Secondary Packaging

Metallocenes make their mark

Steelcase Inc. uses one of the first-available metallocene stretch films for wrapping cubicle wall panels. Downgauging keeps costs in check.

October 31, 1996

Materials: Page 819

Coding, Printing & Labeling

machinery/labeling

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) is reviewing its labeling requirements for drugs, medical devices and biologics to ensure that health practitioners and patients are provided with what the agency believes is more thorough than what's currently provided.

October 31, 1996

Flexibles

Food is pasteurized by ultra-high pressure

When it comes to pasteurizing and preserving foods, few methods are as tried and true as thermal processing. But now Avomex, Inc., is selling fresh avocado pulp, in a clear barrier pouch, that has a 30-day refrigerated shelf life thanks to a whole new processing technology: ultra-high pressure.

October 31, 1996

Protective/transport packaging

Supplier news: International agreements

Free-Flow Packaging Corp. (Redwood City, CA) has opened a loosefill manufacturing plant in Shanghai, China.

October 31, 1996

Containers

Bottle shape builds brand

Bottled water producer Avalon Beverage Company, Glen Allen, VA, is attempting to differentiate its imported spring water by switching from a stock to a custom proprietary PET bottle.

October 31, 1996

Containers

Supplier news: International agreements

Hoover Materials Handling Group (Alpharetta, GA) has licensed technology from Mauser (Bruehl, Germany) to produce and sell an intermediate bulk container made from recycled PE in the U.S.

October 31, 1996

Additives, coatings & inks

Supplier news: International agreements

Dow Chemical Co. (Midland, MI) will build a PC resin plant at its site in Stade, Germany.

October 31, 1996

Blisters/clamshells/thermoforming materials

PET soda bottle recycling rate drops

Figures from the American Plastics Council show that 41% of polyethylene terephthalate soda bottles were reycled in 1995. That ends four successive years in which the percentage increased, says the Container Recycling Institute (Washington, DC), a proponent of refillables and deposit laws.

October 31, 1996

Blisters/clamshells/skin packaging

Design draws a bead on strong sales

The emergence of thousands of "reenacters," those participatory history buffs who restage old battles in full period dress, has created a growing need for the kind of black gun powder used in the days of the musket and powder horn.

October 31, 1996

Bag/pouch fill/seal (pre-made bags)

Pack Expo Plus: Seminars, conferences and allied shows

High-tech packaging solutions, new resin technologies, healthcare packaging, and better sealing technologies are just a few of the areas covered in conferences and seminars during Pack Expo week.

September 30, 1996

Coding, Printing & Labeling

ISO 14000: environmental standards or trade barrier?

Some U.S. companies worry that new IS0 14000 standards are another European effort to stymie imports of U.S.-made products. Will this be a replay of ISO 9000?

September 30, 1996

Flexibles

ISO 14000: environmental standards or trade barrier? (sidebar)

British bottlemaker leads the way

September 30, 1996

Converting equipment

Tropicana tries shelf-stable OJ in PET

Hot-filled orange juice in 1-gal heat-set PET bottles have been selling at a brisk pace at club stores nationwide since Tropicana launched them about a year ago.

September 30, 1996