2013 Conference Report: Institute links university to key Wisconsin businesses with one-day conference
Packaging often gets a bad rap from sustainability-minded people, who have concerns about over-packaging of products and visions of massive amounts of plastic, paper and cardboard dumped in landfills. But advances both in materials technology and in manufacturing processes means that packaging often plays a positive role in progress toward sustainable living.
That was the recurring message at Focal Point 2013: Frontiers in Packaging, held October 22 at the 
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. The event brought together key players in the packaging industry, a major manufacturing sector in Wisconsin.
This was the third annual Focal Point conference. The full-day event drew more than 70 attendees from businesses and economic development agencies, and the audience included product development specialists, sustainability directors, research directors, packaging engineers, and executives and owners. Attendees travelled from as far afield as Georgia, Washington, Pennsylvania and North Carolina for the event.
Among the presenters was Wayne Wegner, global director of sustainability at Bemis (photo at left). The 
company is based in Neenah and is a worldwide supplier of flexible packaging such as plastic wraps and pressure-sensitive labels, with net sales of $5.1 billion in 2012. Wegner noted a United Nations study found that a third of food produced for human consumption is wasted or lost. Reducing food waste has become a priority for government, industry and consumers. One solution is packaging innovations that have created new materials to extend the shelf life of food and reduce spoilage. These “flexible films,” in the parlance of the packaging industry, are tailored to the particular properties of specific foods, Wegner said, so the plastic film that protects a head of iceberg lettuce is not the same film that protects potatoes or bananas or apples.
While the consumer sees a food package like a potato chip bag as single material, Wegner explained that today’s flexible packaging comprises as many as a dozen or more layers, each with a specific purpose. In simplified terms, that package contains an outer, middle and inner layer, with each in turn made of multiple layers of specialized material. The outer layer provides qualities such as strength, printability, appearance, durability. The middle layer is a barrier layer, and it regulates light penetration, and oxygen and moisture transfer. The inner, or sealant, layer contacts the product and provides containment and protection.
Another example of packaging innovation was presented by Gopal Iyengar of NewPage Corporation in Stevens Point. He described the company’s new LittleFootTM packaging material. The company named it to reflect the idea of reducing the carbon footprint, making the smallest possible impact on the environment. The packaging is a specially coated paper that is laminated with other material layers; the packaging provides good moisture and oxygen barrier properties but is compostable and biodegradable.
Lisa Bauer-Lotto, who implements sustainability strategies for Green Bay Packaging, noted that packaging itself is often made from recycled material. And she described changes at Green Bay Packaging that have dramatically reduced resource use in the manufacturing process. Bauer-Lotto said that while some changes in packaging are in response to new regulations, consumer demand is the greater driving force behind sustainability innovations.
Presenters also discussed options for end-of-product-life. WIST recently developed a compostability test to help companies developing new products for the sustainable packaging market. The test determines if a material is compostable under industrial composting conditions.
Other presenters included keynote speaker Jeffrey Keithline, a partner in the law firm Keller and Heckman LLP, who discussed regulatory issues; Amanda Humes, packaging engineer with ConAgra; Paul Gardner, Recycling Reinvented; Jeff Timm, Timm Consulting; Chris Reitmeyer, IPS Testing; and Paul Fowler, WIST. Biographical sketches of each presenter, summations of each presentation, and the final conference program are on this website – see the links at upper right.
Planning has already begun for Focal Point 2014. Check back to this site for updates, or to be placed on an email list to receive updates about Focal Point, email focalpoint@wistsolutions.com
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