Guests: Lisa Propati, VP & GM at WLS, a ProMach brand, and Bob Hersh, national managing principal at Grant Thorton

The Packaging and Processing Women’s Leadership Network (PPWLN) takes over the unPACKed reins as OEM Magazine Editor-in-Chief Stephanie Neil hosts PPWLN’s new Learning Circle series. Lisa Propati, VP & GM at WLS, a ProMach brand, and guest speaker Bob Hersh, national managing principal at Grant Thorton, dive into business acumen with Neil, exploring why understanding the financial side of manufacturing, is important to career development, regardless of role.

Guests: Matt Reynolds, Editor, Packaging World and Anne Marie Mohan, Senior Editor, Packaging World

The future is now in part six of unPaCKed’s six-part sustainability sit-down with Packaging World editors Anne Marie Mohan and Matt Reynolds. Bioplastics reads like an oxymoron, but the revolutionary new materials from renewable resources versus petroleum are indeed here to stay. Mohan and Reynolds cover sustainability and packaging materials daily and examine how sugar cane, corn, and even wood chips now find their way into packaging materials in lieu of traditional plastics.

Explore sustainable solutions at PACK EXPO Las Vegas this September 11-13. Registration is now open!

Guests: Matt Reynolds, Editor, Packaging World and Anne Marie Mohan, Senior Editor, Packaging World

Packaging World editors Anne Marie Mohan and Matt Reynolds return to unPACKed for the fifth episode of its six-part sustainability sit-down, turning the spotlight on monolayer materials. All plastics and foils are not created equal, and the complexity that allows them to protect food or beverages, for instance, also makes recycling significantly harder. Mohan and Reynolds cover sustainability and packaging materials daily and discuss how monolayer materials could be one of the major keys to a more sustainable packaging supply chain.

Guests: Matt Reynolds, Editor, Packaging World and Anne Marie Mohan, Senior Editor, Packaging World

Part four of unPACKed’s six-part sustainability sit down with Packaging World editors Anne Marie Mohan and Matt Reynolds takes us to the world of reuse and refill. Reuse and refill is more than just the ubiquitous beverage containers everyone carries around to do their sustainability part. Mohan and Reynolds cover sustainability and packaging materials daily for Packaging World and discuss how reuse and refill is making inroads in various markets, including health and beauty, cleaning supplies, and food and beverage.

Guests: Matt Reynolds, Editor, Packaging World and Anne Marie Mohan, Senior Editor, Packaging World

As one of the oldest, if not the oldest, packaging materials, paper was also one of the earliest package types to be recycled and is the topic for part three of a six-part sustainability sit-down with Packaging World editors Anne Marie Mohan and Matt Reynolds. Mohan and Reynolds cover sustainability and packaging materials daily for Packaging World. The pair discuss how paper’s relative ease to recycle created growth in its use in place of plastic films and even bottles. Plus, we get to the bottom of exactly what to do with pizza boxes when it comes to recycling.

Guests: Matt Reynolds, Editor, Packaging World and Anne Marie Mohan, Senior Editor, Packaging World

Aluminum is the topic for part two of a six-part sustainability sit-down with Packaging World editors Anne Marie Mohan and Matt Reynolds. Mohan and Reynolds cover sustainability and packaging materials daily for Packaging World and rank among the most knowledgeable in the industry on current trends and breakthroughs. The pair discuss how aluminum could be infinitely recyclable and why the general public embraces—or at least appears to embrace— aluminum recycling more than other materials.

Guests: Matt Reynolds, Editor, Packaging World and Anne Marie Mohan, Senior Editor, Packaging World

Advanced recycling kicks off part one of a six-part sustainability sit down with Packaging World editors Anne Marie Mohan and Matt Reynolds. Mohan and Reynolds cover sustainability and packaging materials daily for Packaging World and rank among the most knowledgeable in the packaging and processing industry on current trends and breakthroughs. In this episode, the pair discuss how advanced recycling could be the next step in ensuring packaging sustainability, as it focuses on breaking down difficult-to-recycle materials to a molecular level before reuse.

Guest: Pat Finlay, R&D Sr. Director, Global Beverages Packaging at PepsiCo

For our 100th episode, unPACKed spoke about workforce initiatives with Pat Finlay, who serves as R&D Sr. Director of Global Beverages Packaging for one of the world's largest and most recognizable brands: PepsiCo. We couldn’t let a guest from a high-profile company like that leave without prodding him on PepsiCo’s current sustainability initiatives. Large companies will ultimately drive real change, so let’s hear what the biggest food and beverage company in the U.S. is currently working on regarding sustainability. 

Guest: Jeff Bloomfield, Founder & CEO, BrainTrust

How we communicate influences everything from sales, communication with our boss or employees, or even conversations at home with the family. Jeff Bloomfield has made a career out of teaching others what he’s learned about the biology, psychology, and physiology of the brain. He takes these complex topics and simplifies them, revealing that most people communicate with their customers using the wrong information, in the wrong way, at the wrong time, and in the wrong order.

Guest: Sarah Thomas, The NFL’s First Female Official; One of the Sports Illustrated 100 Most Influential NFL Figures of All Time

UnPACKed welcomes a woman who has made a career out of breaking barriers in typically male-dominated positions, Super Bowl Referee Sarah Thomas. Thomas kicked down doors as the first woman in major college football, the first full-time female NFL referee, and the first-ever female referee at an NFL playoff game. While she didn’t set out to be a trailblazer, she recognizes that her role as a prominent woman impacts younger women and offers tips on navigating unusual career paths.