From the opening keynote to a special panel discussion on materials for standup pouches, sustainability and the future of flexible packaging recyclability were two topics discussed to at least some extent in nearly every presentation at the recent Global Pouch West.

Americans throw out about 40 percent of the food they produce annually, the equivalent of $165 billion. When one of every six Americans lacks food security, the amount of food discarded every year is even more startling.

Flexible Packaging recently caught up with Dave Muchorski, director of marketing at Testing Machines Inc., for an update on what’s new in the field and how coefficient of friction can impact printing and converting operations.

December's Roundtable is with Scott Fuller, CMD; Fabio Dacò, Elba; James F. Pease, Sun Centre USA; Jim Russell, Modern Manufacturing Services, LLC; Shoji Tsuruta, Totani America; and Sanjay Amin, Mamata Enterprises.

Imagine a future where technology makes it possible to verify the shelf life of your favorite products, donate to charity by tapping your smartphone on the sleeve around a bottle of water or access recipe videos and full nutritional analysis from a pouch of microwaveable rice.

SKU consolidation, especially with packaging components, is a popular topic as warehouse space is in high demand and streamlining supply chains is a constant goal.

Global Pouch West returns to the heart of West Coast packaging activity in the fourth year of this growing conference focused on flexible packaging in the Western states.