Articles Tagged with ''sustainability''

Virginia Dare is a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based flavor and extract company originally founded in 1835. The company evolved into the Virginia Dare Extract Co. in 1923, with a focus on creating and supplying flavors for the food and beverage, health and wellness, nutritional product, sweet goods, dairy, and pharmaceutical and oral care industries.

Forty years ago, Kenner Products released Stretch Armstrong, an action figure that could stretch from its original 15-inch frame to four or five feet. Although not in the toy-making business, packaging materials manufacturers have had to literally stretch their capabilities to keep pace with beverage-makers seeking clean, sustainable labels that feature vivid colors, images, specialty inks and soft-touch finishes to connect with consumers.

The WhiteWave Foods Co., Denver, announced that 100 percent of the cocoa powder sourced across its portfolio of plant-based, dairy and creamer products within its Americas Foods & Beverages segment will be independently certified sustainable by the end of 2016. All WhiteWave brands based in North America, including Silk, So Delicious Dairy Free, Vega, Horizon Organic and International Delight, using cocoa as an ingredient will make the transition, the company says. 

With the push to recycle paper, plastic, aluminum cans and more, incorporating reusable packaging into the supply chain never has been more pertinent.

Regardless of a beverage's content or packaging, a plastic or metal cap or closure is necessary to keep the packaging spill-proof and contents fresh. Thus, beverage-makers are committed to giving consumers caps that are easy to open, tamper-resistant and biodegradable while still communicating the brand’s identity by using a variety of colors, shapes and graphics.

Small-scale farmers are a vital link in global supply chains, producing more than 70 percent of the world’s food. Anyone whose supply chains include smallholder farmers will know that many challenges can emerge in communicating and driving sustainability at a producer level.

Packaging allows brands to communicate with consumers before they even drink a product. When considering the increasing number of SKUs on retail shelves, having an appealing package is a crucial element to consider for new products as well as existing products’ package redesigns.

The Recycling Partnership, Falls Church, Va., a national nonprofit committed to improving curbside residential recycling, announced that White Plains, N.Y.-based Heineken USA is the first alcohol company member, effective immediately, to join its program. As a leading sponsor, the brewer will provide industry expertise to help improve consumer education, elevate the quality of curbside recycling and drive increased recovery of recyclable glass in communities nationwide, the companies say.

With mainstream media reports detailing questions about the sustainability of the planet, consumer interest in these measures is gaining steam. “The Sustainability Imperative,” an Oct. 12 global insight post from New York-based Nielsen, notes that more consumers are adopting sustainable behaviors and expect the same measures from corporations.

New data compiled by New York-based Beverage Marketing Corporation (BMC) shows that between 2000 and 2014, the average weight of a 16.9-ounce single-serve PET plastic bottled water bottle has declined 52 percent to 9.25 grams. This has resulted in a savings of 6.2 billion pounds of PET resin since 2000.