3M Innovations with Recycled Content Packaging with Julianne Strunk

In this episode of Sustainable Packaging with Cory Connors, Cory welcomes back returning guest Julianne Strunk from 3M. The discussion centers on 3M’s latest innovation campaign — Recycled Sealing Made Simple — which addresses the growing challenges brands face as recycled content becomes more common in corrugated packaging.

Julianne talks about her journey at 3M, the rise of recycled corrugate in the marketplace, the performance issues customers are experiencing, and how 3M is responding with tapes, equipment, and systems designed for today’s packaging realities. The episode also touches on 3M’s long-standing commitment to sustainability, as well as big announcements coming at PACK EXPO.

Key Topics Discussed:

• Recycled corrugate is increasing, causing weaker boxes and adhesion issues.
• 3M launched “Recycled Sealing Made Simple” to fix sealing problems on recycled board.
• New sustainable tapes include recyclable paper tape and recycled‑content backing.
• Improved tape heads & automation reduce box damage, jams, and re‑taping.
• 3M strengthens industry role as a founding sponsor of the podcast.
• More innovations coming, with major releases planned for PACK EXPO.

Resources Mentioned:

Website: 3M
Julianne Strunk: LinkedIn
3M: LinkedIn
3M sustainable packaging tapes and automation equipment

Contact:

Companies interested in learning more about 3M’s sustainable packaging solutions or partnership opportunities can reach out through their 3M representative or distributor network.

Closing Thoughts:

Cory and Julianne emphasize how rapidly packaging materials are changing and how vital it is for brands to adapt with solutions designed for higher‑recycled‑content substrates. 3M continues to lead with thoughtful innovation, strong customer partnerships, and systems that align sustainability with performance. The episode encourages listeners to rethink adhesion challenges, explore automation upgrades, and stay tuned for new 3M product releases.

Thank you for tuning in to Sustainable Packaging with Cory Connors!

Connect with Cory

Connect with Cory on LinkedIn here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/cory-connors/

I'm here to help you make your packaging more sustainable! Reach out today and I'll get back to you asap.

This podcast is an independent production and the podcast production is an original work of the author. All rights of ownership and reproduction are retained—copyright 2022.

Transcript

0:06

Welcome to Sustainable Packaging with Cory Connors presented by Atlantic Packaging. I'm your host, Cory Connors. In today's episode, I connected with Julianne Strunk, the portfolio marketer from 3M. We talked about their latest innovations in packaging and about some of their exciting upcoming innovations in the sustainable packaging industry. Stay tuned to hear the news. I'd also like to thank our sponsors, 3M, Specright, and Lorax EPI. We couldn't do this show without them. Welcome to Sustainable Packaging. We're so excited to have a returning guest and friend of the show, my friend Julianne Strunk, the portfolio marketer at 3M. How are you, Julianne? Hi Cory, I'm doing well, how are you? I'm excited to learn that you started out at 3M as an intern and you have since been promoted four or five times all the way up the chain to portfolio marketer, the youngest portfolio marketer and the whole company. Congratulations. That's amazing. one of them. Yeah, no, it's been super fun. 3M has been such an incredible company to work for. And as you've been able to see, they have been doing so much in the sustainability space and specifically in packaging since I've been in the packaging industry. So it's been a great journey so far. I knew I loved the company back in college. And so being able to join them and to go up the ranks and now own a portfolio within packaging and be able to really make a difference in sustainable packaging is, it's an honor. Well, congratulations and well done. You've done amazing things. You've got an exciting new campaign to address a growing need in the market. Can you tell us about this new campaign that you've started? Yeah, absolutely. So here I'll even flash up my screen here, show you a little sneak peek of what this campaign's going to look like. So the campaign that we are launching is called Recycled Ceiling Made Simple. And it's really to address a growing need that we saw in the market. And that is that recycled corregate is becoming more more prevalent. And it's funny because we're realizing a lot of customers haven't even realized it. They've come to us saying, know, hey, my tape heads are punching through my boxes. I'm getting jams on the line. My tape isn't adhering. I have tape like, and they can't figure out why. So they automatically assume, you know, is it the tape? Is it the tape head? And a lot of times what it comes back to is it's the corrugate. And they say, no, no, I've been buying the same corrugate from the same supplier for the last two decades. Well, you might've been, but two decades ago, a lot of the corrugate out there was virgin corrugated material. And so now when you look at the market, it's about 52 % of every corrugated material is recycled. So it's been educated both for me and for our end users realizing, hey, you need to have different products to handle the different boxes that we have nowadays. And so 3M really listened to the voice of customer, listened to what we were hearing in the field and said, how can we help you to come up with a solution for this? Yeah, well said. We call it OCC, old corrugated cartons. And I think that's such an important part to educate people on because it can be less than desirable material sometimes. And I think we need to have the tape that works to actually seal those new corrugated boxes made from that old material. Well, 3M has been focused on sustainable packaging well before it was even called that for many, years. Why are we focusing on this recyclable, corrugated and how to close those boxes now? Yeah, so we do a ton of things in this space. I mean, we've talked with you about our packer, mailer material. We've talked to you about, you know, our 570 paper tape that's fully recyclable on the box. But I think that we noticed that a lot of people were taking recyclability and sustainability in more bite sized chunks. So maybe they'd already moved to a recycled corrugate or they'd already moved up a little bit, but they didn't fully want to invest yet in a paper tape or in new mailers. And so really we said, okay, let's meet customers where they're at. And where they're at right now is we're seeing a lot of them with that mushy container board with boxes that are breaking with light weighting that they didn't even realize was happening. And I mean, it's fantastic. Our recycling levels for Corregate are well above 94 % in the United States now, which is fantastic. But that does mean you're going from a virgin container board that's got these long, beautiful strands of Corregate that are super easy to stick to, to suddenly recycled Corregated that has specs in it from some of the adhesive that didn't come off during the skimming process. It's got ridges. It's got just a lot more complexity. to need to stick to for a regular tape. And a regular tape just isn't designed to do that. So I think that while we looked at creating our own products becoming more sustainable, know, having 60 % recycled polypropylene backing or having a recyclable paper tape, we also said, hey, our products aren't the only ones that are recycled. So how can we create a campaign and create a solution for our customers about something that we don't even produce, the boxes? And how can we help them fix the problems on their line that they're seeing with those recycled boxes? So I think it's not as much a shift away from the sustainable products we were looking at, but really just adding scope, saying, hey, we make sustainable, but we also make products that can boost your sustainable products that you might already be buying. Exactly. it's what I think, like you said, it's what differentiates 3M products from others. They are truly the Cadillac, the high end, they work. We know that they work. We can trust them. When as a packaging professional, when a customer calls and says, having an issue with this, the box is sealing and they say they're using your 3M tape, we know it's not the tape. It's something else. It's maybe an equipment issue or... something else in the box or something that we need to look at. But that's exciting to know, but we can check off that box literally. We also have an exciting announcement about a partnership with this show. I'd like to give you that honor of talking about. So 3M is excited to announce that we are the founding sponsor for Cory Connor's Sustainable Packaging Podcast. Make it really official here. ah It was something that we absolutely knew we wanted to do as you invested more in your podcast and you have continued to grow. We've just, we have seen such great connections and interactions. The people that I've gotten to meet through you at Pack Expo and various trade shows, getting to talk to you about what we're hearing in the market and get that valuable VOC. We just really wanted to make sure that we were at that forefront of not only innovation in the sustainable, packaging space, but also learnings because your podcast is a great place to learn about those new things that are impacting customers or that are coming out in the market. And so we really wanted to make sure that we made that investment this year, becoming a founding sponsor. And that way, as we continue to have new innovations, because I can tell you, we already have multiple other new products in the pipeline that are releasing this year around sustainable packaging. It's exciting because this is a great way for us to be able to share to that audience and really help people to grow in that journey. Well, that's it. It's incredible. It's my honor to be, uh, to be sponsored by you and your team. I've really enjoyed working with you and the whole team over there at 3M for the last couple of years. And I do want to thank the team from Atlantic Packaging and a New Earth project for really investing in the show and partnering with this show to make it so much better. We were talking about the platform we're recording on is it's incredibly, it's so much better and it's a, uh, There's so many new features and our team behind it is really promoting it in positive ways. It's exciting to be a part of, frankly, after kind of doing it by myself for so long. Yeah. And we were there from the ground up. mean, I remember our very first holding up a cell phone at pack Expo, walking through booths together, recording on zoom meetings. I mean, it's really fun to be able to see the growth here and to see the community that's been created. mean, seeing the posts that you share on LinkedIn and seeing the people commenting, what if we did this? What if we did that? Have you thought about this challenge? So it's something that three M's always really held at the top priority is, that voice of customer. And we want to look for a customer problem and find a solution. It's always been the three way. And I think that this podcast. and this community you built is just a really great way to do that in the sustainable packaging space. Well, thank you again. It really feels like that. It feels like a true family, like a community that we're all working together to do the right thing and to reach out. And I often have past guests reach out to me and say, Hey, can you connect me with that new guest that you had? Or we have an issue with this and they, think they could help. think that's, should someday, we should have a sustainable packaging podcast event. I think somewhere maybe. Yeah. pennies get to come together and decide what the future of packaging is going to be Oh, that would be, that would be quite a list. mean, we've had almost uh over 400 shows. So, yeah, so I think that would be a really neat thing. We should think about that. Maybe at Peck Expo, you mentioned. uh all gonna be there, we already know it. Well, let's talk about that. You said you're going to PacExpo. Any other big events? Anything that you can tell us about that's happening at PacExpo this year? Yeah, so we're really excited. We're going to be launching some new products come Q2 and Q3. keeping it under wraps for now, very exciting stuff coming out, especially around sustainable packaging and this new recycled sealing made simple campaign. just really trying to help our customers with better ways to tackle those recycled corrugated challenges that they're currently facing in the market. So that's going to be a big theme at PacExpo for 3M in 2026. 2024, if you went to our booth then, our big theme was our new sustainability campaign, purpose-driven performance. taking that 3M purpose that we all are so passionate about, taking the performance and high quality products that we have and marrying them together. So this is kind of an extension of that campaign and we're really excited to be able to fully launch it at PacExpo and also to be able to bring some of our new products to light there. So I think it's going to be a great time for customers to come to us with their questions, with their experiences. You know, hey, I have been dealing with mushy container board or hey, I have someone who's standing at the end of my line re-taping with a hand dispenser because the tape legs keep popping and I think that our experts there and our specialists are going to be able to answer so many of those questions and hopefully our new products can help with that as well. Well, I think you're right. And that's the right place to announce it. As you know, Peck Expo International happens every other year and it's in Chicago this year, October 18th through the 21st. And uh I'll be there with Julianne. We'll be talking about this stuff. We'll be making videos and content. Maybe we'll even have some kind of a get together near the booth or, you know, near the show. That would be really fun. I love that. Yeah. Well, we'll work on that later. I think we'll maybe even do a whole nother episode about that because I think this next, this event is going to be really a big deal and uh for the sustainable packaging community, because I think like we were talking about it every year, it continues to grow in popularity because it's such a focus. But why do you think recycled content in this, uh you know, sustainable packaging has become such a focus? for all companies. Yeah, well, I mean, if you look at market share alone, market share, you know, 20 years ago is probably I don't know, 90 % version corrugated and 10 % recycled. If you look today, it's really at about that 5050 mark for market share. And we're just seeing it continuing to grow towards recycled content. Because the more people are recycling their boxes, the less availability of virgin content that comes out there, people are realizing, you know, it's better to recycle it. Oftentimes, it's much more cost effective. And as we know, with companies right now, that's a big driver. And so I think we're just seeing a market shift and like I said, some people don't even realize it I'm sure in the packaging space. I'm gonna have people laughing at this going. my gosh We know this is happening But I think people who aren't just living and breathing packaging daily people who are on the floor might be like hey These boxes are way weaker than they were, know a decade ago And so I think it's something that's gonna continue shifting in this space just like we're seeing that that Sustainable performance and sustainability initiatives are continuing to grow I think we're to continue to see recycled content And that's not just in Coriand, it's also in tapes. mean, you know, we've launched our recycled polypropylene backing tape that's got that 60% recycled backing. We've launched a tape itself, the paper tape, our Scotch 570 that can be fully recycled. So people are coming out with both their own recycled products to try to lessen their footprint, but they're also trying to help customers like we are with the recycled products that they're already buying. So I think that as we continue to push towards sustainability, towards a better future, building a better future, mean, heck, two-year-old I want him to live in a better world where we're recycling more and greenhouse gas emissions are less. So I think as we continue towards that and we see more companies reaching towards those sustainability goals, recycled content and recycled Coriandids specifically is going to become a much hotter topic. Absolutely. And with extended producer responsibility laws, it's going to be a requirement and it's going to be something that people are saying, well, what are you talking about? This doesn't have recycled content. What's wrong? You know, we must have that. And I also wanted to mention reuse. lot of corrugated boxes are getting reused and your tapes, your offerings that you've mentioned are perfect tapes for those boxes to be re-taped again and again. And so that's something to mention because a lot more people are reusing Corrugated. Exactly. And I think that's where our products really differentiate in the market is we have tape that our plus series tape. It's from 311 plus all the way up to 375 plus, whether you're, you know, doing a food and bath application and cold temps with 311 plus or 375 plus your heavy e-commerce, your, boxes are getting beat up in shipping. We have a tape for each of those different segments that all can adhere to 100 % recycled Corregate. And so I think 3M said, okay, we know that we have all of these different segments. We have all these different customers. but we see one common thread which is sticking to that 100 % recycled corrigate. So we created that instant grab high tack tape. Then we looked at our machines and we said hey the machines themselves are fantastic. They're high quality, they last long, but it's the tape heads that we continue to see you know does a tape head punch through a box? Is it being gentle if there's you know overfill if there's not enough dunnage? And so that's where we came out with the MPH Plus tape head and the AccuGlide 5 that are our highest speed tape heads but yet our softest touch. And so that That way you can run boxes as fast as you want through a machine, but it's not going to punch through and require you to re-tape. I mean, we've talked about cost savings. Labor costs are tough right now. Getting labor in factories and plants and keeping them and then paying them what they need for a livable wage, it's tough out there. And so we want to make sure that you're not having to redo all of that, that you're not having to re-tape with a hand dispenser once it comes out of your machine. It should be able to be done once and right. And that's really the 3M way. We have the right tape. right system and we want to be the right partner. I was totally amazed by your facility there in Minneapolis. And I think that was really insightful to me to learn about the history of and the current and future of automation equipment. And the advanced technology you and the scientists there at 3M have created is absolutely incredible. So if anybody's listening and they're looking for the latest and greatest in packaging automation, uh reach out to Julianne and her team. This is what's coming. It's the future. And if you haven't adopted these systems, I think you're not behind, but there's a chance to elevate your system. Absolutely. I always I always love showing people our 3m Innovation Center and showing them our 3m packaging lab I mean we have our very first case sealing machine that was basically just an erector the guy was colorblind who made it so it's bright lime green and everyone was scared to tell them and it's the most fun story to tell our customers when they come in because they walk into the room of Grays and blacks and reds they say why do have a lime green machine in the corner? It's really fun. It's fun to be able to show everyone kind of where we started and where we are today and that goes for our case dealers I mean heck that goes for our I think it was last year or the year before we celebrated 100 years of Scotch. So, I mean, we've been here for a long time and there's a reason for it. 100 years of innovation and it's incredible to see. Congratulations to you. How do companies partner with 3M and what's the best way to kind of get in touch with you? Yeah, so we have a ton of different companies who partner with us So our distributor network is something that we rely on so heavily I mean corey you work at atlantic packaging who is one of our distributors So basically wherever there's a 3m product being sold It's probably going through one of our incredible distributor partners our channel partner our channel army as we sometimes call them is is just The best partner that we could ask for they have so many touch points with different end users They have fantastic specialists of their own and they loop in the 3m specialists when they really need that specific need or there's a very specific problem that a customer needs solved. So I think if a company's interested in becoming a distributor, if they're ready to scale, we are always open to that. And even just partnering with companies who want to discuss innovation, like our Packer machine, we worked with system packaging to come up with a machine that could run this new material we had created. So we created a material, we had this incredible innovation, and we said, hey, who can create something that can really run this and have a customer be successful with it? I think there's a lot of ways to partner with 3M and we always see our end users as partners too. I mean, we will send our technicians into the field, our application engineers, and a customer might say something that makes you think of it differently than you did before. And now you have a whole new machine modification that you didn't even think of when you came into the facility. So it's really fun getting to see that in action and getting to see our application engineers and the wheels turning and the light bulb moments when they talk with customers. Yeah, that's right. You mentioned a hundred years of experience and I think that's something that's very critical to think about is that this isn't, this isn't something that you just thought of. This is something that's been in the works and it's a lot of times customer driven where the customers say, Hey, we have these new boxes. They're not sealing. uh Can you help us figure it out? The three Mers as they're called, work hard to, to adjust the makeups of all the different materials so that they work better and it's exciting to see. So what's next? Any exciting innovations that you can kind of sneak peek for us or are we saving that for the next episode? Yeah. Well, I mean, you've seen that we come out with plenty of new exciting tapes. We come out with plenty of new exciting tape heads and machines. So all I can say is that 3M packaging has some new things that are coming down the pipeline, specifically around recycled sealing that we are very, very excited to launch to our end users. So if you have a 3M machine or even if you don't yet, definitely be on the lookout. Be ready to hear about some of these new products that are going to be coming out over the next few quarters. We've been working very hard with customers, with our application engineers. to be able to identify challenges that we're currently seeing in the packaging industry across a variety of segments. mean, whether you're in food and bath, whether you're in e-commerce and fulfillment, whether you're in biopharma, we have a solution. And so it's been really fun to be able to be a part of that from the portfolio side and really get to see a product all the way from its conception to the realization. So I think Packer and 570 were those first couple of ones for me. And this year we get to launch even more. So I'm sure on our next podcast, we'll get to talk about a couple of new more products. Very exciting. Again, congratulations, Julianne, on all of your great work and your team's efforts. It's showing and we appreciate it. Yeah, thank you. Now we're really excited to be able to launch our new Recycled Ceiling Made Simple campaign. And I think hopefully it'll hit home with a lot of end users. And honestly, my hope is that some of the people listening to this might go, I had no idea that my Corrugator Brous Recycled, but it is mushy or it is breaking or the tape legs are popping or my tape heads are punching through. And that if that resonates with you, let's talk, let's figure out if there's a better tape you could use, a better tape head, if there's a better way that you could automate your systems. Because at the end of the day, it's all about efficiency. It's all about getting your products out the and into the hands of your customers. And you can't do that if you're constantly reworking. So I'm really excited about this campaign. I think it answers a question that customers have been asking for a while now. And so I'm excited 3M is here to answer that. Thanks again, Julian. Really appreciate it. Have a great day.