“Being acknowledged by AF&PA and receiving this award for PawPrint® Pet Food Packaging is a great achievement. It demonstrates how we are living up to our purpose to purify and protect with every fiber for a sustainable world by innovating more sustainable solutions,“ says Mark Ushpol, Executive Vice President for Ahlstrom’s Food and Consumer Packaging division. Ahlstrom’s PawPrint® papers provide pet food brand owners functional and visually appealing pet food packaging, eliminating plastic and using fiber-based materials, while helping pet food manufactures achieve their sustainability metrics. They are made from renewable materials and are recyclable and compostable. What makes the product truly unique is that it is produced with Ahlstrom’s FluoroFree® proprietary technology, making it fully grease-resistant without the use of PFAS compounds. Ahlstrom’s next generation of PawPrint® packaging solutions additionally ensure pet food shelf-life requirements are met while achieving pet-palatability test results for the most distinguished of pet consumers.

Sonoco announced it is increasing prices for all rigid paper containers and closures sold in North America by 5 percent, effective with shipments on, and after, January 15, 2021. According to Ernest Haynes, Division Vice President and General Manager, Rigid Paper and Closures, North America, this price increase is necessary to recover rapidly rising costs for raw materials used to produce rigid paper containers. “Due to the rising cost of both steel and recovered paper, we are experiencing input cost pressures that simply cannot be absorbed,” Haynes said. “Our operational cost increases have been compounded by the on-going COVID-19 pandemic as it impacts labor, the build-up of inventory and associated carrying costs, which is all connected to ensuring the continuity of supply for our customers. As an essential supplier during these challenging times, our primary focus entails doing everything we can to protect our customers from business related disruptions. We take the challenge seriously in that regard and have embraced extraordinary measures to maintain continuity of supply to meet our customers’ most critical needs.”

Klabin, Brazil’s largest producer and exporter of packaging paper, and the leader in the corrugated board packaging and industrial bags segments, takes another important step in its business strategy with the announcement of EkoFlex, its first paper for flexible packaging. The solution is targeted at diverse segments, such as food, hygiene, cleaning and pharmaceuticals, and helps to significantly reduce the use of plastic across the consumption chain. EkoFlex is produced from softwood (pine), resulting in an extensible paper with lower grammage, which offers better performance and greater resistance, with application in diverse market segments, especially in flexible packaging options such pillow bags, flow packs, stand up pouches and box pouches. EkoFlex is produced from Klabin paper, with feedstock from renewable sources derived from planted and certified forests. It is a repulpable and recyclable solution that is also certified for contact with food. The product is already available for sale in both the Brazilian market and for exports.