A project proposed by The Coca-Cola Company and Michigan State University (MSU) aims to improve the global sustainability of product packaging. Coca-Cola awarded $400,000 to MSU's College of Agriculture and Natural Resources to help establish a new Center for Packaging Innovation and Sustainability. The center, to be housed in the MSU School of Packaging, will serve as a think tank for packaging innovation and sustainability and a research and education hub to measure and reduce packaging's environmental impact.
The center will involve the MSU colleges of Agriculture and Natural Resources (School of Packaging), Engineering, and the Eli Broad College of Business (Department of Supply Chain Management). It will provide a platform for collaborative, nonproprietary research as well as proprietary work conducted by industry partners to develop packaging solutions that reduce production costs and improve sustainability.
The center will include state-of-the-art technology for research and testing of packaging materials and will offer academic, outreach, and continuing education programs. It could eventually expand reach internationally through research, development, education, and training facilities in Dubai and Shanghai. For more information, visit www.packaging.msu.edu.