I was at the Packaging Summit in Chicago last week . .

and here are a few highlights from the show which is presented by the IOPP. If you have never attended the Packaging Summit, this is their fourth year. I would have to say that the show is well attended by a nice cross section of contract packagers, label and container companies, plastic molders and design firms. While not a big show, it's worth attending and there are conferences too; enough to keep you busy for a day or two. Here are some companies that I thought stood out at the show for whatever reason.

Unless you have been living under a rock, the magic word in packaging is Sustainability and I learned that this word has different meanings to different people. If you are into plastic molding, I guess that molding components in a plastic that degrades faster in a landfill is somehow better than regular plastic that degrades slower. Degrading into what? The bottom line is that I saw the "S" word in nearly each and every booth.

An honorable mention goes to The Drake Company who developed a way to reduce the amount of plastic is in packaging in their new Lite-Pak. I would have liked to have seen a smaller footprint on the actual pack and there have been environmental disposal issues with the compact fluorescent light bulbs they were using as a packaging example.  

MeadWestVaco was there displaying a similar product called "Natralock", but with a goldfish instead of the light bulb in the package. Their literature is full of the new math that will get you props at Wal-Mart. (See my blog from April 10)

By far the coolest thing that I saw at the show was a device (actually pictures of the device) made by Recycletech that grinds up and melts down styrofoam waste 90:1. Here is a video of it in action. I know that styrofoam is a huge problem in landfills and I took the brochure to my local recycling center for consideration. 

Another company that had a neat product was KW Plastics that makes paint containers directly from recycled plastic drinking containers. 

MonoSol makes hot and cold water soluable bags that are edible. (Or may be edible in the near future, I didn't get a clear answer). This is a really a cool innovation. Imagine dropping a sealed teabag into hot water or some kind of iced tea mix directly into your beverage. then you drink it all. If I see this in the market in three years, I want 5%! Even the non edible bags are being used right now for dishwashing soap. The best packaging is packaging you don't throw away, no?

Something that I really never considered was having a company build a leased packaging plant right next door to your factory. What's sustainable about that? Well, zero trucking for one and less factory waste. Also, you could design this new factory to be energy efficient from the beginning and help the local economy to boot. Aldelano Packaging Corporation Can do just that. 

Mold-Rite plastics makes a really clever (and patented) medicine bottle cap that has a pointer on top that advances every time you open the bottle called the Dial Vial. While this isn't actually sustainable, It might help you sustain yourself if you forgot whether you took your heart medication today.

The Outlook Group (a label printer) was showing pressure sensitive labels that are supplied on a ultra thin "microliner" This liner is claimed to be 100% recyclable and allows the label roll to hold up to 30% more labels. Since the label liner is wasted 100% after application, this is a good way to minimize this waste stream. 

SunChemical was also at the show showing some James Bond style printed security products that glow or change color depending on if you rub them or expose them to certain kinds of light. Since counterfeiting is such a big trend nowadays, they can help you with a conventionally printed solution. 

Note that these observations are my own and I have no stake in any of the companies above nor can I prove that the claims they make are true. For some reason, typing this makes me feel better.

One last thing: Pushing the envelope; the Coollid company was there offering a patented "Revolution in Coffee lids." that has a temperature reducing chamber in the lid which I thought was clever, but seemed to me overly complex and used at least twice the plastic as compared to a standard coffee lid. 

Unfortunately, the booth was unmanned when I walked by, so I was not able to try their product. If you want a chuckle, their home page has an infomercial-like movie on it complete with people burning themselves and dumping coffee on their laptops.