Privately held and founded in 1946, Tokyo-based Pentel Co., Ltd., has its U.S. headquarters in Torrance, Calif. Pens, pencils, markers, and erasers are what the firm is all about, and like others who operate in the same space, blister packs have long been the packaging format of choice for a lot of Pentel’s output. But early this year the firm introduced ball-point pens in plastic-free all-paper Paperblister™, and by the end of this year the plan is to have a great many more SKUs in a similarly plastic-free format.
As we’ve seen in so many other breakthroughs where sustainable packaging is concerned, Pentel had an indispensable partner in its journey, and that partner was—and is—Sonoco Alloyd. Also part of the picture was a brand manager tasked with making the plastic-to-paper transition happen, who in this case was Jason Cole, a ten-year veteran of Pentel. He says the process, which began in earnest around the end of 2019, had promising underpinnings right from the start because Pentel was already firmly established as a leader in the sale of refill cartridges for its pens.
