Beyond The Headlines: Sidel’s rPET lightweight bottle, Gerhard Schubert’s new partnership

This week in industry news, Sidel launched its rPET lightweight bottle base for still beverages. Meanwhile, Gerhard Schubert and Berndt+Partner Group collaborated with the Packaging Competence Center (PCC) and Coast Packing Company announced its new packaging facility.

In brief: Launches

Sidel developed StarLITE-R STILL, a new bottle that employs patented technology to ensure full rPET integration, lightweighting, and high-speed production for water, juices, milk, and edible oil from 0.25 L up to 2.5 L. Its design can also be retrofitted onto existing production lines, ensuring versatility, and the solution requires low blowing pressure. The StarLITE-R STILL bottle base features Sidel’s patented technology. The new design ensures the base does not deform or break, which is crucial for maintaining the bottle’s integrity during production, conveying, storage, transportation, and use. The mold base’s rounded-edge design makes it easier to shape during blow molding, which increases the bottle base’s resistance to defects such as bursts during the blowing process.

Better Earth’s investment in US-based manufacturing and sourcing directly benefits small farmers and rural economies.Better Earth launched its Farmer’s Fiber Retail Collection, a new line of US-made, BPI-certified compostable molded fiber plates and bowls. This product line was developed to provide consumers with a climate-conscious, sustainable alternative to traditional petroleum-based plastics and virgin wood fiber tableware in the retail packaging market. The Farmer’s Fiber Retail Collection includes a versatile selection of 10-inch, 9-inch, 7-inch, and 3-compartment plates, along with 12-ounce bowls manufactured in Tennessee for a domestic supply chain. The collection is designed for modern foodservice needs, offering PFAS-free, leak-resistant, and microwave-safe solutions suitable for hot and cold foods. The Farmer’s Fiber Retail Collection is crafted from renewable perennial fibers such as miscanthus and sorghum, grown using regenerative agricultural practices. These materials contribute to the line’s carbon-negative status. All products are certified compostable by BPI and meet ASTM compostability standards.

In brief: Collaborations and expansions

Gerhard Schubert and the Berlin-based Berndt+Partner Group packaging consultancy combined their expertise with the PCC. The new organization brings together experts in regulation, packaging design, materials, and automation technology. The aim of the PCC is to advise manufacturers on the development of sustainable packaging and to find viable solutions for implementation. The focus is on meeting the challenges of PPWR as well as other sustainability issues. The PCC can offer regulatory advice, packaging development, and machine feasibility — all from a single source. While the experts from bp Consultants clarify the PPWR and explain its impact on the respective packaging portfolio, Schubert evaluates the machinability of new packaging solutions, delivering automation for packaging processes.

Quantum Organics joined Circular Services, a private recycling and circular economy services provider in the US. Quantum brings expertise and new solutions for recycling food and green waste to Circular Services’ national footprint of material recovery facilities. Circular Services’ new operations in the Northeast provide end-to-end organic waste services: product de-packaging and destruction, mobile grinding and chipping, and organics transportation and processing. Complementing its focus on circularity, the business turns organic materials into consumer products, including electricity and bagged compost, mulch, and soil. With the addition of Quantum, Circular Services expands its capabilities for processing organics, which is said to be the largest category of materials in landfills.

3M joined the US-Joint Consortium, a strategic partnership of 12 semiconductor suppliers. The consortium drives research and development in next-generation semiconductor advanced packaging and back-end processing technologies anchored by a new facility in Silicon Valley, US. The consortium was founded in 2023 and led by Resonac, a Japan-based company in the semiconductor and electronics industry. The new US-JOINT Consortium R&D facility is expected to be unveiled this year in conjunction with a public launch event.

Coast Packing Company announced its plan for a new Edible Fats and Oils Refinery and Packaging Facility in Texas. The new facility is slated to open in June 2026. The facility will modernize operations and enhance efficiency. The facility, designed and built in partnership with Food Tech, a Boston-based company in food and beverage facility construction, will include several new components. The Refinery Building will be a 10,000-square-foot, four-level steel structure with insulated panels reaching 80 feet in height, dedicated to refining edible fats and oils. The Boiler House will be constructed of CMU Block, and the Tank Farm will feature twelve 30-foot-tall carbon steel tanks for storing raw materials delivered via a new rail siding. The Packaging and Warehouse Building will span 36,000 square feet and house packing operations, as well as a warehouse and office space.Südpack will showcase sustainable packaging concepts for fresh meat, cold cuts, and fish at CFIA.

In brief: Trade shows and awards

Südpack announced it would showcase its products at the 28th CFIA trade show in Rennes between March 4–6. Its products enable producers and packers alike to reduce the weight of each package and its environmental footprint. Südpack offers a range of thermoformable bottom webs, including both rigid and flexible films. For sustainable packaging of sliced sausage, ham, or cheese in thermoforming packaging, Südpack provides monomaterial solutions based on PP and PE, with certified recyclability of over 90%. A highlight for material reduction and recyclability is the next generation of PP- and PE-based flow packs. With Multifol, Südpack offers a combination of minimal material usage and maximum product protection. 

ProAmpac exhibited at MD&M West in California on February 4–5. The portfolio serves multiple sectors, including diagnostics, nonwovens, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, medical devices, and hygiene products. ProAmpac showcased its Moisture Protect MP-1000, Tyvek pouches, and sustainable high barriers. 

PLMA announced the winners of its first International Private Label Packaging Awards at its Packaging Conference on January 30 in The Hague, the Netherlands. Conducted as part of PLMA’s Salute to Excellence Awards programme, nine awards were presented in five categories: Best Packaging Design, Best Sustainable Packaging, Best Convenience Packaging, Best Performance Excellence, and Best Innovation in Packaging. Entries were evaluated by a panel of experts in design, sales, marketing, and sustainability. Products were judged based on aesthetics, consumer engagement, clarity of message, boldness, innovation, and brand identity.