Packaging’s New Vanishing Act: Reducing PFAS & Food Waste with Claire Sand

Pulp Nonfiction

Welcome to Pulp Nonfiction: The Paper and Packaging Podcast!

Meet our guest Claire Sand, the CEO of Packaging Technology and Research. In this episode, Claire presents some encouraging solutions to two of our world’s most pressing problems: PFAS, the so-called “forever chemicals,” and food waste.

This enlightening episode offers some fresh perspectives on how some new packaging coatings are being designed to help minimize PFAS in the food and beverage space, why significant food waste reduction is indeed possible thanks to newly developed packaging technologies as well as some simple consumer behavioral changes, how cellulose is experiencing a resurgence in both food and packaging circles, and much more!

Claire Sand is a Global Packaging Leader with over 35 years of food science and packaging experience. Her mission is to enable a more sustainable food system by advancing science and value chain innovations that increase food shelf life and decrease food waste. She manages cross-functional teams, implements innovative solutions, creates compelling business and technology strategies and business cases, and creates implementation roadmaps for the packaging and food industries.

Dr. Sand is the owner and founder of Packaging Technology and Research, LLC, as well as Gazelle Mobile Packaging Inc. She is also an Adjunct Professor at Michigan State University and CalPoly, and a monthly contributor to Packaging Digest. She is an IFT Fellow, the Riester-Davis-Brody Lifetime Achievement in Food Packaging Award recipient, a member of numerous Editorial Boards, the author of the Packaging Value Chain, and the cochair of pacfoodwaste.

Dr. Sand received her doctorate in Food Science and Nutrition from the University of Minnesota, as well as a master's and bachelor's degrees in packaging from Michigan State University.

This podcast is brought to you by Sustana Fiber, a leading producer of FSC®-certified sustainable recycled fibers. At our facilities in De Pere, Wisconsin in the United States and Lévis, Quebec in Canada, we use automated proprietary processes to transform recovered paper into high-quality recycled fiber for use in printing papers, tissue grades and formed molded fiber packaging. We also produce EnviroLife®, a sustainable recycled fiber compliant with FDA standards for food service packaging. Learn more about how our products and manufacturing practices support the circular economy at www.sustanafiber.com.

Hosted by Sustana Fiber’s Greg Johnson, Director of New Business Development, and Dr. Marta Pazos, a leading sustainable packaging materials scientist, this monthly video podcast series features fascinating discussions on several trending topics involving sustainability.