Charter Next sifts through new technology to find ways to boost sustainability

Chicago — Charter Next Generation may be one of the biggest film makers in the United States, but even with it's market strength it struggles to cut through the clutter and find the best emerging technologies.

In a market where sustainability is becoming more and more of an expectation for customers, CNG realizes the importance of identifying innovative approaches to film making at a time when plastics are under increasing pressure.

"We think it's the right thing to do, and we see sustainability as a significant driver of our business. Flexible packaging is fantastically efficient and has some significant drawbacks," John Garnett, senior vice president of sustainability, technology and innovation at CNG.

"It has challenges, especially at end of life. So as we can look at the attributes in flexible packaging that are challenging and start to improve those, either ourselves or with partners, that helps us. That helps the industry," he said.

But wanting to develop new flexible packaging that checks sustainability boxes, and actually identifying viable solutions, are two separate matters.

"Part of the way that we approach the space is we make a lot of flexible packaging using a lot of different materials, but we use a lot of polyethylene in our films. We don't assume that that's the only solution. We want to explore these new solutions and be ready to also use them where they work," Garnett said.

At the recent Pack Expo in Chicago, CNG was touting two alternatives to traditional plastics, one made from greenhouse gases and the other using seaweed. These are technologies developed by other firms but approaches CNG believes can have a significant impact on film sustainability.

New Light Technologies Inc. of Huntington, Beach, Calif., has developed an approach that uses greenhouse gases and air to create a thermoplastic material branded as Aircarbon that is carbon negative to use.

"It fits our ethos as a company to push the envelope for novel, sustainable founded solutions. We've long driven multiple pillars of sustainability. It could be recyclable formats, it could be the use of PCR [post-consumer resin], it could be the lightweighting of material. This, for us, is another horizon of carbon reduction. It makes a lot of sense and falls within our sustainability strategy," said Neil Weisensel, director of marketing of consumer and industrial at CNG.

Sway Innovation Co. of San Leandro, Calif., meanwhile, uses seaweed to create bioplastics aimed at replacing traditional fossil fuel-based polymers.

CNG has processed material from both companies into new films and is bullish about their futures. CNG has even invested in New Light.

"If you think about the biopolymer space, there's a lot of activity going on, a lot of new companies, a lot of smoke and mirrors in terms of value propositions, but also a lot of notable companies that are doing really innovative work," said Apurva Shah, vice president of strategy and customer development at Chicago-based CNG.

"It's a massive undertaking just to cut through the noise and identify the ones you want to make a bet on. ... We try to bet on the ones that have momentum, have excitement, have thought about the technology in all the ways that we feel good about selling it with them. And then you run the trials, right? And then you kill probably half of them because they don't work machine-wise and all that," he said.

"Then you get to a product that actually gets to the finish line. So in the biopolymer space we probably look at 25 to 50 different companies' materials a year. And I would say less than five probably make it through all those evaluation steps," Shah said.

CNG believes it is important to partner with emerging firms the company believes in to help provide support and bring products to a wider market.

"The other thing that I want to just highlight on the early stage partnerships is that's a really hard ramp for startups," said Garnett, because moving from laboratory and pilot scale to full manufacturing is challenging. "We're doing this in spaces that we feel compelled and committed from a sustainability perspective to helping here bring new materials to market because we think they are viable, and we think they are necessary in the packaging space."

CNG also benefits by working with emerging companies, the men said.

"For us, two out of the three words in our name is Next Generation. It's all about extending your leadership. If you're going to focus on one thing, you also want to be the best at the hardest stuff and the easiest. And so for us, this is how we're going to push the company to operate in the evolving market," Shah said.

"We think there's enormous appetite for disruptive tech. I think 10 years ago, the sustainability movement, you had to take a solution all the way to the finish line before somebody was even willing to test. I think we're just in a very different space now where big brands, small brands, they're willing to look at things that are highly disruptive and highly different than what they're doing today. And they're willing to have a pretty open mind," he said. "We just want to be that partner."

Garnett said that CNG's work in developing packaging with alternative resins is supported by industry trends, including interest from both consumers and brand owners. "It also represents an organizational shift that we made a year plus ago to put more emphasis on new technology, to understanding and leading in sustainability and advanced materials."