Graphic packaging intl.&rsquos displayed at the recent trade show of the private label manufacturers assn. Plma, held in midnovember its packaging developments, including a paperand film based, more sustainable alternative to thermoformed plastic clamshells used to contain wedgeshaped sandwiches sold through deli and vending channels, pointofsale options, heat transfer labels, multiple microwave active packaging options, and machines. Gpi also displayed a new application of the jerribox, a baginbox format to replace plastic bottles that was developed by scholle packaging and utilizes an outer carton manufactured by gpi. The jerribox, made using up to 50 percent postconsumer material, saves about 60 percent of the resin compared to blowmolded plastic jugs. It also cubes better on a pallet and eliminates the need for protective corrugated cases. It uses a rigid fitment &ldquocollar&rdquo from scholle developed for the 150oz package and a spout on the bag that&rsquos designed to mate up with the push button tap used for dispensing. The latest application is for a contractpackaged 150oz botanicalbased &ldquoherbatergent&rdquo laundry soap from vaska, berkeley, ca, that&rsquos being test marketed at sam&rsquos clubs in nevada and california. Gpi marketing manager charlie brignac pointed to interactive technologies that get an assist from printed packaging, including bar codes andor text messages used to connect consumers to company web sites. &ldquowe helped pioneer combining scanning of codes and text messaging,&rdquo he explained. &ldquobar code scanning using cell phones is already common in japan while texting is currently more popular in the u.s.&rdquo one example a 2d bar code appearing on traypacked fresh chicken sold by customer springermountain farms smf. Brignac indicated that smf used generic messaging with their 2d code and the corresponding short message service sms code. This allowed the promotional content on the smf web site to be changed regularly without impacting package graphics. More than 22 different overlapping promotions have been executed since the program launched in june 2008.
