Synaptic Connections Newsletter 2019 Week#04

January 21, 2019 www.Synapticpackaging.com Image - Summit photo, Banff, Canada

Week#4 of 2019 - Greetings!  I hope you had a restful weekend and enjoyed some good football.  A bit of a cold snap across the USA this weekend.  Those who enjoy winter sports should be happy with all the fresh snow.  In the news this week - there is a lot of fun innovation happening in the field of automotive as car companies move to compete with electric vehicles.  Personally, I found the article on the Harley electric motorcycles enjoyable.  Closer to the core business interest of this newsletter - the article on the 'ghost' restaurants, the metal 3D printing, and the vertical farming are all early insights on emerging innovation on our periphery.  Future agriculture and food delivery have always been tied closely to packaging innovation.  These developments continue to fuel our need for innovation.  Have a great week!  Cheers, Gary

Innovation//

• VW Invests $800MM to build electric vehicles in Tennessee

• 2019 Harley Davidson to debut electric motorcycles

• New patent on volumetric, additive, metal 3D printing - in a single step

• Food Tech - Autonomous ‘Ghost’ restaurants for automated delivery of prepared foods

• Vertical farming - Bower has raised $90MM in funding to expand vertical farming operations

Packaging Sustainability//

• Summary of 30 major brand’s eco pledges

• Washington State exploring ban on PFAS fluoro-chemistry in food packaging

• Albuquerque, NM considering a ban on single use plastics at retail

• The Guardian newspaper in UK to start using potato starch films to replace plastics

Emerging Energy//

• Germany closes its last coal mine

• US Electric vehicle sales up 81% in 2018

• A carbon economy - Co2 emissions climb as economy grows

Contact Us

gary.robinson@synapticpackaging.com