The Gang Run Just Turned Green

(PRESS RELEASE) Sustainability. Today it’s part of every brand’s core mission and a must-have for package design. The proof is easy to find. Just look at all the consumer product companies that are marketing their Sustainability 2025 programs; everyone from AB InBev and Kohls to beauty giants like Estee Lauder. Who is the author of this mega trend? The consumer.

A recent blog from packaging print leader, Rohrer , had this to report: “Futerra asked 1,000 consumers in the US and UK, ‘Would you like brands to help you be more environmentally friendly and ethical in your daily life? 89% of respondents said this is something they do want from brands.”

According to a piece in Forbes , Neilson’s 2015 Global Corporate Sustainability Report showed that “66% of consumers would spend more on a product if it came from a sustainable brand.” Today, that number has increased exponentially. In fact, a survey by Horizon Media’s Finger on the Pulse had this to say: “81% of Millennials expect companies to declare their corporate citizenship publicly. They also prefer brands that allow them to reuse or recycle the goods they consume.”

The problem for brands has been the cost of printing their packaging. In The Long Hard Road to Sustainable Packaging, a contributor says this, “Transitioning to more sustainable packaging takes time. Changing a can to a pouch requires a completely new production line, as well as the need to prove that the quality of the shelf life, product, food safety and how it travels are not adversely affected.”

Rohrer gives brands an affordable way to print sustainable packaging.
On Earth Day, 2020, which falls on April 22nd, Rohrer Corporation, a leading retail packaging provider with specialties in carded packaging, thermoformed blisters, clamshells and folding cartons, will launch ecoCombo™, the packaging industry’s first post-consumer recycled combo program.

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In the words of Marketing VP, Sarah Carson, “ecoCombo™ is part of our ezCombo™ program. Our packaging partners take one of two tracks. Dedicated, where they are the only customer running on our line at a time, and our ezCombo™ program, where partners share set-up and tooling with other brands who are running common quantities. The advantages of combo packaging are speed and significant cost savings…up to thousands on every job.”

“With ecoCombo™,” she adds, “brands can now get the advantages of shared printing or thermoforming, but with sustainable materials and without a huge price increase. ecoCombo™ is highly flexible, fast, and ideal for brands testing new products because of its low point of entry.”

Rohrer’s ecoCombo™ system groups customers on print runs starting at 5,000 pieces. The plastic blisters are made of 50% post-consumer recycled material that comes from community recycling programs. The board is a minimum of 65% post-consumer and post-industrial waste.

ecoCombo™ can accommodate a full spectrum of categories, such as personal care products like tooth brushes and razors, toys, electronics, pens, batteries and more. Says Carson, “We give each of our ecoCombo™ partners a ‘Sustainable Packaging’ seal that they can place on their package, so important to the growing number of environmentally-conscious consumers.”

The ecoCombo™ solution also offers these features:

• Internal and third-party testing for quality
• Ability to run on current production lines with existing heat seal equipment
• PCR thermoformed blisters and PCW blister cards and inserts
• Increases speed and reduces start-up times and set-up costs