Digital Transformation

Packaging Under Pressure: Testing, Sustainability, and the New Supply Chain Reality

IBM's Bill Green and ISTA's Eric Hiser discuss with PW how e-commerce, automation, sustainability, and data are reshaping packaging design. Meanwhile emerging automation requirements for the Walmarts of the world are raising the stakes for pack testing and performance.

April 22, 2026

Business Drivers/Specialty: Page 27

Digital Transformation

Agents Do the Work: What Agentic AI Means for Packaging Operations

Agentic AI is emerging as a new layer of automation in packaging, where software agents plan, execute, and refine complex workflows, from testing to design to factory automation, helping teams reduce cycle times, improve quality, and scale decision-making.

April 22, 2026

Bio-based

Composting Waste: From Collection to Finished Soil

A behind-the-scenes look at The Compost Company during SPC Impact in Nashville reveals how organic waste streams are managed, processed, and transformed into finished compost.

April 21, 2026

E-commerce/D2C packaging

Column: E-commerce Forces a Packaging Reckoning

As online sales surge past critical mass, brands can no longer rely on retail-era packaging or costly workarounds to protect products, margins, and consumer trust. Former P&G executive Ken McGuire argues that e-comm has turned packaging from a back-end function into a strategic imperative.

April 21, 2026

Package Design

Google’s Ken Leung Reimagines "Shock & Vibes" Package Testing

How new tools, namely high-speed cameras in conjunction with AI, are helping engineers at Google and beyond understand what’s happening inside products during transport. They're building an open-source playbook to design packaging accordingly.

April 21, 2026

Cartons and boxes

One Clean Carton with Sustainable Paperboard Tests Safe for Secondary Packaging

Colbert Packaging Corp.

One Clean Carton, from Colbert Packaging, passes scientific testing for low migration, low odor, and low V.O.C. using PCR content paperboard.

April 21, 2026

Podcasts

Through the Line Podcast: ICIS Explains Why the PCR Market is at a Crossroads

Senior Editor Anne Marie Mohan sits down with Andrea Bassetti, Americas Team Lead - Plastics Recycling at ICIS at the 2026 Plastics Recycling Conference. They discuss they complexities of recycled resin supply and demand, and how legislation like EPR could stabilize future demand for post-consumer recycled (PCR) materials.

April 21, 2026

Logistics/Supply Chain

Google's AI Vision Rethink of Package Testing for 'Shock & Vibes'

In work that will translate to CPG, Google’s Ken Leung is using high-speed imaging and AI-driven analysis to reveal what’s really happening inside packaged data center hardware, and why traditional testing methods may be missing the point.

April 20, 2026

Recycling

Can Film and Flexible Packaging Ever Be Truly Circular?

Crystal Bayliss of the U.S. Plastics Pact discusses the organization’s new framework and roadmap for advancing film and flexible packaging circularity.

April 20, 2026

Recycling

Clean Cult, Everest, and Jordan Olive Oil Launch Paper-based Packaging

ThePackHub

See a few examples of paper-based packaging from Clean Cult, Everest, and Jordan Olive Oil from ThePackHub’s Innovation Zone.

April 20, 2026

Recycling

How to Navigate EPR as Multiple State Deadlines Converge

As EPR programs expand across the U.S., brands face overlapping deadlines and evolving rules. This article breaks down what’s changing, what’s required by 2026, and how to approach compliance step by step.

April 17, 2026

E-commerce/D2C packaging

Amazon’s ISTA Approach Signals What It Expects from Brand Packaging

Amazon is leaning on ISTA testing to align suppliers and validate packaging performance, particularly for large and bulky items where damage risk is higher and returns are costlier. in fact, SIPP certification standards that apply to TVs today may be coming to large-format packaging and AMXL.

April 17, 2026

Logistics/Supply Chain

As Walmart DCs Automate, Pack Developers Face New Forces, Standards

The emergence of layer-by-layer robotic depalletizing in Walmart DCs is exposing a new failure mode, sustained horizontal (side-to-side) compression. This signals broader shifts in how cases and shelf-ready packaging must be designed, tested, and validated for automated distribution.

April 16, 2026