The company is planning for the facility in Longview, Washington, to meet the growing demand from regional customers.

Atlanta-based containerboard and packaging producer WestRock has announced plans to build a new corrugated box plant in Longview, Washington, to meet what the company says is growing demand from its regional customers in the Pacific Northwest.

According to WestRock, the new facility will serve all industry segments and markets in the Pacific Northwest and, when completed, will replace the company’s existing corrugated operations in Longview. The new plant will be co-located with the Longview paper mill operations and will increase the integration of the mill’s containerboard.

“WestRock’s corrugated packaging business in the Pacific Northwest continues to perform well with strong relationships with customers in attractive growth markets,” says CEO David B. Sewell. “Our new corrugated packaging plant will enable our team in this region to serve these customers even better in the future, with a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility that will provide new capabilities and efficiencies for our customers.”

Dermalogica pump is designed to increase recyclability.

Skin care brand Dermalogica, based in Los Angeles, says it will integrate recyclable pumps into its best-selling facial cleansers beginning this year.

"The beauty industry has a pump problem," says Aurelian Lis, Dermalogica chief executive officer. "Pumps are increasingly used but widely unsustainable. Today, we aim to fix the problem."

Most plastic pumps include an internal metal spring, making them difficult to recycle and unwelcome in most recycling collection programs. Dermalogica has replaced the metal spring with a plastic spring that is made of polyethylene, like its bottles, making it possible to recycle the pump as a single unit, the company says. Additionally, the new pump is lighter weight and uses less virgin plastic, bringing Dermalogica closer to its goal of having all its bottles designed to be reused, recycled or composted by 2025.

Dermalogica partnered with global packaging company Aptar on the pump, which has received multiple industry certifications for using eco-design principles and has earned recognition from the Association of Plastics Recyclers Meets Preferred Guidance Program and RecyClass, a cross-industry initiative focused on harmonized recyclability. 

Lis says, "As the industry leader, we have an opportunity and a responsibility to make a positive impact, not just on peoples' skin, but on the environment. Being the first major skin care brand to launch these recyclable, mono-material pumps puts pressure on other brands to follow our example and innovate on behalf of the planet."

As part of Dermalogica's Healthy Skin, Healthy Planet initiative, the company also is introducing new bottles made from 50 percent postconsumer resin (PCR). Dermalogica says it began rolling out the 50-percent-PCR bottles in early 2021 and will expand PCR integration across full-size cleansers and toners by 2025. The mono-material pump will be available in 2022, starting with the 16.9-ounce sizes of Special Cleansing Gel, UltraCalming Cleanser and Clearing Skin Wash.

RecyClass has approved the company’s CirKular+ Performance Series’ C2000 and C3000 resins for use in polypropylene containers.

Kraton Corp., a Houston-based producer of specialty polymers and biobased products, has announced its CirKular+ Performance Enhancement Series has been approved as fully compatible with recycling of polypropylene (PP) containers in Europe according to RecyClass. 

"We are honored to achieve RecyClass certification for our CirKular+ Performance Enhancement Series," says Holger Jung, senior vice president and polymer segment president at Kraton. “This recognition reinforces our commitment to enable sustainable high-performance solutions to address the plastics industry needs for design recyclability and the advancement of the circular economy.”

According to a news release from Kraton, pellets containing 5 percent atomic weight of either CirKular+ C2000 or C3000 resin blended in an injection molding PP grade matrix were tested according to the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) Critical Guidance for PP Rigid Containers.

Brussels-based RecyClass is a cross-industry initiative that works to advance plastic packaging recyclability and to establish a unified approach toward recycled content calculation and traceability in Europe. The organization also helps to develop recyclability evaluation protocols and the scientific testing of innovative materials. 

“We’re pleased to support Kraton in verifying its impact on the quality of recycled PP containers through the testing they previously performed according to APR Critical Guidance for PP Rigid Containers,” says Fabrizio di Gregorio, technical director of plastics recyclers Europe at RecyClass. “Based on our assessment, RecyClass concludes when used at up to 5 percent of total packaging weight along with other met conditions, the CirKular+ C2000 and C3000 resins are fully compatible with the existing European industrial recycling processes for PP containers.”

Kraton says its CirKular+ Performance Enhancement Series allows recyclers, processors and brand owners to maximize postconsumer recycled content and improve the recyclate impact strength by up to 500 percent. Additionally, the company says CirKular+ can offer improved plastic packaging recyclability and durability suitable for a wide range of end-use applications.

TotalEnergies will supply Berry with certified circular polymers from advanced recycling to make the packaging more circular and divert waste from landfills.

Berry Global Group Inc., based in Evansville, Indiana, and TotalEnergies, Paris, have announced a collaboration to make food packaging more circular and divert waste from landfills. TotalEnergies will supply Berry with certified circular polymers obtained through advanced recycling of postconsumer plastic that is otherwise hard to recycle, allowing Berry to use more recycled plastic in its food and beverage packaging as well as health care products.

TotalEnergies portfolio of polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene is available as certified material from advanced recycling through the processing of circular feedstock in Antwerp’s steam cracker. The company says its certified circular polymers exhibit virgin-like properties suitable for high-end, demanding applications. Feedstock from hard-to-recycle plastic waste will be produced in TotalEnergies’ advanced recycling plant starting in 2023 on a future zero-crude platform in Grandpuits, France, the company says.

“This collaboration with our longtime partner Berry Global demonstrates the willingness of the supply chain to make packaging more circular and sustainable, especially for demanding food contact applications where no other circularity solution exists,” says Valerie Goff, senior vice president, polymers, at TotalEnergies, adding that the partnership paves the way for the company’s ambition to produce 30 percent recycled and renewable polymers by 2030.

Berry says it plans to broaden access to valuable, ISCC Plus-certified advanced recycled materials to European-based customers in collaboration with TotalEnergies, whose certified circular polymers follow the ISCC Plus certification scheme that secures the chain of custody and traceability along the value chain from feedstock to final product.

“Through our collaborations with suppliers like TotalEnergies, we aim to provide customers with premier access to these in-demand sustainable resins like those we see with advanced recycling technologies serving the European region,” says Jean-Marc Galvez, president of consumer packaging international at Berry. “Combined with Berry’s expertise in designing for circularity and breadth in manufacturing capabilities, this announcement demonstrates commitment to our long-term sustainability strategy.”

John Hewitt will lead the organization’s packaging sustainability practice.

The Consumer Brands Association, Arlington, Virginia, has announced that John Hewitt will lead the organization’s packaging sustainability practice as vice president. He will oversee the association’s packaging sustainability efforts, including advocacy, education to marketplace solutions.

“John’s expertise across state and federal policy issues will add tremendous value to our sustainability efforts,” says Geoff Freeman, president and CEO of Consumer Brands. “I am pleased that we will have a strong leader to guide the industry forward on critical issues, particularly on recycling policy.”

Previously, Hewitt led the state affairs team for Consumer Brands, which represents consumer packaged goods companies. Before joining Consumer Brands, he was special counsel to the secretary and general counsel for the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Hewitt also worked at the California Farm Bureau, where he played a key role in developing strategic water quality initiatives, including managing activities with local and state regulators as well as litigation development.

Hewitt says, “Sustainability efforts are critical for our industry, and I am looking forward to representing our members in working toward solutions that have a positive and lasting impact on the environment.”