The insatiable curiosity surrounding the Millennial generation (current age 18-35) is certainly not a new topic – but the importance of this complex demographic is growing, especially for grocery retailers. An apparent trend has surfaced, leading fickle (but abundant) Millennial dollars away from traditional grocery stores and into the hands of farmer’s markets, online and specialty retailers. A combination of factors, including health, status, convenience, freshness and ethics – all play an important role in these consumers’ purchase decisions.

Waitrose announces a target to cut its packaging in half by 2016. The retailer has announced three major changes to its product ranges that will help achieve this target, together saving nearly 100 metric tons of packaging each year.

Xpedx, a business-to-business distribution company in North America and a business of International Paper (IP), is pursuing a new set of sustainability goals in 2013 that will advance its leadership role in offering sustainable solutions to its customers in printing, packaging and facilities supplies.

Cartons are highly recyclable and are a growing commodity. In the first quarter of 2013, almost 1.8 million new households gained access to carton recycling, ensuring that over 50 million U.S. households now have access to carton recycling.

I recently read a report from Canadean about reusable beverage containers that really opened my eyes to the practice of reusing beverage bottles that I hadn’t much considered before.

In recognition of Earth Day, wineries located in British Columbia with a demonstrated environmental commitment have been recognized by TricorBraun WinePak, North America’s largest supplier of wine bottles, and Verallia North America, the leading U.S. manufacturer of wine bottles.

PepsiCo, Inc. announces that the company has achieved its previously stated goal of partnering to provide access to safe water to three million people in developing countries by the end of 2015. Given the company's strong progress to date, PepsiCo also announced a new commitment to provide access to safe water to an additional three million people over the next three years through continued partnerships with water organizations, doubling the company's original goal.

In conjunction with the Earth Day 2013 (April 22nd), an international event that mobilizes people to take action to protect the Earth’s environment, the Flexible Packaging Association has produced a presentation titled Flexible Packaging: Contributing to Sustainability.

Avery Dennison Corporation announced today that it has formalized a company-wide policy to promote responsible paper sourcing and procurement. The policy will be available in the Reports and Downloads section of the company’s sustainability website.

ConAgra Foods, Inc., announced today the winners of its 2013 Sustainable Development Awards, an internal awards program that drives and rewards innovative approaches to sustainability and produces tangible business results. The 90 entries collectively: