AF&PA Releases September 2025 Packaging Papers Monthly Report

Sonoco has announced a new research partnership with Clemson University: the Sonoco FRESH (Food Research Excellence for Safety and Health) initiative will develop new technologies and new forms of packaging to optimize the fresh food lifecycle. “Sonoco is committed to serving fresh brands, using packaging to tackle the challenges they face,” said Sonoco President and CEO Jack Sanders. “Optimizing fresh food packaging to extend shelf life and maintain quality makes fresh produce more accessible to communities, and helps brands and retailers extend sales opportunities and eliminate food waste. “Each year, the food industry loses $15.6 billion due to food spoilage at retail. Modifying packaging design to extend shelf life by even one day can recover $1.8 billion of that loss – while feeding more people and reducing waste to landfills.” To establish the multi-disciplinary hub for innovation and research to advance fresh food packaging and distribution, Sonoco will contribute $1.725 million over 5 years. The Company will also sponsor business-driven research projects totaling $1 million over that period. Sonoco FRESH is an extension of the partnership that created the Sonoco Institute of Packaging Design and Graphics at Clemson. Click Read More below for additional information.

The PM6 machine, which has a production capacity of 100,000 tons of recycled containerboard per year, will facilitate greater integration within the Group’s converting plants and significantly increase the energy efficiency of the Los Reyes plant. The investment will enable Smurfit Kappa Mexico to produce high performance containerboard, contributing to the company's competitiveness in an ever-growing packaging market. The type of material produced by PM6 further strengthens Smurfit Kappa’s offering for the agricultural and electrical appliance sectors, where protecting products in the supply chain is key. Click Read More below for additional information.

With the rise of e-commerce, many brands are experiencing leakages, costly returns and brand reputation damage when trying to force traditional brick-and-mortar liquid packaging formats through the rigors of the online fulfilment supply chain. Liquibox and WestRock, two leaders in sustainable packaging, present a Ships In Own Container (SIOC) bag-in-box solution for Amazon that delights consumers, reduces waste and ensures products arrive undamaged. The combination of Liquibox's first-to-market recycle-ready Liquipure™ flexible packaging, its wide portfolio of dispensing taps and fitments and WestRock's high impact Meta® box designs, means the most optimal e-commerce liquid format is now within reach for beverage, liquid food and home care brands that want to grow in online retail. Through this partnership, customers have access to a turn-key solution to start selling online in no time that covers everything from packaging, service and testing needs to the filling and mandrel case forming equipment. Bag-in-box is one of the fastest growing segments in the liquid packaging market, expected to reach over 2 billion liters of global volume annually by the year 2024 (source: GlobalData).