Synaptic Connections Newsletter 2019 Week#18

April 29, 2019 www.Synapticpackaging.com Image - "Wild Flower", by Joshua Fahning

Week#18 of 2019 Good morning and I hope you are off to a great week!  I'll be in Miami, FL this week presenting at an investor conference called Sustainopia.  If you are in the area, come on out and join us.

This week, we are starting a journey to look at emerging technologies.  Last week we summarized the three big platforms that we feel have the potential for disruptive innovation to advance Sustainability.  The first on that list was

Development and Growth in Natural and Renewable Raw Materials

This strategy can be summarized in brief.... grow the raw materials, harvest them, seek to use them in their most natural state, down-cycle them for maximized economic value, then safely return them to the earth (preferably with organic value).

This vision aligns to the life-cycle as presented to us in nature.  The vision challenges science to be inspired by, and emulate, the model of our living planet.  It is humbling in the simplicity, and yet richly complex in the execution. 

At Synaptic, we are motivated by the challenge of this inspirational goal.  Anyone who is actively developing novel innovations using natural and renewable materials can tell you that the processing characteristics are significantly different compared to synthetic materials.  The manufacturing science of natural materials often takes a higher level of sophistication to function well in high speed, high volume converting.  That, of course, is a general statement, however something you should expect going into a novel development project converting from synthetic to natural materials.

Drilling a level deeper into novel innovations with natural, and renewable materials - we see strong advances in the field of bio-polymers, emerging fiber materials, green chemistries, molded fiber technologies, lignin technologies, paper solutions, and algae to name a few.  As we previously discussed in the characteristics of Disruptive Innovations, these break-through technologies typically create a shock-wave, opening new space for innovation above and around them.  To that end, we see tremendous processing, equipment, and new consumer product innovation emerging from the growth of these technologies. 

For the sake of brevity and respect for your time, we will continue this dialogue on Natural and Renewable Raw Materials next week.  Have a great week and enjoy the news articles below!

Packaging Sustainability//

• Seventh Generation - reduces plastic content by 60%

• Unilever, Hellmann’s Mayonnaise - by 2020 all US jars will be made from recycled plastics

• EU to Ban single use plastics by 2021

• Plastics in North Atlantic Ocean has tripled since 1960

• Research advances on vitimer, a glass like plastic, that chemically can be broken down to base components to improve recycling

Sustainable Economics//

• Global sustainability investing estimated at $30 trillion dollars in 2018

• Rockefeller Foundation seeking to close investment gap to address UN Sustainable Development Goals

• Danone North America celebrates one year anniversary as a Certified B-Corp

• Lower interest rates make for a good time to buy solar

Emerging Energy//

• Smithfield Foods partners with Dominion Energy to capture Renewable Natural Gas from hog farms

• Hormel Foods to install solar energy to generate 1.2M KWH/yr, apx. 15% of factories electrical consumption

• Facebook works with Dominion Energy to install 20 Mega-Watt solar in Virginia & North Carolina

• US Navy sponsors 53 Mega-Watt solar installation in Tennessee

Upcoming Trade Events//

April

28-01 Sustainopia, Miami, FL

May 5-8 May, PaperCon, Indianapolis, IN 6-9 May, WasteExpo, LasVegas, NV 7-10 May, HOW Design, Chicago, IL 13-19 May, ISTA Forum, Denver, CO 21-22 May, Private Label Manufacturers Association, Amsterdam

The purpose of this newsletter is to stimulate innovative thoughts and constructive dialogue through the lens of sustainability.  New subscribers can send an e-mail to the link below to sign-up. 

Contact Us

gary.robinson@synapticpackaging.com