California seems poised to join the list of states that no longer allow grocery stores to offer the option of plastic bags at the checkout. On Aug. 29, lawmakers in both branches of California state government approved two companion bills that would eliminate all plastic bags from the point of sale. The legislation is focused on checkout bags as opposed to bags used to hold produce or wrap food that could cause contamination. Customers would be encouraged to bring their own bags or purchase recycled paper bags at checkout for a nominal fee.

Georgia-Pacific has announced that it plans to close the Green Bay Day Street facility over the next 18 months. This decision does not affect Georgia-Pacific's other operations in Green Bay. The decision to shut down the mill does not reflect the hard work that Day Street employees have performed throughout the years to serve Georgia-Pacific's customers. They have done an admirable job operating these lines as safely and productively as possible. The primary reasons for this decision are a combination of changing customer demand, bath tissue upgrades and investments at other Georgia-Pacific facilities, and less competitive assets at the Day Street mill. Tissue manufacturing at the site will end in mid-May, with some other parts of the mill shutting down in September. The Day Street mill will continue to make napkins until the Fall of 2023.

Smurfit Kappa has collaborated with a leading UK recipe box company, Mindful Chef, to reduce the company’s carbon footprint by making their packaging more sustainable. Mindful Chef experienced a huge increase in demand for its home-delivered recipe kits during the pandemic. The company, which has been climate neutral since 2020, is committed to making every aspect of its business as sustainable as possible. Its previous recipe box consisted of insulation pouches combined with gel ice packs which, whilst effective at keeping the contents cool, were not easily recycled.