What are people talking about in packaging right now?
There’s a lot of buzz right now in packaging about a variety of topics, from automation to ecommerce, and everything in between. At PDA, we keep track of what’s happening and share it here on our blog. These are the top stories we’ve been following through summer 2020 in packaging.
Last Mil Delivery During Covid-19
Last-mile delivery providers are used to moving quickly and being flexible. Many are strategically located in densely populated cities, allowing distribution in urban environments to run quickly. In that sense, the industry was able to adjust to the COVID-19 pandemic more easily than other industries – continuing to prioritize and move quickly to get essential packages to consumers.
To provide that essential service, last-mile delivery companies had to make quick changes to keep deliveries safe and efficient, while also adapting to rapidly shifting consumer behavior. Many of these changes will have a major impact on the future of e-commerce, the supply chain and the delivery industry overall. Here are some key changes we’ve seen, and how we believe those changes will impact the last mile delivery landscape during the next phase of the pandemic, and even post-pandemic.
5 Pharma Trends and Their Impact on Packaging
The pharmaceutical industry is changing at an unprecedented pace. New biological treatments for cancer, and a dramatic rise of widespread diseases such as diabetes, call for new processing and packaging solutions to fulfill the different needs all over the world. Keep your eye on these five main packaging trends for 2020 for the global pharmaceutical market.
Five U.S. Packaging Bills Under Consideration
Historically across the U.S., waste and recycling policies related to financing have been driven at the state level. This is primarily a result of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) from 1976 that gave states the authority to manage their own waste streams. RCRA granted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency a supportive but non-regulatory federal engagement role for all non-hazardous waste. This means there has been minimal federal policy related to the management of packaging and its disposal, and its related funding, since RCRA was enacted.
COVID-19: What Food Packagers Can Do to Ensure Safety
Safety protocols already exist for food packaging facilities. Here’s how you can use them to analyze and mitigate your COVID-19 risks.
A lot of news articles written during this pandemic focus on grocery store/food shopping safety. Experts seem to have allayed consumer anxiety about the safety and security of raw, processed, and cooked comestibles. However, some medical experts have said the risks associated with human hand contact on food packaging are worth discussion and mitigation.
Top Packaging Innovations Enabling E-commerce Growth & Sustainability
Until recently, packaging optimization was largely overlooked as brands and retailers scrambled to keep up with exploding e-commerce demand and customer expectations for faster deliveries.
Now, packaging has become one of the highest priorities for many e-commerce providers. End consumers have made their voices heard and have demanded that providers focus on waste and recyclability of the e-commerce packages they receive. Providers are challenged with addressing often conflicting sustainability objectives to gain the approval of internal and external stakeholders. Ship your product in a box that seems too big and you’re sure to hear about it from customers on social media. If you shrink wrap packages too inadequately, you risk the product arriving damaged resulting in an even more dissatisfied customer. Move to a poly bag solution to reduce shipping costs and face criticism not only from end consumers for using non-recyclable materials, but also from in-house marketers for diminishing their brand image.
