By Kadence Baker
On January 24-26, two Clemson packaging student groups competed in the national 48HOUR REPACK competition. The Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP Southeastern Chapter) holds this annual competition, challenging students to innovate new packaging designs. This year’s competition, sponsored by Coca-Cola and others, opened on Friday with product options announced at 7 p.m. and ended on Sunday evening with group submissions.
Participating groups were tasked with designing and prototyping their custom packages and then filming videos to advertise their repacks within the 48-hour deadline. Clemson students were able to utilize Sonoco Institute resources at every stage of the process, thanks to software and equipment placed in the design and prototyping labs by Adobe, Esko, FujiFilm and others.
One Clemson team consisted of Carter Anderson, Cole Butenhoff and Tyler Gunter. Gunter participated in last year’s competition where Clemson won first place. The group calls their 2020 design a ‘ribbon pack’ which holds six soda cans and eliminates the need for plastic rings.
The second group was made up of new participants, Katie Coyle, Ray Cummings, Lindsay Hardy, Mollie Maglich and Courtney Stewart. Their entry features a series of strawless, rip-and-sip juice cartons that are 100% recyclable.
“This is an extremely time-consuming and difficult competition,” said Haley Appleby, a Clemson packaging lecturer who helps oversee Clemson participation each year. “48 hours is shorter than you think but these teams did a great job. I’m very proud.”
Winners will be announced on April 28, 2020 at NextPack.
