Posts Tagged ‘plastic’
Monday, September 26th, 2011
Method has unveiled its latest innovation in sustainable packaging- a bottle that is made out of plastic collected from the North Pacific Gyre, also referred to as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The bottle contains 100% post-consumer polyethylene, 25% of which is plastic collected from the Gyre. Method has partnered with Envision Plastics who is one of the largest recyclers in the US making it possible to make this Ocean PCR that is the same quality as virgin HDPE plastic.
The process starts will collecting and cleaning the plastic removing unwanted contaminants where it is then blended and remanufactured into high quality plastic. The beauty is that the upcycled ocean plastic can be recycled again and again. Method’s ultimate goal is to raise awareness that the real solution to plastic pollution lies in reusing and recycling the plastic that’s already on the planet. Method also aims to prove that green business can grow the US economy and create jobs.
Method made its first bottle entirely from post-consumer recycled plastic in 2006. Since then they’ve been known as a leading innovator in premium eco-friendly household and personal care products by developing plastic packaging that is completely free from virgin plastics. Method products can be found in over 35,000 retail locations.
Tags:Method, ocean, packaging, plastic, pollution, recycle, reusing, sustainable packaging, upcycle
Posted in Eco-Friendly, Packaging Design | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 10th, 2011
Brain Tunnelgenix Medical Packaging
Brain Tunnelgenix Corp has an unmatched portfolio of proprietary products, including the revolutionary Brain Temperature Tunnel™ product line. Recently the company was rolling out their new Abreu btt™ 700 Thermometer and was looking for a packaging solution that would help protect and market their investment. Further, they wanted a packaging that would “secure all of the pieces and look too beautiful to discard”.
An upscale product needs an upscale package. Account Executive Nick Rude worked with Brain Tunnelgenix Corp to come up with a stunning custom turned edge package that is not only displays the product beautifully, it is extremely durable and holds the medical devices and disc media securely in thermoformed trays.
Our custom tooling capabilities allow us the flexibility needed to design packaging for components of various shapes and sizes. The turned edge wrap around the outside is digitally printed and laminated making the graphics pop and catch the attention of the market that this product is intended to serve.
Brain Tunnelgenix was very pleased working with Sunrise Packaging. They specified their delight in the fast production and turn-around time as well as the fact that they actually did end up with a package they believe is too beautiful to discard.
Read more about turned edge packaging
Watch a video on how turned edge products are made
Tags:brain tunnelgenix, custom, Medical, packaging, plastic, Thermoforming, trays, turned edge, vacuumforming
Posted in Case Studies, Custom Packaging Products, New Products, Packaging Design, Thermoforming | No Comments »
Monday, October 18th, 2010
Stonyfield Farm has announced its switch from petroleum-based plastic to plant-based (PLA) plastic in their packaging. The PLA plastic packaging is derived from corn and is the first plant-based container in the yogurt industry. After researching the life cycle of their packaging, Stonyfield Farm concluded that PLA is a better option than petroleum-based plastic in terms of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.
Sustainable packaging has been a huge push in the last few years with Wal-Mart leading the charge. By downsizing packaging, Wal-Mart hopes to cut down on consumer waste and reduce its global packaging 5% by 2013.
Stonyfield yogurt packs are not compostable or recyclable yet because there is only one facility in the US that recycles PLA. Stonyfield hopes to help change that by having other companies follow their transition into plant-based PLA plastics.
PLA packaging has also been in the news lately as Sun Chips changed their snack bags to PLA before changing them back due to consumer complaints of the bags being too noisy. You can read more on that here.
Stonyfield Farm has posted a video that explains more about their switch to PLA plastic packaging.
Tags:diary, Eco-Friendly, PLA, plastic, Stonyfield Farm, sustainable packaging, yogurt
Posted in Eco-Friendly | No Comments »
Monday, October 4th, 2010
Beauty products are saying goodbye to old plastic packaging and focusing on sustainable packaging. This is because two major players- Whole Foods and Procter & Gamble – are passing new regulations for sustainable and recyclable packaging.
Whole Foods’ new regulation goes in effect this month and requires suppliers to use packaging materials that are easily reused or recycled, are non-toxic, and call for a switch from plastic to glass whenever possible. Strengthening their commitment to reducing, reusing, and recycling waste is the main objective. Whole Foods has switched to post-consumer recycled bottles for most of their store-brand personal care and nutritional supplement products. They have also implemented responsible packaging guidelines for all of the company’s personal care product suppliers (more than 1,300). The new regulations will cause many brands to adapt to their sustainable packaging objectives regardless of wherever else they are sold.
Over the next few years, Procter & Gamble will switch to sustainable packaging made from sugarcane produced in Brazil. P&G employed Brazilian supermodel and Pantene endorser Gisele Bundchen to announce the switch. The initiative will help meet the needs of women around the world who have been demanding more environmentally friendly products with no trade-offs in performance, aesthetic, or value.
Brands like The Body Shop and Stila have had a longer history of using green packaging but with the new changes from a giant like Procter & Gamble, it’s a sure sign of change in the mainstream marketplace.
Tags:beauty, Eco-Friendly, packaging, pantene, personal care, plastic, Procter & Gamble, recyclable packaging, reuse, sustainable, whole foods
Posted in Eco-Friendly | No Comments »
Friday, July 16th, 2010
Cereplast, Inc. designs and manufactures proprietary starch-based, renewable plastics created from breakthrough technology. They have recently announced that by the end of the year, they will be making plastic from algae. The algae-based resins carry the potential of replacing 50% or more of petroleum content used in traditional plastic resins. Developing alternative feedstock unrelated to fossil fuels and to the food chains is the next ‘frontier’ for bioplastics and Cereplast is aggressively staying on the forefront.
Cereplast CEO says the algae is close enough to the starches that the company already turns into plastics such as corn, wheat, and tapioca. The problem is not the science, it’s the demand. Getting enough of the green stuff to produce mass quantities is the challenge that the Cereplast team is facing. Difficulties with growing and processing algae cheaply has kept it just out of reach for making it a pliable bio-plastic alternative. The process includes finding and cultivating a precise strain of algae from thousands, harvesting and drying, and then extracting the oils from the plant in a cost-effective manner.
What could this mean? In the not-so-distant future, the algae plastics could be and integral part of a trillion dollar plastics industry. Bill Francis, President of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation, which documents the effects of stray plastic on the world’s oceans, is optimistic on algae’s future in the plastics marketplace. “I do believe there will be a time when we look back and say, ‘Oh yeah, that was the plastic age”.
Algae-based plastics could be a huge breakthrough for the green packaging industry depending on how the product performs when used in different plastic manufacturing processes. Up to this point, there has been a lot of limitations with bioplastics.
Tags:algae, bioplastics, Eco-Friendly, green, plastic, resins, sustainable
Posted in Eco-Friendly | No Comments »
Monday, May 24th, 2010
What is clamshell packaging? If you don’t know it by name, it is almost certain that you’ve seen it. It’s the clear plastic packaging that showcases an array of products from retail, food, medical, etc. The word clamshell indicates that the formed plastic package has one or more hinges. A single hinged clamshell usually includes a hanger tab so the product can hang from store pegs. Multi-hinged clamshells allow for the packaging to have a flat base so the product stand upright.
There are many benefits of clamshell packaging. It’s a wonderful way to showcase a product while being very cost effective. The clear plastic packaging provides great visibility for the consumer to see the product as it sits protected inside the clamshell. The header card can be printed and placed inside the clamshell to provide more information for the consumer to make a purchasing decision. Clamshells also allow for great display versatility. They can be hung from pegs or sat upright on a store shelf giving great flexibility for retailers to position the products to sell.
Clamshells are plastic and cause some concern about the environment. Manufacturers are using different types of plastics to overcome this. PETG is a type of PET plastic that is fully recyclable after its use. RPET is previously recycled PET plastic. Both types can work together to promote the global recycling effort.
More info:
Ask Sunrise about clamshell packaging
Tags:blister, clamshell, Medical, packaging, plastic, recycle, retail, Thermoforming
Posted in Custom Packaging Products, Product Information, Thermoforming | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 7th, 2010
Polypropylene is a plastic used in a wide range of products like food containers, water bottles, furniture, and car bumpers. It’s also used as a strong, durable packaging solution that gives products a very distinct look.
Currently, it’s the second most widely used thermoplastic with a global consumption of 44 million metric tons in 2008. The market has been growing increasingly and is estimated to be $66 billion. Growth is based on projections that consumers and recycling regulations will drive demand for environmentally-friendly packaging.
While polypropylene is primarily derived from oil, a recent research partnership will be developing a large scale production of polypropylene from sugarcane. While oil is limited and expensive, this green initiative is great news and could mean a big change for the plastics industry. Initial development will run for at least 5 years. The plastic is to be identical to traditional polypropylene except that it is made from sugarcane. Customers will be able to switch to the bio-resin without changing their production machinery or processes.
So who’s partnering up? Braskem, the largest petrochemical company in Latin America, and Novozymes, the world’s leading producer of industrial enzymes. Both companies have a strong devotion to a bio-based economy.
Braskem was the first company in the world to produce a 100% certified green polypropylene on an experimental basis. They’re currently building a green polyethylene plant in Brazil with ethanol and sugarcane as the raw material. The plant will produce 200,000 tons per year.
Novozymes is the world leader in bioinnovation. They use biotechnology to improve the use of resources in more than 30 industries around the world; the biofuel industry is one of them. Currently, they’re producing enzymes to turn agricultural waste into advanced biofuels.
Tags:bio-fuels, Eco-Friendly, green packaging, innovation, oil, packaging, plastic, polypropylene, sugar, Sunrise Packaging
Posted in Eco-Friendly | No Comments »
Monday, March 8th, 2010
Here at Sunrise we love progress. Especially when it involves the environment, so a recent blog post at Ecogeek sparked our interest. The post brought a cool invention to our attention. The design of the recycing robot by Osaka University and Mitsubishi Electric Engineering Co. They have created a robot with laser-sensing technology that can differentiate six different types of plastic from all other garbage. The 5-foot 6-inch by 6-foot 9-inch machine identifies the plastic materials by analyzing the reflectivity of five different wavelengths of lasers on the materials.
The purpose of the robot is to streamline the recycling process and increase the amount of plastic that gets recycled. With this robot taking care of that sorting, people can recycle with the assurance that the robot will take care of the details.
Although at 55,000 dollars this isn’t exactly being marketed as a home sorting device it certainly has a lot of potential for industrial sites.
For more information please visit
EcoGeek
Telegraph
Botropolis
Tags:Ecogeek, Garbage Sorting, Human Recycling, plastic, Plastic Sorting, recycling, Recycling Robot, Robot, sunrise, Sunrise Packaging
Posted in New Products, Product Information | 1 Comment »
Monday, December 21st, 2009
The average American throws away 4 pounds of trash daily. Considering the fact that there are over 300,000,000 people living within the United States it is easy to see how the trash situation can get out of hand. In fact, it’s estimated that the US generates around 230 million tons of trash a year. The good news is that with that much trash there is a lot of room for improvement. Here are some statistics from The Clean Air Council that demonstrate how much room for improvement there really is.
- Only about 1/10 of solid garbage in the U.S. gets recycled.
- Americans throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour.
- In the U.S., an additional 5 million tons of waste is generated during the holidays. Four million tons of this is wrapping paper and shopping bags.
- Americans throw away enough aluminum cans to rebuild our commercial air fleet every three months.
The good news is that a little recycling can go a long way.
- For every ton of plastic bottles that are recycled, 3.8 barrels of oil are saved.
- Aluminum has a quick turn-around as a recycled material. It can be back on the shelf as a new can in as little as six weeks.
For more information visit:
Learner
Popular mechanics
Tags:cans, Daily, garbage, plastic, recycling, reuse, Statistics, Sunrise Packaging, trash, Us
Posted in Custom Packaging Products, Eco-Friendly | 2 Comments »
