Chemicals in food packaging materials finally addressed by Burger King | Valdamark Direct 

by | Jun 19, 2021 | Scoop.it

The CEO of Restaurant Brands has announced that alternative to toxic PFAS are being tested over the coming months. 

More details will be shared during that time but it many public health advocates are urging Burger King and it’s parent company to act speedily and disclose the full list of ingredients and and those of the proposed alternatives. 

Restaurant Brands is the parent company of several big brands including Burger King, Tim Hortons & Popeyes. It is the first time that they have, at least publicly looked to alternative food packaging materials in order to avoid toxic Polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) substances. 

Why are PFAS chemicals currently used in food packaging materials?

PFAS chemicals are non-stick substances that are used primarily in moisture barrier packaging to prevent food leaking through. Restaurant Brands are looking at several alternatives to avoid having to use PFAS chemicals whilst still achieving the leak barrier required for their food packaging to function well. 

The Tim Hortons brand specifically has developed and tested several PFAS free alternatives during 2020 including a vegetable based additive which shows promise. 

The announcement of a roadmap towards toxic free packaging has not been greeted with universal applause however. The mind the store campaign & toxic free future groups released a joint statement that said they were ‘disappointed’ to hear that Burger King or Restaurant Brands has as of yet adopted a policy to either phase out or completely eliminate PFAS products.

They were however encouraged to hear alternatives were being investigated and that findings would be shared in the near future. 

The view from the mind the store campaign is that many of Burger King’s competitors have already committed to do this by the end of 2021 and they should be ‘no different’. They are also keen to observe that Burger Kind is not simply replacing one toxic chemical additive for another. 

They also found that Burger King already serves food in PFAS-free wrappers strongly suggesting that they have already found viable alternatives. 

Toxic free future believes Burger King ‘owes it to their customers’  to deliver food in a safe packaging. 

PFAS chemicals in food packaging : A background

In 2021 a report published by the mind the store campaign and toxic free future found that major brands in the fast food space like Burger King, McDonalds and Wendy’s were likely to serve toxic PFAS chemical’s in many of their most popular choices. The study sampled six restaurant’s and as of writing this article only BK has not yet committed to ban PFAS substances in its food packaging. 

The study also found PFAS traces in 100% of its breast milk samples indicating that PFAS do build up in humans when consumed over a period of time. 

PFAS chemical are often referred to as ‘forever chemicals’ as they do not break down in the environment over time. 

They are specifically used to generate stain, grease and water resistance in food packaging as well as carpets, upholstery and clothing. Scientists has established some well documented links between PFAS exposure and a catalogue of health problems. The chemicals tend to migrate quite easily out of the packaging carrier. Even following disposal of the items toxic exposure can continue. Other evidence shows these chemicals can even find their way back to people through drinking water, air and food. 

Read the full article at: saferchemicals.org

Mocean Wave Machine Generates Impressive Power From Wave Energy | Valdamark Direct

by | Jun 18, 2021 | Scoop.it

This is quite something. A clean energy Co. from Scotland has generated power for the first time testing it’s prototype wave machine. 

Mocean Energy commented that the wider prospect of generating clean power from sea waves moved a step closer as their aptly named Blue X prototype was trialled for wave energy production by the EMEC (European Marine Energy Centre) in Orkney. 

The Blue X machine weighs in at over 38 tonnes and is 20 meters long. It uses a 4G connection and operate wirelessly as a standalone operation. The 4G connection also enable commands and programmable data to be sent from the shore. 

The machine had to be towed from Kirkwall to EMEC’s Scapa Flow testing grounds where it was moored and commissioned for preliminary sea trials successfully. 

Wave Energy Promise Allows For Further Testing

During this summer the Blue X platform will be relocated to EMEC’s sophisticated grid connected test site located at Billia Croo just west of Orkney. Here it will be exposed to more harsh sea conditions and undergo more rigorous testing. 

The moment was described as “an exciting milestone” by Cameron McNatt, Managing Director, Mocean Energy. 

The Blue X rig was able to generate its first readable amount of power and went on through the weekend to fully charge its battery cells. 

Moving on to the second phase in Scape will mean comprehensive testing of the units power production capabilities whilst comparing these results to the company’s own numerical forecasts. 

Processes like towing, installation and removal will also be tested during this ‘at sea’ phase. 

Wave Machine Technology For Offshore Operations

The technology used in the development of Blue X is ideally suited to offshore operations, directly impacting and contributing to companies net zero goals. 

In the longer term it is thinking that ‘grid type’ set ups of these machines will be able to tap oceans more effectively to generate clean energy. 

Looking forward to 2022 the wave pioneers at Mocean Energy plan to hook Blue X up to a subsea battery in order to power a remotely operated underwater vehicle. This has potentially big implications for the technology use to power sea faring devices used offshore. 

Wave Energy Scotland is supporting the deployment and demonstration as well as the wider testing programme with a £3.3 million investment through their novel wave energy converter programme. 

Blue X was fabricated by Fife based co. AJS production and painted with VCI corrosion coating by Rybay Corrosion Services.  

Read the full article at: www.heraldscotland.com

Learning From Brands Like Ben & Jerry’s, Newman’s Own & Burt’s Bee’s | Valdamark Direct

by | Jun 17, 2021 | Scoop.it

You know some Heroes really live up to their reputation when you meet them. The ‘never meet your heroes’ mantra isn’t always true. Some can be just as good close up as they can be from a distance. 

Who are your heroes though? 

If your a marketing guy or girl brands can very much be heroes too. Whether they are generous ones that give back to the communities they serve, promote diversity or commit to environmentally friendly measures they can be something to look up to. 

Brand Heroes Tell The Best Stories

From a marketing perspective story telling in one of the most powerful tools in the marketeers toolbox as it appeals directly to receivers emotions and empathetic tendencies. 

On the journey to developing a ‘hero brand’ there are two main ways to tell that story – 

  • The Brands Origin – very effective if the brand started out from humble beginnings or as the underdog.
  • The Hero – make the brand the hero character in it’s journey.

Aside from straightforward marketing my personal favourite is the journey from underdog to hero. It may seem cliché but most brands do not start out this way. Many already existed as brands from the beginning, whilst others had funding a plenty or filled a gap in the market without really having to make any true sacrifice. 

The problem is none of the above make for a very good story to tell!

Audiences want that brand they can connect and empathise with from the get go. 

One brand that comes to mind here is actually a person. JK Rowling. It is well known that she came from humble origins and has built her personal around this classis underdog story. She was a working mother for many years without any kind of remote success as an author. She would pen stories on her lunch breaks, whilst travelling by train or late at night before bed. 

The audience was able to perceive how far she had come in her hero’s journey to successful author. This made her a hero as her own brand. Do you get it? It’s quite something when you think of it in these terms I think. 

The other way to cement a brand as the hero of it’s own journey is to emphasize the hurdles it has overcome in it’s storytelling. A classic here is Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream. The two founders started out taking a mail order course in ice cream making and before they long they were showing up on the radar of a much larger competitor, Haagen Dazs. The ice cream giant actually tried to oust the smaller Ben & Jerry’s brand from the supermarket shelves which resulted in a court battle. 

Pair this classic David v Goliath story with a focus on charity work, avoiding growth hormones and activist work for various causes and you have a winning recipe for a hero’s journey in storytelling. 

Branding Through Action 

Of course you cannot brand a company as a hero if their actions do not back it up. You have walk the walk as well as talk the talk. 

This is an important factor since 86% of consumers state authenticity as a determining factor when deciding if to support a brand. Superman would not receive much support if all he did was claim to save people rather that do it right? 

These actions can vary drastically. The takeaway message here is not to ignore the small things. Many will donate to charity, here Newman’s Own is a great example. They have given a whopping $550 million plus to charity since 1982. 

Despite the financial side of things though I appreciate that it all still ties back into emotional connection. The promises made fit in very much with their own customers values and then following through with them. Here Burt’s Bee’s is a good example. 

Burt’s have long made much headwind from their identity with their ‘greater good’ philosophy which states they will only use products that are good for the environment, beneficial to the consumer and good for the company. Basically good for everyone and everything. Over time the brand has really followed through on this making good with regards to the ingredients they use, the packaging and the focus on bringing their target demographic along for the journey with them. 

To conclude the main point to takeaway for those looking to start a brand is alignment. You can create that hero brand as long as you stick to the promises you make and align your actions with your values. 

Read the full article at: www.entrepreneur.com

Mum Expresses Safety Concerns Over Marijuana Edibles Packaging | Valdamark Direct 

by | Jun 17, 2021 | Scoop.it

Children accidently ingesting toxic or dangerous substances is nothing new, but the explosion of appealing marijuana edibles has led to a greatly increased risk of THC ingestion. 

This most recent case involves Florida Mom Morgan McCoy who is calling for clearer packaging of marijuana edibles after her 6 year old daughter accidently ingested a gummy bear laced with Marijuana’s active compound THC. 

Morgan recalls that the unornate incident occurred on memorial day in Jacksonville. A friend attending a party with her had jumped in a pool fully clothed unwittingly having a pack of Hawaiian Punch THC sweets in their pocket. He was however an fully legal medical marijuana patient but when he ran inside to change cloths accidently left the supercharged candy on a dresser draw. 

Marijuana Edibles Packaging Appeal

McCoy states “she came across the bag and like any six year old would, ate the candy”.

During the festivities some of the kids went for a nap, including McCoy’s daughter, but when she could not be woken much later on alarm bells started to ring. 

They were in for a bad night. 

The child couldn’t open her eyes and was not responding to stimulus. It was when she started to seize the panic stricken mother decided to call 911. Upon arrival at hospital she was put under immediate observation but all doctors can do in these cases is monitor and give the patient fluids. There are no effective treatments to reverse or inhibit the Psychoactive effects of cannabis. You kind of just need to sit it out. 

McCoy was up all night with her husband watching her daughters breaths per minute reduce sporadically followed by sudden spikes in heart rate. 

Following an overnight stay at the hospital luckily her daughter recovered. She commented that the next day her daughters urine was a strange brown colour interpreting this as a negative effect on kidneys. 

McCoy is now seeking tougher regulations and controls on marijuana edibles packaging. 

Marijuana Edibles Safety

McCoy has reached out to multiple legislators urging them to review marijuana edibles safety with a particular emphasis on packaging. 

She claims many parents are standing by idly whilst companies target kids with deadly doses of THC. The company she claims is guilty of negligence and child endangerment on a national scale but many who do not recognise the legitimacy of medical marijuana will ask questions as to weather these products even be in a child’s surrounding environment at all? 

Read the full article at: thegrio.com

Packaging Design For New Soft Drink Fantola Is Perfect For Generation Z | Valdamark Direct

by | Jun 16, 2021 | Scoop.it

We love a new packaging design that makes you smile. 

Aqualife is a new line of drinks packaging designs by branding agency Svoe Mnenie. Featuring an unmistakable bight turquoise front and centre it certainly stands out amongst both established and indie niche. 

The illustrations are somewhat inviting I think you will agree. For us we were transported to a hot summers day with that feeling you get when you crack open a cold can of thirst quenching beverage. You know, instant refreshment!

The design of the cans is bubbly and bright, somehow conveying the look of the liquid inside. It’s clever. 

Packaging Design for Younger Audiences

Aqualife is already a market leader in the Russian soft drinks sector. Being a major player they wanted to widen their product portfolio to include a brand with specific appeal to the younger, target demographic. 

This resulted in a comprehensive design consultation with the Svoe Mnenie design agency, ultimately deciding on the Fantola design concept. 

The different designs feature many fantasy based images. Our favourite is the Horse turned Unicorn. 

Each image was produced using a collage technique corresponding to the main motive of each marketing campaign. 

This approach was further enhanced with each drinks unusual taste & flavour combinations

We think the agency has done a great job in developing what can be considered a unique, one of a kind soft drinks brand with awesome, stand out product packaging. 

Fantola has become a by word on social media and is certainly enjoying a positive product launch. 

Read the full article at: www.thedieline.com

Spider Silk & The Plastic Packaging Problem | Valdamark Direct 

by | Jun 16, 2021 | Scoop.it

We all know plastics are very useful materials used in nearly every part of our lives, they have contributed greatly to the formation of our modern world. 

However we also know that the unprecedented amount used in production over recent years can caused serious unbalance and damage to the environment around us. In fact packaging alone contributed a whopping 46% out of 340 million overall tonnes of plastic waste generated on earth in 2018. 

Plastic recycling has increased enormously over recent years however the majority used today are single use and neither recyclable or biodegradable. Pair this with the simple fact that the global demand for food will double by 2050 and you have a recipe for a problem that will get much worse, much more quickly. 

At present it is usually poorer countries in Africa that hold the burden of waste disposal for us in the West, the pressure they are already under will of course increase in the coming years. 

In order to meet these challenges we need more sustainable packaging materials that are naturally biodegradable and if necessary can easily be recycled.

Spider Silk and Plant Based Sustainable Packaging : A lesson from Nature

Researchers at the University of Cambridge have discovered an innovative way to produce plastic from abundant and sustainable plant proteins. Inspired by the spider silk ( weaved by spiders when they produce their web ) these packaging films function in a similar way to traditional plastics, but can be readily composted at home. 

Types of Plastics Packaging 

Using the food packaging market as an example we typically see both synthetic and non-biodegradable plastics used in film constructions. These include PET (polyethylene terephthalate), PS (Polystyrene) and CPET (Crystalline Polyethylene Terephthalate).

Some mechanical and chemical processes do already exist mainly for the disposal of PET but it is a little known fact that despite all the West recycling initiatives and efforts the vast majority of plastic packaging is still sent to landfills. This is exacerbated by the inconvenient truth that PET can take hundreds of years to decompose and is certainly not biodegradable. Unfortunately the damage done to eco systems in that time can be severe. 

Enter Plant Based Plastics  

Alternatively there a some biodegradable plant based plastics that can provide real world, viable alternatives to traditional plastics. These include PLA (Polylactic acid), PBS (Polybutylene Succinate), PCL (Polycaprolactone) and various PHA’s (Polyhydroxyalkanoates). Each is much more environmentally friendly when compared to non-renewable polymers, coming from renewable sources and being fully recyclable & compostable. Generally speaking though these plant based plastics are not currently as robust as their synthetic counterparts. 

The new Cambridge research builds on this understanding and looks to further enhance plant based plastics by investigating new polymers such as soy proteins to further enhance stability and performance. 

Vegan Spider Silk?

Researchers created plant based plastics with the addition of nanoparticles smaller than one millionth of a meter, This meant material structures could be manipulated and controlled in order to create new flexible packaging films for use across sectors. They were able to mimic a material that looks like spider silk on a molecular level. They christened it ‘Vegan Spider Silk’.

Watch this space for more innovations in the plant based packaging sector. 

Read the full article at: thenextweb.com