Environment

WESTMONT, IL, July 20, 2021 (PRNewswire) -Nexgen Packaging, an industry leading supplier of packaging for the retail, apparel and footwear industry, today announced the acquisition of Oakland, Ca. based Ditto Sustainable Brand Solutions' assets. This acquisition strengthens Nexgen's leadership position in supplying retailers and brands with environmentally conscious packaging solutions.

"Ditto has an outstanding reputation as a team that combines award-winning design capabilities with industry leading sustainable solutions for retailers and brands," said Jim Welch, Nexgen Co-CEO. "Gary Barker and his team will significantly advance Nexgen's strategy of providing our customers with real, sustainable offerings that fit within retail business models. Improving the sustainability of products and processes in the retail industry is a global priority and we are committed to working with our customers to achieve these goals."

Since its inception in 2006, Ditto solutions has been focused on designing and manufacturing products that reduce the use of plastic in the retail supply chain. "I'm excited to see Ditto joining forces with Nexgen Packaging. Ditto has spent the last 15 years designing globally recognized hanging solutions for apparel, footwear and accessories that make positive contributions to the environment while also maintaining brand recognition and performance," said Gary Barker founder and President of Ditto. "The combination of Ditto with Nexgen's global footprint of sales, manufacturing and industry experience will help bring a greater level of sustainability to the retail industry."

Manuel Torres, Nexgen EMEA Managing Director, "Sustainability is and in particular the reduction of plastics at the core of Nexgen's strategy, the combination of Ditto's 15 years expertise and Nexgen's global footprint, has allowed us to build a uniquely comprehensive and strong product portfolio that will address one of the major areas of concern for the retail industry."

Since our inception over 15 years ago, Nexgen has experienced significant growth by listening to customers and responding quickly and nimbly to their needs. Our customers are looking for environmentally friendly product offerings that are tangible and fit their business model. This acquisition will further our ability to design sustainability into packaging solutions and bring transparency to the development and sourcing of products throughout the global retail supply chain.

About Nexgen Packaging

Nexgen Packaging, LLC is a global provider of apparel brand identification and packaging products, serving the creative, product development, and production needs of apparel and footwear manufacturers and retailers, and their global manufacturing partners. The company is focused on simplifying everything from the creative process to order execution, utilizing innovative technologies to increase efficiency and enhance customer success.

Nexgen has sales and manufacturing operations globally with headquarters in Hong Kong, Chicago and Madrid.

ALBA, Italy , July 15, 2021 (Press Release) -
• Ferrero signs new CGF Golden Design Rules as part of action plan against plastic becoming waste
• Ferrero joins Holy Grail 2.0 to prove the viability of digital watermarking technologies for more efficient recycling
• Ferrero launches new thinner Kinder Bueno packaging material which will be available from 2022
• Ferrero launches paper-based packaging pilot for its Kinder bakery products in Italy

The Ferrero Group is making further strides in its commitment to making 100% of packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025. As part of this journey, the business has announced new global partnerships with HolyGrail 2.0 and Consumer Goods Forum (CGF), as well as significant brand projects, including the introduction of a new thinner Kinder Bueno packaging material.

Signing Consumer Goods Forum’s (CGF) Plastic Waste Coalition’s Golden Design Rules

Ferrero has recently signed CGF’s Plastic Waste Coalition’s new Golden Design rules, as another commitment to assess and redesign the critical elements of packaging, highlighting the need for alignment and scale to drive positive change globally. As longstanding partners with the CGF, Ferrero shares the organization’s vision that the transition to a circular economy requires a different approach to plastic usage, from production, consumption and reuse, to recycling and disposal.

Ferrero joins Holy Grail 2.0, as associate partner

Ferrero joins HolyGrail 2.0, facilitated by AIM – the European Brands Association as associate partner, demonstrating its commitment to innovation in plastic packaging sorting and investing in pilot projects to improve current sorting technology gaps. The project aims to prove the viability of digital watermarking technologies for accurate waste sorting, resulting in more efficient and higher-quality recycling.

Specifically, Ferrero recognizes, with this pilot, the opportunity to put in place sorting for a dedicated stream of food packaging plastics that will, in turn, generate recycled materials to be reused in line with circular economy best practices.

Ferrero introduces new thinner flexible materials with improved climate impact for Kinder Bueno

The Ferrero packaging team, in close collaboration with leading edge upstream suppliers, have developed a new thinner material, which delivers a thickness reduction of approximately 20% compared with standard films.

The new thinner material will be introduced on selected products, such as Kinder Bueno, starting from 2022 and will lead to an initial annual reduction of approximately 550 tons of materials, saving around 1,450 tons of CO2 compared to the previous packaging.

Ferrero expects to deliver further environmental benefits as the new materials are rolled out to other projects over the coming years.

Ferrero launches paper-based packaging pilot for its Kinder bakery products

In Italy, Ferrero is piloting a new paper-based external packaging for its Kinder bakery range, including Kinder Délice and Kinder Brioss. The new packaging features an innovative method of wrapping Kinder Bakery products using paper film, suitable for recycling in the country’s paper stream. If successful, the paper packaging will be rolled out across the business’ entire portfolio of bakery products in the Italian market.

This is an important step that supports Ferrero’s overall plastic reduction ambition. A science-based approach has been adopted to design and test the new paper-based packaging using the Aticelca evaluation method. The result is an overall weight reduction of 80% versus the previous plastic film used.

Fabio Mora, Global Packaging Director of the Ferrero Group said: “In 2019, we committed to making all of our packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025 and I’m proud to see that we have already made some significant progress on our journey. Over the last few months, we partnered with over 85 companies on the digital watermarks project HolyGrail 2.0, a transformative program testing how digital technology can enable better sorting and higher-quality recycling for packaging.

“Additionally, we are proud to have signed the CGF’s new Golden Design rules as another commitment to assess and redesign the critical elements of packaging. The new thinner Kinder Bueno packaging material and paper-based Kinder bakery trial further demonstrate our ambition to accelerate sustainable innovation and to drive circular solutions. We look forward to sharing further updates on our progress soon.”

BRUSSELS, July 14, 2021 (Press Release) -CLECAT welcomes the package of energy and climate laws tabled by the European Commission today, aimed at reaching the EU’s 2030 goal of cutting emissions by 55%. Many of the legislative proposals will accelerate the green transition of the transport and logistics sector in Europe. The success of the decarbonisation of the sector will depend on proper enforcement and sufficient investment incentives for the transport and logistics sector.

‘The Commission should ensure that the industry speeds up its response to climate change. But increasing the price of CO2 and energy is not sufficient to ensure a switch to zero-emission transport and logistics. As long as there are no alternatives available, bridging technologies must find equal recognition, otherwise the rules will merely result in a cost increase for the sector and not in a technology switch in this decade,’ noted Nicolette van der Jagt, Director General of CLECAT. She continued: ‘Revenues from CO2 pricing for freight transport should be returned to the transport sector in the form of subsidy programmes for investments in green vehicles, technology and innovation in infrastructure. It remains important to reach economies of scale in zero-emission transport, to ensure new options become affordable.’

The revision of the Energy Tax Directive (ETD) will significantly increase the cost structure of logistics in view of the increase in taxation of fossil fuels. The Commission needs to recognise that low carbon fuels will equally play a crucial role in the coming years. During this transitional period, incentives for low carbon fuels will be needed without creating any lock-in effects.

CLECAT takes note of the Commission's plan to include road transport into a carbon market. In view of already existing schemes at national level on ETS, CLECAT underlines that double charging of CO2 must be avoided. The Commission as well as Member States need to consider the different sectoral policies to ensure coherence with existing relevant EU laws such as the revised Eurovignette Directive.

Furthermore, the Commission plans to expand the EU ETS to cover the maritime sector, which CLECAT supports. However, CLECAT had hoped for a more ambitious carbon market scheme, covering all voyages, whether incoming or departing from EU ports.

In the field of aviation, CLECAT particularly welcomes the proposals to increase the production, deployment, and supply of affordable, high-quality alternative sustainable aviation fuels in Europe.

CLECAT welcomes the proposals for binding national targets for the alternative fuels infrastructure development in different freight transport modes.  Ms van der Jagt noted: ‘If we want all freight transport trucks to switch to electric, logistics and transport companies, operating internationally, need to be confident they can charge and refuel their vehicles wherever they go. Since OEMs will start to produce massively in zero emission technologies in less than 10 years, the EU needs to prepare for this now and start to roll out the necessary infrastructure along Europe’s TEN-T network.’

Ms van der Jagt concluded: ‘Over the coming weeks, CLECAT will come out with a detailed response to the proposals. CLECAT supports the urgency for the transport and logistics sector and their customers to address the issue of climate change. The process whereby sustainable solutions are agreed upon and invested in will be complex and requires immediate initiatives and a clear pathway towards reaching the new 2030 climate target, if global connectivity and prosperity are to be maintained. We trust that the Council and the European Parliament will seek to fine-tune the legislative proposals, whilst ensuring that the goals remain ambitious but equally achievable, particularly in the coming decade when costs will increase but alternatives are not yet widely available. Otherwise, clean trucking, flying and shipping will remain a pipe-dream for governments.’