Ever grumble at the seemingly wasteful layers of paper and plastic stuff shrink-wrapped around an item that takes forever to get into? Michigan State University is fixing to do something about it, with the creation of its Center for Packaging Innovation and Sustainability, and Coca-Cola has stepped up with the first grant of $400,000 to get it started.
Plans for the new center were revealed Jan. 27 at the college’s School of Packaging’s Packaging Executives Forum at the Kellogg Center on campus.
People involved with packaging are quick to note that simply reducing layers of wrapping may not be sustainable particularly if the product inside is thus damaged. The center will serve as a think tank for packaging innovation and sustainability as well as a research and education hub to measure and reduce packaging’s environmental impact.
The center will involve the MSU Colleges of Agriculture and Natural Resources (School of Packaging), Engineering and the Eli Broad College of Business (Department of Supply Chain Management). It will work with industry and serve as a bridge between corporate and packaging professionals and university scientists, says Satish Udpa, dean of the MSU College of Engineering.
For Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co., the center is a good fit.
“Our company has set ambitious environment goals to not only deliver quality products but to also have minimal impact on the environment,” says Ingrid Saunders Jones, senior-vice president of global community connections for The Coca-Cola Co.
Source: MSU
Gretchen Cochran, Innovations & Jobs editor, may be reached here.
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