June 2019

As Reuters reports, Amazon has been experimenting with a new type of automated packaging robot that can 3D scan the goods included in an order as they travel down a conveyor belt. Those goods are then placed in a custom-size box the robot creates that's perfectly sized to fit. Each robot packer can handle up to 700 orders per hour, and as per calculations one robot at a warehouse means 24 human roles are no longer required. If the same robot was rolled out to each of Amazon's US facilities, that would be 1,300 roles removed.

Waitrose & Partners has joined forces with Scottish biotec company CuanTec to work on a new film for food packaging made out of waste langoustine shells.

CuanTec - based in Motherwell and Oban - takes waste langoustine shells created from seafood processing to make a natural polymer - which can then be turned into a flexible film. The material also has the potential to be both industrially and home compostable.

New research has revealed how products from just a handful of companies account for more than half of packaging pollution found on UK beaches – with Coca Cola and PepsiCo named the worst offenders.

The figures, unveiled by ocean conservation charity Surfers Against Sewage, have been submitted to government as campaigners call for transparency from the UK’s ‘biggest polluters’.

The new pharmaceutical packaging meets demand for a packaging solution that can absorb moisture, providing an impermeable moisture barrier via cross diffusion through the blister edges.

The Formpack® Dessiflex Ultra blister solution was developed by Amcor, and this specific package was done in partnership with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) for their Augmentin® product in the Pakistan market, and in close collaboration with packaging machine manufacturer CAM-Partena.

Rapak North America, part of DS Smith Plastics, has redesigned its DuraBev™ beverage bag with a new extended tab PCSS fitment. The PCSS fitment is a universal fitment that connects post-mix syrup or juice Bag-in-Box to commercial fountain dispensing machines, ensuring precise and controlled mixes of beverages.

Further progress in sustainable packaging does not only relate to primary product packaging, but also to transport packaging. In collaboration with its partner Papier-Mettler, one of the market-leading European manufacturers of flexible packaging, Henkel starts using the “I’m eco®” shrink film for its automatic dishwashing brand Somat. The film with more than 50 percent recycled material was introduced to various European markets in which shrink film is used as transport packaging – among them Russia and Italy.

In the future non-recycled plastics may be subjected to a tax of 0,8 Euro per. kilo. That is the gist of a new proposal from the EU-Commission, which will in effect raise the price of 1 ton of non-recycled plastic by 800 Euro.

The higher cost will effectively double the price of plastics from non-sustainable sources, while recycled plastics will not be affected by the new tax. The move by the commission is aimed at pushing European plastic consumption in a more sustainable direction.

The Nitro Can technology was devised by Ardagh in 2016 to capitalise on the trend for nitro coffee, and with Funkin’s new range it now enters the fast-growing RTD alcoholic beverage market. Nitro Can’s innovative design makes the indulgent pleasure of a hand-mixed cocktail readily accessible in a convenient format. Upon opening the tab, the widget is activated, triggering an attention-grabbing ‘whoosh’ sound as micro-bubbles of nitrogen are released through the product.