounds within these capsules, finding that compostable capsules keep the coffee grounds and capsule materials in the loop via organics recycling, making them the most environmentally sustainable option. 

Plastrela, a leading converter based in Brazil, created a snack-size pet food standup pouch for its customer, brand owner Adimax, that can be recycled more easily than traditional multi-layer SUP structures consisting of a PET substrate and a PE sealant. The new solution, a monomaterial PE structure, including exceed, enable and exact, is easier to recycle while packaging performance is maintained. 

By Natalie Schwertheim

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