November/December 2024 - 28

PMMI
THE ASSOCIATION FOR PACKAGING AND PROCESSING TECHNOLOGIES
Sustainability showcase
PACK EXPO International provides stage for latest innovations
By Laura Thompson
Contributing Writer
S
ustainability was a major theme
at PACK EXPO International,
held Nov. 3-6 at McCormick
Place in Chicago. The event presented
an array of source-reduced, recyclable,
recycled-content, renewable, reusable
and/or shelf-life-extending packaging
along with more efficient, energyconserving,
waste-reducing equipment
and software.
The show's new Sustainability Central
destination delivered information about
research into recycling challenges,
regenerative robust gasification and
other chemical recycling processes,
bio-based materials, composting and
materials transitions.
On the Sustainability Central stage,
speakers for the U.S. Plastics Pact
offered advice about redesigning
packaging to shift from non-recyclable
to recyclable film structures, which
combine shelf-life protection with
machinability. Other speakers focused
on packaging producer responsibility
organizations, which manage
extended producer responsibility
systems for producers, and the use of
smart packaging to support circularity
and decarbonization.
REPORT UPDATE
PMMI experts Jorge Izquierdo, vice
president of market development, and
Rebecca Marquez, director of custom
research, presented Navigating
Packaging Materials Transitions, an
update on PMMI's 2023 Packaging
Compass report. Showgoers also
explored a dashboard showing what
materials companies use and what they
plan to switch to in the next five years.
The real-time data gathered by
PMMI Business Intelligence, a division
28 NOVEMBER /DECEMBER 2 0 24
On the PACK EXPO show floor, produce processors found offerings including flow wrappers, high-pressure
pasteurization (HPP) systems and high-performance form-fill-seal machines. Photo courtesy of PMMI.
of PMMI: The Association for
Packaging and Processing
Technologies, the producer of the PACK
EXPO shows, can be filtered by
material type and industry. Available
at pmmi.org/report/2023-packagingcompass,
it provides customized
information about trends to enable
strategic decision-making.
Information about the U.S. Plastics
Pact and its resources, such as
package design playbooks and PCR
toolkit, was also available. Its
Roadmap 2.0 provides updated targets
and strategic deliverables to achieve
circularity in the plastics value chain,
where plastic is reused.
INNOVATION ON DISPLAY
Innovation Stage speakers discussed
efficient data collection, automation
and AI to boost sustainability. From
the Processing Innovation Stage,
attendees learned about pulsed electric
field technology, water conservation
and converting waste into co-products.
Another Processing Innovation Stage
session highlighted hygienic design to
reduce contamination risks. At the
Reusable Packaging Learning Center,
experts described successful transitions
to reusable totes and pallets, how
reusables can help achieve corporate
sustainability goals and establishing
reuse scenarios in the retail sector.
On the show floor, produce
processors found offerings including
flow wrappers, high-pressure
pasteurization (HPP) systems, tray/
bowl sealers, high-performance
form-fill-seal machines, printers,
labelers, and systems to automate
cartoning, case packing and palletizing.
Exhibitors also addressed the need for
hygienic design, which minimizes
touchpoints and integrates automatic
clean-in-place systems, which document
cleaning times and temperatures.
Robots were plentiful and
demonstrated a variety of tasks,
including pick and place and material
handling via standard robots,
collaborative robots (which work next
to human operators) and autonomous
mobile robots.
Printer/applicator demonstrations
showed how quick response (QR) codes
or other variable data can be printed
on the packaging line to create a smart
package that is not only trackable
throughout the supply chain but also
provides the consumer a quick way to

http://www.pmmi.org/report/2023-packaging

November/December 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of November/December 2024