Pregis blown film plant receives ISCC Plus certification

Pregis LLC, a Deerfield, Illinois-based flexible packaging producer, has received the International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC) Plus for its Grand Rapids, Michigan, blown film manufacturing facility in support of the company’s Performance Flexibles packaging offering.

ISCC Plus is a globally recognized system for the sustainability certification of recycled and bio-based materials, enabling Pregis to produce packaging that is classified as circular, bio-circular and/or bio-based and includes the mass balance chain of custody option, providing traceability along the supply chain.

Pregis says it is able to engineer its Performance Flexibles Renew Series film solutions with these bio-certified materials, meeting what it says is growing demand for flexible packaging options “that align with customers’ sustainability and performance goals,” adding that it “applies responsible sourcing and advanced recycling to custom engineer films that are setting the sustainability standards within the industry.”

“This milestone is fundamental in our engineering of film solutions that meet the high sustainability requirements of ISCC Plus throughout the value chain,” says David Timm, president, Pregis Performance Flexibles. “We’re able to continue to drive innovation in blown films and expand our specialty films capabilities within the food and medical packaging areas along with other high-performance applications.”

The Grand Rapids facility is the first U.S.-based Pregis site to receive ISCC Plus certification, joining the company’s Heerlen, Netherlands, location. Pregis says it plans to seek certification at additional locations in the future but did not disclose which locations.

RELATED: Council of the Great Lakes Region releases 5-year plastics action plan

In September last year, Pregis invested $32 million into blown film extrusion technology at the Grand Rapids site, expanding the location by 55,000 square feet for manufacturing, warehousing and office space. The investment was in addition to a previous $37 million capital expenditure put into that location between 2016 and 2020, and included custom Windmoeller & Hoelscher dedicated multilayer polyethylene blown film extrusion lines, additional material handling for expanded resin storage as well as lab facility upgrades.

At the time of the investment, Pregis said continued focus on light-weighting and increasing recycled content in its film structures is in keeping with its companywide sustainability goals.