Packaging manufacturers worried by 50% tariffs on steel, aluminum

Solenis, a leading global provider of water and hygiene solutions, released its 2024 Sustainability Report, marking the first edition that combines information and data from Diversey. Solenis acquired Diversey Holdings, Ltd. in 2023 and now operates as one integrated company with aligned sustainability policies. “With the integration of Diversey and the addition of more than 9,000 employees to the Solenis team, we finished 2024 as one united company on a clear path to make a real and lasting positive impact on our customers, our employees and our world,” said CEO John Panichella. “We continue to embrace and enhance our own transparency around sustainability, while as a partner we are uniquely able to help customers achieve their sustainability and operational goals.” Along with the report, Solenis unveiled a new sustainability-focused website at sustainability.solenis.com, underscoring its ESG initiatives and activities that add sustainability value for customers.

Committed to bringing innovative and sustainable solutions to the market, Klabin, Brazil’s largest producer and exporter of packaging paper and paper packaging, has developed a new version of its paperboard Klamulti, designed for beverage packaging (multipack), which now has microfibrillated pulp (MFC) in its composition. This innovation, led by the Product Development and Technology Center teams at Klabin, was produced at the MFC plant located in Telêmaco Borba, Paraná. Experiments proved that the addition of MFC in the paperboard composition significantly improves the product’s properties and performance while also reducing grammage. As such, the new solution is capable of creating lighter and more resistant packaging, enhancing the efficiency of the material. The MFC production process develops the microfibrillation of the walls of pulp fibers, enabling a wider connection area between them, thereby increasing the paper’s mechanical strength.

While there is no evidence of virus transfer from cardboard, the easily identifiable touch-safe zones can be applied at scale across a range of industries and applications meaning the anti-viral and anti-bacterial packaging provides an additional layer of protection as consumers and workers throughout the supply chain remain wary. Not surprisingly, the importance of products ‘packaged in hygienic packaging’ among consumers with more than half (57%) saying they wash their hands thoroughly after touching e-commerce packaged products and 30% throw packaging away more quickly. DS Smith’s research, conducted with Ipsos MORI, suggests packaging hygiene will continue to be a priority in years to come. The new patented technology is effective across a range of bacteria and viruses including envelope viruses, of which COVID-19 is a member[1].