Sean Riley: Hi, and welcome to the End of the Line video podcast. I’ll be handling the hosting duties this week. I’m Sean Riley, editor-in-chief of OEM Magazine.
As always, I’m here with my colleagues to walk you through some of the things we’ve been discussing or that have come across our desks this week. I have Liz Cuneo from Healthcare Packaging, Derrick Teal from ProFood World, and, of course, Matt Reynolds from Packaging World.
There have been some legal appeals involving topics we’ve discussed on the podcast over the past few weeks, so we might as well begin there. Matt, apparently NAW has filed an appeal in the Great Northwest.
Matt Reynolds: Yes, right in the nick of time. It had 30 days to file, and I believe the appeal was submitted yesterday.
As a quick primer on where we left off, Oregon passed its extended producer responsibility law in 2021, although it didn’t take effect until July of last year. As with many EPR programs, producers—including CPG companies and brand owners—pay fees that fund recovery and recycling systems and the infrastructure needed to support circularity.
Included in the definition of “producer” was the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors, or NAW. Its members are distributors rather than brand owners, although some have private-label brands. That’s partly how they became classified as obligated producers.
Even when they aren’t producing the products themselves, distributors use a lot of pallets and stretch wrap to move freight from state to state. Those materials are considered packaging, which is how this small subset became part of the regulated group.
NAW sued because its members didn’t want to pay fees they didn’t believe they owed. The case involved two constitutional claims and went through a five-day trial in July.
One claim involved due process. Oregon essentially handed responsibility for setting the fees to a producer responsibility organization, or PRO. In this case, that organization is Circular Action Alliance, or CAA.
PROs are private nonprofits, and their boards tend to include representatives from major brand owners. From one perspective, those brand owners compete with wholesale distributors that have private-label brands. The argument is that the brand owners may be putting their thumbs on the scale when determining the fee burden.
The other and larger claim involves the Commerce Clause. NAW argues that the program places an undue burden on businesses operating across state lines.
About a month ago, Judge Michael Simon ruled in Oregon’s favor on both claims. It was a 71-page ruling, and the wholesalers didn’t prevail on a single point.
The due-process claim failed because, according to Judge Simon, nobody is technically required to join CAA. A company could create its own PRO. Realistically, though, that’s not a practical option. It would be cost-prohibitive for individual NAW members to create their own organizations. Even applying could cost millions of dollars and take months.
Judge Simon’s position was essentially that although forming a separate PRO may be unlikely or impractical, it isn’t impossible.
That brings us to the present. Yesterday, NAW appealed the ruling to the Ninth Circuit. This is what everyone expected; we were waiting for the other shoe to drop. As I mentioned, the organization filed right at the 30-day deadline.
The announcement included some interesting new arguments. NAW is quoting the judge against himself. Simon wrote that few material facts are genuinely disputed, meaning the case is primarily a question of law.
That matters in an appeal because NAW is essentially telling the Ninth Circuit that the trial judge has already said there’s nothing to defer to. The appeals court can review the legal questions from a clean slate.
One thing the group hasn’t addressed—at least not in its press release—is what I considered an escape hatch in Simon’s ruling: the idea that companies aren’t forced to join CAA because they can create their own PRO. That argument felt tenuous to me.
I expect it to arise during the Ninth Circuit appeal, but the process will take time. These appeals tend to run from a year to 18 months, so we may not see a decision until late 2027 or even 2028. We’ll keep watching for what happens next.
Sean Riley: Do you have any background in all this legalese, or is it something you’ve taught yourself?
Matt Reynolds: Luckily, we have a columnist named Eric Greenberg who helps me with it. I filter a lot through him. He may not always be quoted or speak on the record, but he has been a tremendous help in getting us started with this coverage.
We hadn’t needed to cover EPR before because it wasn’t really an issue in the U.S. until about five years ago. Now it’s directly affecting our readers, including brands and CPG companies, so we have to cover it. Fortunately, we have some in-house expertise.
Liz Cuneo: I was feeling bad that this was one more subject you had suddenly learned so much about, making the rest of us feel uninformed. I’m glad to hear you have help.
Matt Reynolds: I know as much as Law & Order has taught me, and that’s about it.
Sean Riley: That puts you on equal footing with the rest of us—and with the same degree of accuracy and realism.
I’m glad to hear that an appeal was filed because we said one would probably be coming. Is NAW pursuing similar challenges in other states with EPR programs, such as California?
Matt Reynolds: Yes. I think NAW is pressure-testing the laws because every state has a different legal framework, and the EPR laws themselves vary from state to state.
NAW is approaching the issue from slightly different angles and testing where it senses weaknesses. Some arguments are specific to wholesalers, while others could apply more broadly to our readers and brand owners. It depends on the state.
California is the next major domino to fall, at least in terms of NAW’s lawsuits.
Sean Riley: Let’s move over to ProFood World. Derrick, I understand we’re going to talk about lighting.
Derrick Teal: Yes, although it may not be quite as enlightening as Matt’s topic. We had to get the joke in somehow.
I don’t know how often people consider the effect lighting can have on food quality and food safety. Think about the settings on your television or the lighting in a room. A warm light might be around 2,700 Kelvin, while a cooler, bluer light might be around 3,500 Kelvin. The difference between the red and blue tones can be dramatic.
If a food facility uses different types of lighting, a slab of beef will look different under a cool blue light than it does under a warmer red light. It’s important to maintain consistent lighting across the plant floor, whether the facility chooses blue or warm tones.
This information came from an interview I conducted yesterday. We’re covering factors that people may not immediately consider when thinking about food safety.
You want to inspect a product under the same conditions every time. Otherwise, it may appear completely different in another part of the facility. Vision systems and other technologies can help determine whether a product is contaminated, but visual consistency still matters.
Facilities can use different lighting in areas such as break rooms. A warmer tone may create a more relaxed environment, while bluer tones on the plant floor may help employees remain alert. That’s also why you’re advised not to look at your phone at night, or why phones include settings that reduce blue light. Blue light can have a minor stimulating effect that may help keep you awake.
It isn’t quite like drinking a cup of coffee before bed, but it can perk you up. Mint toothpaste can also wake you up a little.
Liz Cuneo: I didn’t know that.
Derrick Teal: Yes, mint can perk you up. That means brushing your teeth can also make you feel a little more awake.
Sean Riley: So, don’t brush your teeth. That’s what Derrick said.
Derrick Teal: My wife knows all about that philosophy, and she hates it. No, I’m joking. I do brush my teeth. My oral hygiene is good, I swear.
One of the other interesting things the expert told me was that he has never entered a cleanroom and seen a screw missing from a lighting fixture. On a conventional plant floor, however, someone might reinstall a light cover, secure it with a few screws, and decide it’s good enough even though one screw was dropped or lost.
That creates a couple of problems. First, where did the screw go? Was it dropped over a machine? Has an entire batch of product potentially been contaminated?
There’s also a concern in environments with steam. Steam can find small openings in a lighting fixture, collect there, and create a point where bacteria can grow.
The same thing can happen during washdown, even in an area without steam. Water can collect inside an opening. A facility might follow all its cleaning procedures correctly but continue detecting contamination it can’t locate because it’s hiding inside a light fixture with one open screw hole.
That one small oversight can affect the quality and safety of an entire facility.
We’ll also be covering protective coatings in a future feature. It’s fascinating to look at factors people don’t normally associate with food safety and see how much influence something as small as a light fixture can have on the entire process.
Matt Reynolds: Derrick, we discussed a related topic last week. Dairy products from brands such as fairlife and Chobani have traditionally used opaque HDPE containers. Some brand owners are switching to clear PET and then using full-body shrink sleeves because light can affect the product.
Light seems to be coming up more frequently in our conversations.
Derrick Teal: It’s obviously been understood for a long time. That’s why most beer bottles are amber.
Matt Reynolds: Deoleo, a major olive oil company, recently introduced blue glass bottles for some of its premium products. It’s continuing to use green bottles for much of its olive oil, but it moved some of its higher-end, more light-sensitive products into blue glass.
The company determined that blue glass offers optimal protection for the olive oil, especially its premium varieties. The challenge is that consumers don’t necessarily recognize a blue bottle as olive oil packaging.
The company has a superior package that extends shelf life and prevents the oil from developing off-flavors, but now it has to teach consumers to find the blue bottle on the shelf because they aren’t accustomed to looking for that color when shopping for olive oil.
Derrick Teal: I was going to ask whether the blue filters out ultraviolet light or another wavelength that could affect the oil.
Matt Reynolds: You’ll have to read the next issue of Packaging World for a full explanation from the talented Anne Marie Mohan. It should be online soon.
Sean Riley: Excellent shameless plug.
Matt Reynolds: No shame detected.
Sean Riley: Moving over to Healthcare Packaging, I don’t think we have lighting or legal issues to discuss, but we do have inhalers.
Liz Cuneo: We do, but I want to share a funny anecdote about color since we’ve gone on a color tangent.
I interviewed Genexa, an over-the-counter medicine brand that completed a packaging refresh earlier this year. The company uses color to signal different product categories. Pain relievers are red, perhaps suggesting urgency. Blue represents daytime medicine, while yellow is used for supplements and vitamins.
The woman I interviewed said color is a hotly contested topic and that people have especially strong opinions about yellow. She said, “Yellow is surprisingly polarizing.” I included that quote in my article because I thought it was funny.
We pay more attention to color than we probably realize. A blue bottle may not signal olive oil to shoppers, so they might pass it over. Yellow appears to be another color people either like or dislike.
What do you all think about yellow?
Sean Riley: No yellow walls in my house. Not allowed.
Liz Cuneo: I love yellow, but I’m not allowed to use it.
Matt Reynolds: Yellow can be difficult. Some of my walls may look yellow, but they’re actually beige. It can be a cheerful color when used correctly.
Liz Cuneo: I’m pro-yellow.
Derrick Teal: I grew up in the Big Bird generation, so I have to be pro-yellow.
When I’m buying lightbulbs, I gravitate toward natural yellow tones rather than crisp, bright-white light. I prefer rooms with lower, warmer lighting instead of bright overhead lights.
Liz Cuneo: Softer lighting is also a little more forgiving on our faces as we age. I’ll speak for myself.
But yes, we’ve been covering more inhaler technology at Healthcare Packaging, which has been interesting.
We have a new case study examining Inbrija, a medication used to treat Parkinson’s OFF episodes. It’s an inhaled therapy, and the manufacturer changed aspects of how the drug is produced.
The story focuses on how the powder is processed. What caught my attention is that the aerosol performance is built into the particle itself. The particle’s shape and density are part of the drug-delivery system and influence how it interacts with the packaging and device.
Traditional dry-powder inhalers combine fine drug particles with coarse lactose particles that assist with filling and dispersion. Inbrija uses hollow, low-density particles engineered to disperse when the patient inhales, increasing the amount of the dose that reaches the lungs.
The company also had to modify elements of the manufacturing process, including the spray pattern used to dry the particles. It’s an interesting article about what those changes required.
We also recently covered smart inhalers. The global smart-inhaler market is growing significantly. According to SNS Insider, about 50% of asthma patients use their inhalers incorrectly. I find that surprising as someone who has asthma and uses an inhaler.
Companies are incorporating AI, Bluetooth, and cloud technology into inhalers to support remote monitoring, automatic usage tracking, and patient reminders. The goal is to improve medication adherence and patient safety by helping ensure that each dose is taken correctly.
It’s interesting to see that level of technology being incorporated into such a specific product.
Matt Reynolds: If you put a “dumb” inhaler in front of me, I wouldn’t know what to do with it. I’ve never needed to use one, so if I ever did, I’d probably need the smarter version.
Liz Cuneo: I think education is key. Since I was young, my inhalers have included a counter showing how many doses remain. It might start at 60 and count down from there.
If you use the inhaler incorrectly and the number doesn’t change, you may be able to determine whether you actually received the medicine. I’m still surprised that such a large percentage of people use inhalers incorrectly.
Sean Riley: That’s what I was thinking. With something such as asthma, you would expect someone to know immediately if the inhaler wasn’t used correctly because they would continue having trouble breathing.
Liz Cuneo: Exactly. I’m trying to understand how a smart inhaler determines whether the patient used it correctly. It may primarily monitor dosing.
AI and Bluetooth can track usage and provide data to patients, presumably through a connected app. Metered-dose inhalers currently represent the largest share of the market.
The article doesn’t provide extensive detail about exactly how every device works, but the broader question is how these technologies can help patients use their devices correctly and receive the intended dose.
It will be interesting to see what this looks like in the future, especially as AI becomes more prevalent.
Sean Riley: I wouldn’t have expected AI to make its way into inhalers, so it’s fascinating that it has.
Liz Cuneo: We have a couple of pictures in the article on our website that I’ll include for those watching. They show a dose counter and the usage information a patient might follow. It adds another layer to the packaging and device.
Matt Reynolds: Sean, I have one more interesting item that came across my desk. I completely forgot about it until now.
In today’s environment, gas prices are high and consumers’ budgets are under pressure. I listened to a recent investor fireside chat featuring Procter & Gamble CFO Andre Schulten. Much of the discussion focused on the supply chain, but he mentioned an interesting packaging detail.
P&G found that some of its family-care products were priced beyond what consumers could afford in the club-store channel because of the large package sizes.
Even though the value per item or sheet was strong—for products such as toilet paper or paper towels—the club packs had become so large that the total purchase price exceeded what some consumers had available in their bank accounts or wallets.
P&G had to adjust some package sizes. The value per sheet may have declined slightly, but it’s interesting to see how packaging reflects the wider economic environment.
Package architecture is essentially a pricing tool. The amount of product inside the package directly affects the price consumers see on the shelf.
Sean Riley: We’ve heard a lot about shrinkflation. A cynical consumer might see this as another example.
Matt Reynolds: In this case, it’s really about ensuring the company has a product that consumers can afford.
Even when the per-unit value is excellent, putting too many units in one package can make the total price unaffordable for a budget-conscious shopper.
The company did have to add some fraction of a cent to the cost per sheet because the more units included in a package, the lower the per-unit price can be. But this isn’t necessarily shrinkflation. It’s more about right-sizing the package for the amount of disposable income consumers currently have.
Sean Riley: I agree with the reasoning. I’m just saying that without that background, a shopper may see the smaller package on the shelf and immediately think, “This used to cost the same amount, and I received more sheets or more fluid ounces.”
I’ve started paying more attention to the per-unit price displayed on grocery shelves. It’s interesting to watch how brands react and adjust to consumers who are financially stretched.
Derrick Teal: I also saw today that Tesla says it will finally begin producing its Semi trucks on a larger scale.
Matt Reynolds: I know Pepsi received several in 2022, but they haven’t been produced on a mass scale.
Derrick Teal: They still haven’t. Tesla has announced that it’s going to begin mass production, but I’ll believe it when I see it.
Sean Riley: Is that announcement a response to current oil and gas prices?
Derrick Teal: It may be, but the problem I have with many Tesla announcements is that they can be more about public relations and marketing than something that will actually happen in the near term.
It could be a proclamation responding to current conditions surrounding gas prices, or an effort to boost the company’s stock. Still, Tesla made the announcement, and since we were discussing the supply chain, I wanted to mention it.
Sean Riley: I love it. I think we’ve covered all the bases and touched on just about everything we could.
Thank you to everyone for tuning in, and thank you to my colleagues for sharing what they’ve seen and heard this week. This was a great discussion.
Thanks again, and tune in next week for another episode of End of the Line.
