Cost and a lack of scalable innovations are barriers for sustainable business strategies, though there are many benefits to minimizing your footprint that exceed the expense. Thinking outside the box when it comes to your company’s packaging and shipping processes can keep your budget in the black while keeping the rest of the world green. [...]
Plastic that breaks down in weeks rather than centuries sounds fantastic. As concerns over plastic waste mount, the biodegradable plastics industry is growing rapidly coming up with all sorts of alternatives. However, it’s not as simple as simply throwing these new plastics in your backyard and letting nature take its course. By now, no one [...]
Most of us do not realize the staggering amount of food we throw away in today’s society -- and much of it, it turns out, doesn’t need to be disposed of at all. From production, to packaging, to store shelves, to the consumer, there are countless ways for us to fortify our food system and [...]
Induction sealing technology is a widespread packaging technique, used in industries from pharmaceuticals to food production. There’s an interesting process behind those little foil seals on the necks of bottles, and some even more interesting history. Let’s take a look. It was 1982 in Chicago, and a string of inexplicable deaths had the city on [...]
K-Bis Studio, a Polish company, has recently filed a patent for a beverage carton that neatly compresses down as you use it, reducing volume for recycling and keeping the contents fresh. Let’s take a look at how it works and its potential for change in the packaging industry. As members of the logistics sector, we’re [...]
With Amazon wanting to get its claws into the physical retailing market, a lot of questions have stemmed from their recent acquisition of Whole Foods. Today, we’ll look at what’s happened since the acquisition, along with its current and potential effects on ecommerce and packaging. Earlier this year, natural food store Whole Foods was spiraling before they [...]
Plastic is integral to what we do, so we thought it prudent to publish a primer on the many different polymers that are currently in use. Read on to find out what they are, how they’re used, and how recyclable they are. Most people are now aware of the damage caused by careless plastic use. [...]
Back in 2011, online publication Food Safety News released an article regarding a test they performed on over 60 different brands of honey. The test revealed that around 76 percent of the honey on store shelves has almost all of the pollen removed -- from which, they concluded that the majority of the honey being [...]
For millennia, humans have been combining elements and materials together to maximize their strengths and minimize their weaknesses. It’s no different in the packaging industry, where hybrid packaging and multi-layered materials are found nearly everywhere. Homer’s Iliad is the earliest description of the Chimera, a terrifying mythical beast. In the epic poem, it’s described as [...]
TruTag Technologies is making the tiniest anti-counterfeiting product to hit the market yet. Aptly called microtags, these dust-sized particles can be incorporated into almost anything and carry their own unique digital signature. It’s another miniature step towards a safer world for product and package alike. As we know, counterfeiting is a major worldwide problem, and [...]
Camping is a popular activity for people of all ages, but if done irresponsibly, it can inflict serious harm on the environment. Making an effort to enjoy the outdoors while minimizing your footprint can make a world of difference. You can help by doing anything from cleaning the site before you leave, to repurposing used [...]
In our second issue of PAK'R Magazine, we talked about some innovations in packaging that are on 2017's radar, one of which being tactile packaging -- that is, packaging you can feel and interact with beyond a standard box or plastic wrap. A start-up in Chicago is using a minimalist approach for vacuum-sealed beef, giving [...]
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