Four booths, one question
Can fiber-based packaging run on the equipment brands already own? At PACK EXPO International 2026, held October 18–21 in Chicago, Atlantic Packaging and our partners spent four days answering that question on live machines.
We didn’t do it alone. Across three booths, we ran Atlantic materials on equipment from Garrido, Marden Edwards, and Starview Packaging Machinery. A fourth stop, PACK EXPO’s new Sound Studio, put Cory Connors and the Sustainable Packaging Podcast in front of the microphones with PMMI, 3M, and the Chicago Brand Museum.
“There is no doubt that this year the focus again is sustainability … It’s really encouraging that this hasn’t just become a sales tool. This is real life. Everybody is out here thinking about using better materials, less materials, and doing so in a way that is beneficial to the planet.”
— Kyle Pischel, Director, Packaging Solution Center, Atlantic Packaging
Our collaborations at a glance
Each partnership tackled a different packaging format, but every demo made the same case: fiber can replace plastic without replacing the line.
What the show floor told us
Sustainability was again the headline at PACK EXPO, but the conversation has moved from “should we?” to “how do we make it work on the line we already run?” Three takeaways stood out.
1. The switch to fiber has to fit the line you already run
A finished paper-wrapped carton, beside the machine that wrapped it.
None of our demos asked a brand to start over. Paperform sealed on standard blister equipment. The AMS-JR moves from poly to fiber with minimal changeover. Marden Edwards’ overwrappers handle polypropylene, cellophane, and paper on the same machine. When the equipment stays, the decision to try fiber gets far smaller.
“The future of the industry is paperization, and Atlantic Packaging is the tip of the spear for that.”
2. Recycled content changes the engineering
More recycled fiber is good for the planet, but it behaves differently on the line. 3M‘s work on sealing high-recycled-content corrugate shows how one material change ripples into tape, tape heads, and case sealers. The same holds for paper flexibles: barrier and heat-seal performance comes from functional coatings, and each new coated paper needs repulpability testing to prove it can still be recycled.
Atlantic prints, coats, and converts in-house at multiple North American sites, so the material and the machine can be tuned together.
3. Proof beats promises
Brands want to see a material run before they commit. That’s the role of Atlantic’s Packaging Solution Center, where more than 50 engineers, technical specialists, chemists, and food scientists trial materials on automation equipment. They also test material properties and supply-chain performance in our ISTA-certified lab.
“Our team’s out there trying to find the best options for our customers to hit their goals, not only from a productivity standpoint but from a sustainability standpoint.”
Inside each collaboration
Garrido: right-sized mailers, built automatically
The New Earth Approved AMS-JR at the Garrido booth (S-3800).
E-commerce teams are being asked to ship faster with less waste and fewer hands. With Garrido, we ran live demos of the New Earth Approved AMS-JR, which builds a right-sized fiber mailer around each product at up to 12–15 mailers per minute. It switches from poly to fiber with minimal changeover, so brands can move to paper without replacing equipment. Atlantic’s 40+ technicians nationwide handle installation, training, and service.
Watch the AMS-JR in action below, or get the full specs in the AMS-JR info sheet.
Marden Edwards: paper overwrap that finishes like luxury hand-wrapping
Atlantic-printed paper feeding through a Marden Edwards tuck-and-fold overwrapper.
At Booth W-16094, Marden Edwards ran its tuck-and-fold overwrappers with Atlantic’s Canopy™ paper. The pitch to brands: replace plastic overwrap with printed paper whose tight, square-end folds look hand-wrapped and add tamper evidence in the same pass. The same machines also wrap polypropylene and cellophane, and run a range of pack sizes instead of one line per SKU. We validate each configuration for the hazards of the supply chain at our ISTA-certified lab in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Starview: a blister pack without the plastic
Paperform demo packaging in front of Starview’s blister sealing equipment at Booth N-5535.
At Starview Packaging Machinery‘s booth, two Atlantic innovations were showcased that were assembled and sealed together on Starview’s blister equipment: Paperform, a paperboard alternative to the thermoformed plastic blister, and Canopy™ HS100 heat-sealable paper. Paperform is designed to be curbside recyclable. Because it runs on existing blister sealing and thermoforming equipment, brands avoid costly machinery upgrades.
See Paperform run below, watch the Canopy™ video, or download the Paperform and Canopy™ info sheets.
PMMI Sound Studio: educating and entertaining
Recording the Sustainable Packaging Podcast in the Sound Studio on Monday, Oct. 19.
The Sustainable Packaging Podcast was selected as a partner for the new Sound Studio at PACK EXPO, a curated on-site recording space for industry podcasts. Cory’s schedule included a guest spot on UnPACKed with PMMI and interviews with David R. Glover of 3M and Fred Richards of the Chicago Brand Museum.
“We were so excited to be invited as a select partner for the first ever Pack Expo Sound Studio where we captured real-time conversations with the people shaping the future of sustainable packaging.”
The Sound Studio episodes will be posted on the Sustainable Packaging Podcast page as they’re released.
The real value: who you meet
Friends, partners, and colleagues at the Chicago Brand Museum.
Technology filled the booths, but relationships filled the aisles. Thank you to Garrido, Marden Edwards, Starview Packaging Machinery, 3M, PMMI, and the Chicago Brand Museum for building these moments with us, and to every customer who stopped by.
“It’s so fun to get to walk around a place like this and every 20 feet you know somebody else and they stop you and you talk. It almost becomes difficult to get to another booth, but I love it and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
Missed the show? You can still see these solutions in action:
- Request a material trial at our Packaging Solution Center and test your materials on automation equipment before you commit.
- Talk to our team about Paperform, Canopy™, the AMS-JR, or paper overwrapping: call (800) 722-5841 or contact us online.
- Listen in to the Sustainable Packaging Podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.