Sustainable Packaging Trends: How Millennials Will Change Packaging Forever

The year 2025 is “pivotal” for mass timber construction, which is growing at around 20 percent a year. While sustainable solutions are facing drastic funding cuts and even outright opposition, mass timber as a sustainable construction material is steadily gaining traction across the United States. Construction using mass timber began in 2015 in the U.S., and since then the number of projects has grown about 20 percent annually. Today, over 2,500 mass timber projects are built or in progress in the U.S., including corporate offices for companies such as Google, Microsoft and Under Armour. Buildings and construction account for 37 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to a 2023 report by the United Nations Environment Program. The production of cement and steel for construction accounts for 11 percent of global emissions.  Mass timber is made of layers of lumber glued together to form a single, strong beam. The two most common varieties are cross-laminated timber, where lumber boards alternate directions as they are stacked, like a Jenga tower, and glue-laminated timber where boards are stacked in parallel. Replacing conventional building materials with mass timber has the potential to reduce global emissions by 14 percent to 31 percent, according to the U.N. report — including from carbon stored in the wood, displacing fossil fuels and less carbon-intensive production and construction methods.

The PEFC International Board has extended the suspension of the Russian National Voluntary Forest Certification System (FCR), with the national system now suspended indefinitely. The suspension was intended to preserve the conditions for a successful long-term cooperation with PEFC Russia to support sustainable forest management in the Russian Federation in light of the current political situation. The suspension took effect as of 11 August 2022 and was initially valid until 31 December 2022.

Cascades Sonoco, a joint venture between Cascades Inc. and Sonoco Products Company, today announced that its FlexSHIELD® coatings have received third party certification for compostability from TÜV Austria. Additionally, the coatings have achieved recyclability and repulpability certifications from the Fiber Box Association. FlexSHIELD’s aqueous-based barrier coatings are designed for use in folding carton, cup, and foodservice container applications, where scoring, folding and heat sealing often create major challenges. FlexSHIELD is the first fully compostable product that provides polyethylene-like protection and ease of conversion at an economical price point. Packaging treated with FlexSHIELD is FDA, CFIA and EUR compliant for direct food contact. “We are pleased that our entire FlexSHIELD coating line has now achieved these important certifications,” said Jeff Stacy, Market Segment Manager, Cascades Sonoco. “These certifications demonstrate our commitment to creating more sustainable packaging solutions for our customers and are the fruit of years of research and development efforts.”