After more than 18 months of research and design, San Diego-based Bear Naked granola brand by Kellogg's, a food manufacturing company headquartered in Battle Creek, Michigan, is now the first fully recyclable stand-up pouch on the market nationwide.   The recyclable pouch made with a food-grade packaging barrier means that consumers can recycle their granola bar bags at about 18,000 retail stores across the nation that collect plastic bags and other types of plastics for recycling.   For the past 10 years, Kellogg has partnered with Trenton, New Jersey-based TerraCycle to recycle its multilayer packaging through the company’s mail-in program. The brand recycled more than a half-million pouches through the program. For Kellogg to recycle its packaging through the store drop-off program, and reach more consumers, the brand had to design a recyclable film. Working with Dow, Midland, Michigan, Berry Global, Evansville, Indiana, and several other packaging suppliers, Kellogg developed a new a monolayer polyethylene (PE) pouch, says Shannon Moore, Kellogg’s lead packaging engineer.   “When the brand had decided they wanted to go a bit further with their sustainability story, we spent some time working with our existing packaging suppliers and film converters,” Moore says. “The common denominator for all those converters was they were getting their postconsumer resin (PCR) from Dow.   “We met at their facility and we started working with some of their partners who also supplied Kellogg. We all worked together to figure out how to create a package that looked exactly like what was on the shelf and had the same look and brand feel.”   Kellogg makes the PE pouch using Dow’s Retain polymer modifier technology, which allows converters to combine other PE resins to fabricate recycled films without sacrificing physical or optical properties. The PE films made with Retain are approved for the How2Recycle logo by the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC), according to Dow.   “I’m really excited about this technology and I’m sure other consumer goods companies are going to start similar projects,” Moore says. “The technology allows for a higher barrier material to go through the store drop-off process and to be used by Trex and other end markets. That’s really important.”   Making sure the material, including the recyclable zipper developed by Fresh-Lock, was compatible with Kellogg’s existing bagging equipment was a big challenge in the development process, Moore says.   “PE has a much lower melt temperature than a traditional multilayer pouch, so working around the film properties for that was a challenge,” she says. “The bag itself has a window, so maintaining clarity of the window that we had previously was a challenge. Then on top of that, we have a matte finish, so we had to do several trials to get that printing process correct.”   Regarding Fresh-Lock’s recyclable zipper, Moore says, “We brought them in to make sure that the zipper didn’t melt through the film while we were sealing it on the bagger. The material they were using had to be fully recyclable, so we had to make sure they were getting the correct certifications to make it fully recyclable with the bag so we didn’t have any challenges when we went to the store drop-off program.”   Kellogg began working on the Bear Naked recyclable pouch when the brand joined United Kingdom-based Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy initiative.   “Having the EMF commitment and being a signatory allowed us to come together and start working on sustainability more broadly,” Moore says. “This project is nice because it allows us to start looking at how we can incorporate this technology into other Kellogg brands that use similar packaging formats and what would it take for us to do this in a different brand.”   Currently, there isn’t any recycled material used in the Bear Naked packaging. Moore says there’s more work that needs to be done in developing food-grade PCR. The pouches also aren’t recycled into new pouches, yet, but closing the loop is something Kellogg is trying to figure out, Moore says.   “We’re looking at how can we incorporate food-grade postconsumer resin, so we can have recyclable content in our material,” she says.   Many flexible plastic packages, including plastic bags, can’t be recycled through curbside recycling programs. Last year, Kellogg joined the Film and Flexibles Task Force led by The Recycling Partnership, Falls Church, Virginia. The task force is working to define, pilot and scale recycling solutions for the more than $31 billion dollar packaging industry, including plastic film, bags and pouches, according to the nonprofit.   “We became a partner at the end of last year,” Moore says. “It’s really helped us get more involved in what does the infrastructure look like and what are the challenges that are going on with infrastructure. It’s allowed us to get our hands dirty and work alongside other consumer goods companies that have similar aspirations as Kellogg.”   While more recycling solutions are in the works, flexible plastics made of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and low-density polyethylene (LDPE) can be recycled through the store drop-off locations.   In addition to the How2Recycle store drop-off logo that Kellogg has placed on the back of its Bear Naked bags, the brand designed a separate Recycle Ready logo to educate consumers. Kellogg also revamped its Bear Naked website, which has a link to the store drop-off program and locations.   The brand also kicked off a social media campaign on Instagram, where followers are most interactive. Moore took the campaign a step further by posting a video on her personal LinkedIn page of her collecting different types of plastics and showing people how the store drop-offs work, she says.   “We were having people taking pictures of themselves dropping off the bag and showing people they’re at Target and you can drop this off here now,” Moore says. “It’s really simple. We get a lot of comments from people saying, ‘Hey, I didn’t know this. When did you guys start doing this? This is great.’”

After more than 18 months of research and design, San Diego-based Bear Naked granola brand by Kellogg's, a food manufacturing company headquartered in Battle Creek, Michigan, is now the first fully recyclable stand-up pouch on the market nationwide.   The recyclable pouch made with a food-grade packaging barrier means that consumers can recycle their granola bar bags at about 18,000 retail stores across the nation that collect plastic bags and other types of plastics for recycling.   For the past 10 years, Kellogg has partnered with Trenton, New Jersey-based TerraCycle to recycle its multilayer packaging through the company’s mail-in program. The brand recycled more than a half-million pouches through the program. For Kellogg to recycle its packaging through the store drop-off program, and reach more consumers, the brand had to design a recyclable film. Working with Dow, Midland, Michigan, Berry Global, Evansville, Indiana, and several other packaging suppliers, Kellogg developed a new a monolayer polyethylene (PE) pouch, says Shannon Moore, Kellogg’s lead packaging engineer.   “When the brand had decided they wanted to go a bit further with their sustainability story, we spent some time working with our existing packaging suppliers and film converters,” Moore says. “The common denominator for all those converters was they were getting their postconsumer resin (PCR) from Dow.   “We met at their facility and we started working with some of their partners who also supplied Kellogg. We all worked together to figure out how to create a package that looked exactly like what was on the shelf and had the same look and brand feel.”   Kellogg makes the PE pouch using Dow’s Retain polymer modifier technology, which allows converters to combine other PE resins to fabricate recycled films without sacrificing physical or optical properties. The PE films made with Retain are approved for the How2Recycle logo by the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC), according to Dow.   “I’m really excited about this technology and I’m sure other consumer goods companies are going to start similar projects,” Moore says. “The technology allows for a higher barrier material to go through the store drop-off process and to be used by Trex and other end markets. That’s really important.”   Making sure the material, including the recyclable zipper developed by Fresh-Lock, was compatible with Kellogg’s existing bagging equipment was a big challenge in the development process, Moore says.   “PE has a much lower melt temperature than a traditional multilayer pouch, so working around the film properties for that was a challenge,” she says. “The bag itself has a window, so maintaining clarity of the window that we had previously was a challenge. Then on top of that, we have a matte finish, so we had to do several trials to get that printing process correct.”   Regarding Fresh-Lock’s recyclable zipper, Moore says, “We brought them in to make sure that the zipper didn’t melt through the film while we were sealing it on the bagger. The material they were using had to be fully recyclable, so we had to make sure they were getting the correct certifications to make it fully recyclable with the bag so we didn’t have any challenges when we went to the store drop-off program.”   Kellogg began working on the Bear Naked recyclable pouch when the brand joined United Kingdom-based Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy initiative.   “Having the EMF commitment and being a signatory allowed us to come together and start working on sustainability more broadly,” Moore says. “This project is nice because it allows us to start looking at how we can incorporate this technology into other Kellogg brands that use similar packaging formats and what would it take for us to do this in a different brand.”   Currently, there isn’t any recycled material used in the Bear Naked packaging. Moore says there’s more work that needs to be done in developing food-grade PCR. The pouches also aren’t recycled into new pouches, yet, but closing the loop is something Kellogg is trying to figure out, Moore says.   “We’re looking at how can we incorporate food-grade postconsumer resin, so we can have recyclable content in our material,” she says.   Many flexible plastic packages, including plastic bags, can’t be recycled through curbside recycling programs. Last year, Kellogg joined the Film and Flexibles Task Force led by The Recycling Partnership, Falls Church, Virginia. The task force is working to define, pilot and scale recycling solutions for the more than $31 billion dollar packaging industry, including plastic film, bags and pouches, according to the nonprofit.   “We became a partner at the end of last year,” Moore says. “It’s really helped us get more involved in what does the infrastructure look like and what are the challenges that are going on with infrastructure. It’s allowed us to get our hands dirty and work alongside other consumer goods companies that have similar aspirations as Kellogg.”   While more recycling solutions are in the works, flexible plastics made of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and low-density polyethylene (LDPE) can be recycled through the store drop-off locations.   In addition to the How2Recycle store drop-off logo that Kellogg has placed on the back of its Bear Naked bags, the brand designed a separate Recycle Ready logo to educate consumers. Kellogg also revamped its Bear Naked website, which has a link to the store drop-off program and locations.   The brand also kicked off a social media campaign on Instagram, where followers are most interactive. Moore took the campaign a step further by posting a video on her personal LinkedIn page of her collecting different types of plastics and showing people how the store drop-offs work, she says.   “We were having people taking pictures of themselves dropping off the bag and showing people they’re at Target and you can drop this off here now,” Moore says. “It’s really simple. We get a lot of comments from people saying, ‘Hey, I didn’t know this. When did you guys start doing this? This is great.’”

1. It’s a breakthrough accomplishment.   Kellogg’s Bear Naked Inc. granola division’s develops the first fully recyclable stand-up barrier pouch made for food packaging that’s available nationwide.   2. The pouch rollout involves all Bear Naked core product lines of granola cereal and bites.   Done across some 13 product lines, “all of the granola has already converted over and we are currently in the process of rolling it out on our bites,” Moore discloses.       3. The pouch structure was turned from inconvenient and unconventionally recyclable to conveniently recyclable.   The previous pouch structure was recyclable due to a special an arrangement with Trenton, NJ-based upcycler TerraCycle. While commendable in diverting packaging from landfill, the process wasn’t efficient or convenient: recycling required customers to sign up for a special program to collect, clean and ship the packaging to NJ for recycling otherwise the packaging was trashed by consumers and sent to landfill.   The new packaging can be recycled using convenient at-store drop-off locations in meeting the standards of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition’s How2Recycle program. That information appears along the bottom of the back panel next to a “Recycle Ready” callout.   4. Kellogg’s needed 18 months’ R&D to reinvent the pouch.   According to Moore, validation and shelf-life testing took the bulk of that time.   The new Bear Naked granola packaging is manufactured by Berry Global, which has nine-layer blown extrusion equipment that provides the stiffness and superior sealing for hermetic packaging with gas flushing. Bear Naked also chose Dow Chemical’s RecycleReady technology that enables recyclable film structures (see Bear Naked ends partnership with TerraCycle; develops new recyclable packaging for granola snacks, published May 2019).   The new pouch film is mono-material PE with ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH) barrier; the previous structure was a multilayer PET/polyethylene film.   5. The project required an unusual arrangement and strategic partnerships across the entire value chain.   It was managed end-to-end from the resin manufacturing all the way through to the transportation and customer involvement, Moore reports, involving “a lot of collaboration and partnership between the different players depending on their place in the supply chain.”   In addition to resin supplier Dow and film provider Berry Global, other vendors included Presto Products Co. that provided the recycling-compatible Fresh-Lock zipper and printer/converter ColorMasters, based in Albertville, AL.   According to Moore, the direct involvement of a resin supplier was highly atypical of a Kellogg’s packaging development.   Contract manufacturing partner Hearthside Food Solutions, Downers Grove, IL, was also involved, Moore adds.       6. Retaining the look, feel and product quality of the brand was essential.   Surface-printed by ColorMasters, the pouch has a matte finish and a window on the front in line with the previous packaging. A ColorMasters sales manager tells PlasticsToday that it converted rollstock film supplied by Berry Global into printed rollstock for vertical-form-fill-seal packaging and premade pouches for the brand. The process included applying a heat-resistant coating, he added.   “We had to also maintain our existing shelf life in the new film, which appears on the pouch bottom,” Moore adds.   As importantly, she points out that the film’s compatibility with the company’s existing packaging equipment had to be seamless.   7. There’s no “one size fits all” in sustainable packaging.   “Involvement and engagement from all parts of the material spectrum is very important when designing for sustainability,” explains Moore. “It’s really important to understand your consumers’ needs, the level of understanding they have around sustainable packaging and what your vendor partners capabilities are. Also, having a good understanding of the recycling infrastructure in your area or country is important from a design aspect.”   8. Deep learnings were gained.   “This was a very intense project to lead, but if you were to ask anyone on the team, the one theme you would hear is that everyone gained a deep knowledge about another area of the packaging value chain that they didn’t have previously,” Moore reports. “We will all use the experience to help further sustainable packaging design in future project work.”   And from a personal perspective, what was most gratifying for her was “being able to be a part of an important goal for the brand and being able to see it from initial ideation to launch.”   9. The reception has been positive.   In addition to knowing the pouch’s recyclability is a positive step for the environment, the pouch’s innovation has been recognized by the industry: it received the 2019 Technology Excellence Award in Snack and Bakery during Pack Expo in September and in January, the pouch was chosen for a Silver Award in Sustainability in the Flexible Packaging Assn.’s 2020 FPA Achievement Awards.

Lead engineer Shannon Moore shares an insider’s view of the development including the considerations, what was learned, advice and more.   Consumers have always loved convenience in the packaged products they purchase and nowadays it’s important that packaging not only be recyclable, it should be convenient to recycle, too.   It’s something that Kellogg’s Solana Beach, CA-based Bear Naked Inc. granola company took seriously. After 18 months’ development the brand stakes a claim as the first fully recyclable stand-up barrier pouch made for food packaging that’s available nationwide. The previous pouch structure was recyclable, but the process wasn’t efficient or convenient: recycling required customers to sign up for a special program to ship the packaging for recycling; now, the packaging can be recycled using convenient at-store drop-off locations.   Kellogg’s lead packaging engineer, Shannon Moore, was deeply involved in the development in which the company worked with partners to develop a barrier recyclable film that could meet the brand’s technical and marketing requirements. Moore’s four years’ experience at the company followed 10 years’ work at Procter & Gamble that involved various roles in supply chain and package development on household and personal care brands.   The recyclable pouch rollout involves all of Bear Naked core product lines of granola and bites, according to Moore, some 13 product lines in all. “All of the granola has already converted over and we are currently in the process of rolling it out on our bites,” she tells Packaging Digest. The rest of our interview follows.   What’s this about? Moore: Bear Naked granola wanted to increase their sustainability efforts within packaging by creating a more sustainable pouch. This required development of strategic partnerships across the value chain, from resin to manufacturing. Together, the team worked to design the Recycle Ready pouch for launch in 2019. This is just one part of the overall journey of sustainability for this brand and Kashi as part of Kellogg’s sustainability commitments for 2025.   How was the packaging changed? Moore: The previous structure was a multilayer PET/polyethylene film. The new film is mono-material PE with ethylene vinyl alcohol barrier. The pouch size and the net weight did not change.   What were the marketing and technical considerations? Moore: We surface print with a matte appearance and have a window on the front of the pouch. Marketing requirements meant that we had to ensure that these elements were maintained. We had to also maintain our existing shelf life in the new film, which appears on the pouch bottom.     How was the previous package disposed of and what’s done now? Moore: The packaging was either sent to TerraCycle or landfilled. Now the film can be dropped off at stores and retailers into the store drop-off recycling stream. The pouches are printed with the How2Recycle label information, which appears along the bottom of the back panel bottom next to a “Recycle Ready” callout.

Lead engineer Shannon Moore shares an insider’s view of the development including the considerations, what was learned, advice and more.   Consumers have always loved convenience in the packaged products they purchase and nowadays it’s important that packaging not only be recyclable, it should be convenient to recycle, too.   It’s something that Kellogg’s Solana Beach, CA-based Bear Naked Inc. granola company took seriously. After 18 months’ development the brand stakes a claim as the first fully recyclable stand-up barrier pouch made for food packaging that’s available nationwide. The previous pouch structure was recyclable, but the process wasn’t efficient or convenient: recycling required customers to sign up for a special program to ship the packaging for recycling; now, the packaging can be recycled using convenient at-store drop-off locations.   Kellogg’s lead packaging engineer, Shannon Moore, was deeply involved in the development in which the company worked with partners to develop a barrier recyclable film that could meet the brand’s technical and marketing requirements. Moore’s four years’ experience at the company followed 10 years’ work at Procter & Gamble that involved various roles in supply chain and package development on household and personal care brands.   The recyclable pouch rollout involves all of Bear Naked core product lines of granola and bites, according to Moore, some 13 product lines in all. “All of the granola has already converted over and we are currently in the process of rolling it out on our bites,” she tells Packaging Digest. The rest of our interview follows.   What’s this about? Moore: Bear Naked granola wanted to increase their sustainability efforts within packaging by creating a more sustainable pouch. This required development of strategic partnerships across the value chain, from resin to manufacturing. Together, the team worked to design the Recycle Ready pouch for launch in 2019. This is just one part of the overall journey of sustainability for this brand and Kashi as part of Kellogg’s sustainability commitments for 2025.   How was the packaging changed? Moore: The previous structure was a multilayer PET/polyethylene film. The new film is mono-material PE with ethylene vinyl alcohol barrier. The pouch size and the net weight did not change.   What were the marketing and technical considerations? Moore: We surface print with a matte appearance and have a window on the front of the pouch. Marketing requirements meant that we had to ensure that these elements were maintained. We had to also maintain our existing shelf life in the new film, which appears on the pouch bottom.     How was the previous package disposed of and what’s done now? Moore: The packaging was either sent to TerraCycle or landfilled. Now the film can be dropped off at stores and retailers into the store drop-off recycling stream. The pouches are printed with the How2Recycle label information, which appears along the bottom of the back panel bottom next to a “Recycle Ready” callout.

Cross-team collaboration behind Bear Naked Presenting at the Innovation Stage at PACK EXPO Las Vegas, Ashley Leidolf and Holly Dunnill of Dow, Shannon Moore of Kashi, and Paul Wolak of Berry Global explained how a cross-team collaboration between brand and suppliers made Bear Naked’s packaging more recyclable and sustainable.   When the brand was launched in 2002, Kashi chose not to use bag-in-box, becoming the first granola brand to be offered in a pouch. Sustainability was important to the brand owners, so the packaging changed from 2008 to 2018 and was offered in a pouch that could be upcycled by TerraCycle—it was the number-one selling brand with 500,000 units recycled. Shannon Moore, Lead Packaging Engineer at Kashi, said that a few years ago the brand owner started asking what would it take to “go beyond” TerraCycle and get to curbside or store drop-off recycling.   Because recycling is also important to the brand’s consumers (most of whom are under the age of 40), Moore said that the number one customer comment has been, “How do I recycle this bag?” When the decision was made to change to a more sustainable package, Moore said the brand wanted to keep the same look for the consumers, so it was important to maintain the production speed and clarity of the package to keep the print enhancements such as matte coating on the surface.   The brand was having trouble finding a good solution for a hermetically sealed bag, which is necessary due to the number of whole nuts and dried fruit in the product. Kellogg and Dow already had a partnership in place, so Moore engaged the internal team to find a solution by working with Dow.   “The first thing we did as a team,” said Moore, “is walk them through our entire manufacturing network to see how we operated, so that each supplier could work together.”   Paul Wolak, Senior Technical Director at Berry Global, said that when working on the project and taking shelf life into consideration, they “focused on how to deliver a better moisture barrier and better oxygen barrier as a starting place.” The team landed on a recycle-ready nine-layer structure that satisfied all of the necessary properties.   Said Holly Dunnill, Marketing Director at Dow and the moderator of the presentation, “What we’ve created here as a team is really a multi value-chain effort to create a package that can be fully recyclable and be used in applications that need barrier.”

Earlier in this decade, Kashi customers — specifically, enthusiasts of the Bear Naked granola brand — began asking the cereal company to make its stand-up pouches recyclable. It took a close collaboration with Dow's specialty packaging unit to realize that vision alongside the many other initiatives that the food company's sustainability team is managing.   "Those of us who work in sustainability know that packaging is a smaller part of the overall environmental impact of a product, especially when you compare it to the agriculture, water usage and energy that goes into manufacturing a product," said Ashley Leidolf, North America end-use marketing manager at Dow Packaging & Specialty Plastics, during last week’s GreenBiz webcast on the roles of collaboration and innovation in sustainable packaging.   However, that nuance is not common knowledge to consumers. After consuming a product, they just want to dispose of the leftover packaging responsibly — and more are expecting consumer products companies to provide that option.   For context, Bear Naked already had a recycling partnership in place. As early as 2008, it partnered with TerraCycle, a social enterprise focused on recycling different forms of packaging, and encouraged its customers to use those services to recycle their packages. But Bear Naked wanted and needed to go beyond this effort because TerraCycle's services weren’t available for a chunk of its customers, as the program required signing up and saving the packaging to ship to TerraCycle.   Instead, Bear Naked had to change its packaging — using different materials — to meet the standards of the more convenient in-store plastic bag recycling drop-off bins in retail stores across the United States.       Responding to customers’ needs and attempting to reach more consumers who prioritize sustainability, Kashi's parent company Kellogg blessed the group's decision to change its packaging about three years ago. Kashi began working with suppliers to test new designs and ideas, but with each prototype over the course of about eight to 10 months, it ran into another challenge — the pouches wouldn’t seal (not acceptable for a food company) and the variety of materials didn’t work on its existing equipment, which was imperative for the project.   "It was very frustrating," said Shannon Moore, lead packaging engineer at Kashi, who noted that after these trials, her team decided to take a step back to figure out the cause of the problem. "We had to do a root cause analysis."   Enter Kashi's collaboration with Dow's packaging division, which reaches back to 2017 when Kellogg began a strategic partnership with the unit. The two organizations discussed packaging technologies that were available, and Kellogg encouraged Kashi's team to consult Dow's packaging experts.   Together, the teams forged a unique partnership — working beyond the typical supplier-customer relationship — that helped them accelerate packaging innovation. The breakthrough came in March 2017, when the Kashi team that worked on the Bear Naked brand went to Dow’s Pack Studios in Houston, the packaging company’s global network of labs and collaboration facilities. Over the course of two days, the two organizations refined the project's goals by considering these and other questions:  

1. What is the shelf-life of the product?
2. What type of equipment would the package run on?
3. What is the format of the bag?
4. Did it need to be a stand-up pouch with certain aesthetics?
5. What is the Bear Naked brand?

  "That’s probably typically outside of our relationship with our materials suppliers, but it was really important to talk through why we had made choices on how the pouch looked, why we were in a standup pouch, what products we use, [how we protect] our food," Moore said.   Understanding all of these details is important for a materials supplier to be able to use the "right tools in its toolbox" to create the right solution, Dow's Leidolf said. From these discussions, Dow compiled a list of suppliers and manufacturers that it could partner with to turn the previous failures on the Kashi project into a success.       "We’ve seen that over the years when we do this type of work, when the materials supplier gets very involved with the brand owner and their requirements, and understands the needs and the trends of the final package, then we can actually develop better solutions as a materials supplier, to go into those final packages," she said.   Six months after its meeting with Dow, Kashi ran a full-scale trial and was able to seal its packaging — passing its integrity testing and sensory analysis, which assessed if the food and pouches met the performance of its current pouches.   "That was a huge development for us to be able to go from three to four trials where we were having the same result in the matter … to be able to truly successfully deliver this recyclable package," Moore said.   This isn't just a pilot: In 2019, Bear Naked started converting to the recyclable packaging that consumers can put into store drop-off bins at retailers across the country. And now all of Bear Naked's product packaging is recyclable. As for the future of Kashi's packaging, Moore said that eventually, curbside recycling would be ideal.

Posted by Matt Reynolds, Editor, Packaging World, October 17, 2019

• Filed in:
• Flexible packaging,
• Food

  Confronted with questions around sustainability, the flexible packaging industry is working to make recyclable pouches a reality in support of a more circular economy, using the How2Recycle label.   According to the Flexible Packaging Association (FPA), flexible packaging already comes with some endemic sustainability benefits that relate to source reduction: less material going into landfills, extended shelf life/reduced food waste with reclosability, and fewer greenhouse gas emissions compared to rigid packaging.   But creating a consumer-friendly circular path with recyclability has been an obstacle to flexible packaging. Consumers pay less attention to how a package is made and transported than they do to how they dispose of that package. And until recently, most people threw stand-up pouches in the trash since the multilayer material is verboten in curbside recycling. Now, that’s starting to change thanks to increasing adoption—slow, but certain—of an augmentation to traditional curbside recycling.   Dow’s RecycleReady Technology and the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) promoted this new option for packaging manufacturers and brands in the form of in-store drop-off centers for multilayer polyethylene.   By using a certain portfolio of resins, adhesives, and compatibilizers, packaging manufacturers can produce sustainable, recyclable packaging. Flexible packaging using these materials can be easily recycled through existing PE film recycle streams, such as grocery store drop-off programs in the U.S. and Canada.   Also in North America, when brand owners and retailers request RecycleReady Technology from their converters, their final package structure can be submitted to the SPC to qualify for the How2Recycle label. The label instructs consumers to visit how2recycle.info to learn how to use alternative recycling streams to curbside for previously unrecyclable stand-up pouches.   "At least now there is an emerging infrastructure and an emerging stream where consumers, once they're educated, can figure out that they can have the best of both worlds," says Chuck Ditter, Sales Manager, North America, Fresh-Lock, the zipper closure manufacturer on the Kellogg/Bear Naked project. "They'll realize that they can get that wonderful stand-up pouch that we liked so much, and the brand can still get the properties they need out of the film in the package. Ultimately, the consumer now can feel good about being able to bring this back to their store drop-off."   Commercialized pouch from Kellogg Company The Bear Naked brand of granola, a Kellogg Company product, launched a new, fully recyclable stand-up pouch that now "bears" that How2Recycle logo. It was an 18-month journey involving multiple packaging suppliers. There were many materials and components used to manufacture a flexible pouch, and each element needed to meet certain requirements for the entire package to be easily recycled by consumers in the in-store alternative to curbside.   Kellogg wanted a way to make it easier for its loyal customers to recycle their packaging. The target market for granola-eaters likely includes many people who care deeply about the environment and want to recycle their waste whenever possible.   Kellogg had been using a service for its Bear Naked granola packaging that required consumers to sign up for a special program and ship flexible pouches to a location for recycling. That’s a lot of work. Instead, the company wanted to allow consumers to bring used pouches to retail stores, using the How2Recycle program’s store drop-off, which is much more convenient.   However, before that could happen, Kellogg needed a recyclable film structure for its Bear Naked packaging that would be acceptable at these drop-off locations.   Film selection The biggest challenge in recyclable flexible packaging is the film structure. While these packages are lightweight and thin, there are actually many layers of material involved in the manufacturing of films used for flexible pouches.   In order for a flexible package to be dropped off at front-of-store collection bins, a single-source, PE film is needed. Berry Global’s nine-layer Entour™ film structure, a high-density PE material, fit the bill, but it also provided important features beyond recyclability. The film structure surpasses Kellogg’s barrier requirements for shelf life, features a clear window to showcase the product inside, is stiff enough to stand up on store shelves, and can easily be hermetically sealed.   Resin used The film that Berry Global manufactures is possible thanks to innovations from Dow Chemical. Dow’s RecycleReady Technology includes PE resins for film structures that are approved by the SPC for the How2Recycle drop-off initiative.   According to Dow, its RETAIN™ polymer modifiers are compatibilizers that “allow converters to recycle barrier film trim back into film production without sacrificing optical or physical properties.”   Dow also provided a high-performance sealant that helped meet the fast-paced production line speeds for machines producing hermetically sealed packaging.   Color printing method Every facet of a flexible package must fit within the parameters of recyclability. Plus, as packaging materials change to achieve this objective, packaging engineers must make sure other materials and components still function as expected. That includes the ink applied to films, which is important if you want your package to be attractive and on brand.   To capture the attention of shoppers, Colormaster’s registered matte finish was applied to the pouch to reinforce Bear Naked’s brand image. The finish also provides extra heat resistance so the package runs more efficiently on machinery.   Reclosable zipper closure Reclosability is a major feature of Bear Naked’s stand-up pouch. But, it needed to have a zipper that could be recycled along with the special film.   Fresh-Lock developed a unique line of closures that supports sustainability efforts. The Bear Naked package utilizes zipper style 8113 from the Fresh-Lock® 8000 Series.   "Our key to this is that our zipper in and of itself was already low-density polyethylene. So in and of itself it is recyclable," Ditter adds. "The key though, is these film structures and the way our zippers seal to them. We had to do some optimization of our zippers to make sure it worked with this film and sealed well and sealed within the temperature and pressure and time parameters of their process."   Zipper style 8113 from Fresh-Lock’s 8000 Series is specifically designed to seal to recyclable PE films, an attribute that not all closures can properly achieve. As a bonus, these zippers also enable faster packaging machine speeds and reliable sealing to avoid channel leakers.   Sustainability and reclosability are two important packaging features to consumers, and this closure for flexible packaging supports both. In addition to allowing consumers to recycle a resealable stand-up pouch, it also ensures their granola stays fresh. Because nobody wants to eat stale granola bites. Presenting at the Innovation Stage at PACK EXPO Las Vegas, Ashley Leidolf and Holly Dinnill of Dow, Shannon Moore of Kashi, and Paul Wolak of Berry Global explained how a cross-team collaboration between brand and suppliers made Bear Naked’s packaging more recyclable and sustainable.   When the brand was launched in 2002, Bear Naked chose not to use bag-in-box, becoming the first granola brand to be offered in a pouch. Sustainability was important to the brand owners, so the packaging changed from 2008 to 2018 and was offered in a TerraCycle pouch—it was the #1 selling brand with 500,000 units recycled. Shannon Moore, Lead Packaging Engineer at Kashi, said that a few years ago the brand owner came to her and asked what it would take to “go beyond” TerraCycle and get to curbside or store-drop recycling.   Because recycling is also important to the brand’s consumers (most of whom are under the age of 40), Moore said that the number one customer comment has been, “How do I recycle this bag?” When the decision was made to change to a more sustainable package, Moore said the brand wanted to keep the same look for the consumers, so it was important to maintain the production speed and clarity of the package to keep the print enhancements such as surface matte.   The brand was having trouble finding a good solution for a hermetically sealed bag, which is necessary due to the number of whole nuts and dried fruit in the product. Kellogg and Dow already had a partnership in place, so Moore engaged the internal team to find a solution by working with Dow, and she said the project was able to move forward more quickly by working together as a team.   “The first thing we did as a team,” said Moore, "is walk them through our entire manufacturing network, to see how we operated, so that each supplier could work together.”   Paul Wolak, Senior Technical Director at Berry Global, said that when working on the project and taking shelf life into consideration, “we focused on how to deliver a better moisture barrier and better oxygen barrier as a starting place.” The team landed on a mono-material recycle-ready nine-layer structure that satisfied all of the necessary properties.   Said Holly Dinnill, Marketing Director at Dow and the moderator of the presentation, “What we’ve created here as a team is really a multi value-chain effort to create a package that can be fully recyclable and be used with cases that need barrier.”   The brand is on a mission from the top down to comply with 2025 recyclability goals and is now six years ahead of schedule to comply.

A cross-team collaboration successfully created new packaging for the Bear Naked granola brand, designed for recyclability and sustainable-barrier packaging.

 

A cross-team collaboration successfully created new packaging for the Bear Naked granola brand, designed for recyclability and sustainable-barrier packaging.

 

Presenting at the Innovation Stage at PACK EXPO Las Vegas, Ashley Leidolf and Holly Dinnill of Dow, Shannon Moore of Kashi, and Paul Wolak of Berry Global explained how a cross-team collaboration between brand and suppliers made Bear Naked’s packaging more recyclable and sustainable.

 

When the brand was launched in 2002, Bear Naked chose not to use bag-in-box, becoming the first granola brand to be offered in a pouch. Sustainability was important to the brand owners, so the packaging changed from 2008 to 2018 and was offered in a Terracycle pouch – it was the #1 selling brand with 500,000 units recycled.

 

Shannon Moore, Lead Packaging Engineer at Kashi, said that a few years ago the brand owner came to her and asked what it would take to “go beyond” Terracycle and get to curbside or store-drop recycling. Because recycling is also important to the brand’s consumers (most of whom are under the age of 40), Moore said that the number one customer comment has been “How do I recycle this bag?”

 

When the decision was made to change to a more sustainable packaging, Moore said the brand wanted to keep the same look for the consumers, so it was important to maintain the production speed and clarity of the package to keep the print enhancements such as surface matte. The brand was having trouble finding a good solution for a hermetically sealed bag, which is necessary due to the number of whole nuts and dried fruit in the product. Kellogg and Dow already had a partnership in place, so Moore engaged the internal team to find a solution by working with Dow, and she said the project was able to move forward more quickly by working together as a team. “The first thing we did as a team,” said Moore, is walk them through our entire manufacturing network, to see how we operated, so that each supplier could work together.”

 

Paul Wolak, Senior Technical Director at Berry Global said that when working on the project and taking shelf life into consideration – “we focused on how to deliver a better moisture barrier and better oxygen barrier as a starting place.” The team landed on a mono-material recycle-ready 9-layer structure that satisfied all of the necessary properties.

 

Said Holly Dinnill, Marketing Director at Dow and the moderator of the presentation, “What we’ve created here as a team is really a multi value-chain effort to create a package that can be fully recyclable and be used with cases that need barrier.”

 

The brand is on a mission from the top down to comply with 2025 recyclability goals and is now 6 years ahead of schedule to comply. To learn more about the How2Recycle program, click here. To see a previous Show Daily article about this packaging, click here.

 

Make plans to visit PACK EXPO East in Philadelphia, March 3-5, to see on-trend packaging machinery and materials, and sustainable solutions.

A cross-team collaboration successfully created new packaging for the Bear Naked granola brand, designed for recyclability and sustainable-barrier packaging.

 

Presenting at the Innovation Stage at PACK EXPO Las Vegas, Ashley Leidolf and Holly Dinnill of Dow, Shannon Moore of Kashi, and Paul Wolak of Berry Global explained how a cross-team collaboration between brand and suppliers made Bear Naked’s packaging more recyclable and sustainable.

 

When the brand was launched in 2002, Bear Naked chose not to use bag-in-box, becoming the first granola brand to be offered in a pouch. Sustainability was important to the brand owners, so the packaging changed from 2008 to 2018 and was offered in a Terracycle pouch – it was the #1 selling brand with 500,000 units recycled.

 

Shannon Moore, Lead Packaging Engineer at Kashi, said that a few years ago the brand owner came to her and asked what it would take to “go beyond” Terracycle and get to curbside or store-drop recycling. Because recycling is also important to the brand’s consumers (most of whom are under the age of 40), Moore said that the number one customer comment has been “How do I recycle this bag?”

 

When the decision was made to change to a more sustainable packaging, Moore said the brand wanted to keep the same look for the consumers, so it was important to maintain the production speed and clarity of the package to keep the print enhancements such as surface matte. The brand was having trouble finding a good solution for a hermetically sealed bag, which is necessary due to the number of whole nuts and dried fruit in the product. Kellogg and Dow already had a partnership in place, so Moore engaged the internal team to find a solution by working with Dow, and she said the project was able to move forward more quickly by working together as a team. “The first thing we did as a team,” said Moore, is walk them through our entire manufacturing network, to see how we operated, so that each supplier could work together.”

 

Paul Wolak, Senior Technical Director at Berry Global said that when working on the project and taking shelf life into consideration – “we focused on how to deliver a better moisture barrier and better oxygen barrier as a starting place.” The team landed on a mono-material recycle-ready 9-layer structure that satisfied all of the necessary properties.

 

Said Holly Dinnill, Marketing Director at Dow and the moderator of the presentation, “What we’ve created here as a team is really a multi value-chain effort to create a package that can be fully recyclable and be used with cases that need barrier.”

 

The brand is on a mission from the top down to comply with 2025 recyclability goals and is now 6 years ahead of schedule to comply. To learn more about the How2Recycle program, click here. To see a previous Show Daily article about this packaging, click here.

 

Make plans to visit PACK EXPO East in Philadelphia, March 3-5, to see on-trend packaging machinery and materials, and sustainable solutions.