TricorBraun gives MeadWestvaco a Strategic Supplier Award
MeadWestvaco has received a Strategic Supplier Award from TricorBraun. TricorBraun distributes a number of MWV packaging products targeted toward the home and garden, beauty and personal care, and healthcare industries. To qualify for the award, suppliers must achieve near-perfect scores on TricorBraun's supplier scorecard and measure up against hundreds of other suppliers. MWV also received a Strategic Supplier Award in 2010.

Fibre Box Assn. co-sponsors 2012 SuperCorrExpo
The TAPPI/AICC SuperCorrExp has announced that the Fibre Box Association will be a non-financial co-sponsor of the 2012 show. SuperCorrExpo, the corrugated-focused exposition that occurs only once every four years, is scheduled for Oct. 1-4, 2012, at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. The Fibre Box Association is a non-profit organization that aims to bring together North American manufacturers to improve the overall well-being of the industry.

Perpetual Recycling Solutions to open food-grade rPET recycling facility
Plastics Today reports that Perpetual Recycling Solutions plans to open a $30 million food-grade rPET recycling facility in Richmond, IN. The plant will produce more than 110 million pounds of rPET flake annually for customers throughout the U.S. The company makes post-consumer recycled PET (rPET) resin, and it currently serves the plastic packaging industry from its affiliated company, Pure Tech Plastics, in New York City. The plant, for which the firm will begin repurposing a 100000-sq-ft facility in mid-February, reportedly will become one of the largest recycling facilities of its kind and make the company the largest producer of food grade rPET Flake in North America.

Packaged spice giant to open retail destination in Baltimore
Packaged spice producer McCormick and Co. Inc. has announced plans to open McCormick World of Flavors this summer at Baltimore's popular Harborplace tourist attraction. Plans for the facility includes interactive and educational displays, ability to create a "personal flavor profile," learn about the origin of spices, and watch celebrity chefs give cooking demonstrations. The 3,800-sq.-ft center will showcase a number of the company's brands, including McCormick, Grill Mates, Lawry's, Zatarain's and Old Bay.

SPE, RAPRA sponsor video contest for plastics students
Registration is open for the RAPid Impact "Pitch Your Science" student video competition, co-sponsored by the Society of Plastics Engineers and the Rubber and Plastics Research Association Ltd. The contest is designed to help students in post-secondary plastics programs develop skills needed to accelerate the commercialization of their products, and explain technical concepts to a layman audience. Entrant must submit a video of no more than three minutes. The deadline for registration is May 31, 2012. Winners will be announced on or about August 1, 2012. The first-place winner will receive $5,000 and attend the Global Polymer Innovation Expo as a guest of RAPRA, including free registration and up to $1,000 travel expenses.
 

Clean Systems adds auto-packaging lines
Car cleaning products provider Cleaning Systems Inc. plans to add a pair of automated packaging lines at its De Pere, WI plant. The company reports the lines are expected to quadruple the output capacity to meet an increased demand for products in its Lustra Professional Car Care Products division, including Ultraflex concentrated car wash products. The company touts Ultraflex as a green product with phosphate-less formulation and sustainable packaging

Klockner Pentaplast breaks ground on Chinese production facility
The Klöckner Pentaplast Group has begun construction for its first manufacturing facility in China. Located 80 km west of Shanghai in the Suzhou Industrial Park in Suzhou, China, the new site will produce packaging films for the growing domestic Chinese market. The company reports that first phase of production capacity will focus on transverse-direction oriented shrink-label films, used primarily for full- or partial-body shrink-sleeve applications. The company reports that once operational, the 12,000-sq-m manufacturing site will house advanced production equipment, high-tech production control systems, and a research and development laboratory, and will increase the company's global shrink-films capacity by 6,000 metric tons.

Tetra Pak opens packaging material factory in Finland
Tetra Pak has opened a new packaging material factory in Imatra, Finland. With a planned capacity of 500 million packages per year, the facility will expand the company's gable top capacity for Northern Europe. The company reports that the laminated paper board used to produce the packaging material comes from Imatra paper mills situated 6 km from the new factory; the relatively short distance will help the company reduce carbon emissions.
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