Nine months into 2023, there is still a lot of work to do as far as reducing consumer confusion surrounding eco-friendly packaging – and reducing unnecessary packaging “waste” going to landfills.

Packaging Strategies has reported extensively on the move toward eco-friendly packaging in multiple markets — from snacks to fresh produce to foodservice. A similar shift is underway in the packaging of meat, poultry and seafood.

Packaging Strategies recently spoke to three heavyweights in the area of form/fill/seal equipment, TNA Solutions, Viking Masek Packaging Technologies, and Formost Fuji Corp., regarding their responses to a variety of new demands including sustainability and new food trends.

In this episode with Sarah Webber, Sustainable Packaging Engineer at Plastic Ingenuity, we discuss ways to support sustainability in snack food packaging.

While responding to consumer and regulatory demands for more sustainable packaging is certainly one of the biggest challenges facing the industry, the good news is that there is no single solution but rather a plethora of routes to a circular economy.

My early career as a journalist — over a span of roughly six years — involved reporting for metropolitan weekly and daily newspapers. However, I have spent a much larger portion of my career in the B2B arena, and I cut my B2B teeth reporting on — ta-dah!! — the fresh produce industry. Hence, I can’t help but get excited when I get to write about packaging as it relates to fresh produce.

In this episode with Sherry Washburn, Business Unit Manager at Videojet, we discuss how a company’s choice of inks and printing technologies can play a big role in achieving sustainability goals. We also discuss ways for companies to ensure compliance with existing and new environmental regulations. 

The refreshed Single Serve and Pouch packages feature cheerful, vibrant colors; a larger playful color bar for ease of identification at retail; and a prominent new flavor image that shows ingredients and the finished confections for greater appetite appeal, plus a soft touch, matte tactile feel.

Nestlé will produce more than a quarter of a million KitKat bars wrapped in paper in an exclusive partnership with Coles, a local retailer. The pack has a QR code which people can scan to have their say and give valuable feedback on the new paper packaging.

Headlines from the past year or so reveal two distinct trends when it comes to packaging for candy and confectionery products.