Graphic Packaging International (Graphic Packaging), a global leader in sustainable consumer packaging, has announced the launch of its next-generation Boardio™ machinery technology, offering enhanced multi-footprint capability that transforms how brands and co-packers approach Boardio paperboard canister production.

Brands and co-packers face mounting pressure to respond quickly to shifting market demands while maximizing their equipment investments. When capital is committed to packaging machinery, that investment needs to work harder, deliver more, and provide the flexibility to adapt as consumer preferences evolve, and the new Boardio machine multi-footprint capability does just that.

Boardio is a recyclable, rigid paperboard canister that provides an alternative to plastic, glass, and metal containers. Made from up to 90% renewable materials, it can deliver a plastic reduction of more than 90% versus rigid containers. Alongside winning 20 global packaging awards since launch, Boardio has replaced more than 50 million rigid plastic containers in 2023 and 2024 alone. 

The Proven Boardio Platform, Now With Ultimate Flexibility

The new machine technology takes a proven platform and adds format flexibility through the addition of modules. The new multi-footprint capability enables Boardio production in multiple shapes — round, octagonal, triangular, and square — along with variable heights, widths, and barrier specifications, all from a single machine. Customers simply select modules based on the degree of flexibility they require.  

For co-packers managing diverse client portfolios or large brands seeking to differentiate product lines and serve both large families and smaller households, this technology represents a significant operational and commercial advantage. 

Johan Werme, head of sales for paperboard canister solutions at Graphic Packaging, said: “This new capability addresses a longstanding frustration customers have had with traditional packaging; rigid plastic and metal canisters typically lock brands into off-the-shelf formats unless they have the volumes to justify custom tooling. However, with Boardio’s new multi-footprint technology, we’re putting format control directly into the customer’s hands. That means shorter production runs across multiple configurations, the ability to iterate designs more frequently, and the transport and storage efficiency that comes from delivering canisters flat rather than pre-formed. It’s flexibility that scales with your business, not against it.” 

For co-packers and brands alike, the technology ensures that capital investments in Boardio machinery deliver sustained value as market conditions shift, product portfolios expand, and the demand for more circular, more functional, and more convenient packaging solutions continues to grow. 

The multi-footprint enhancement is now available as an option for new machine orders. 

Packaging rarely stays in one place for long. Before a carton reaches a customer, paperboard may travel between facilities; scrap may be collected and returned for recycling; and finished packaging may move through warehouses, distribution networks and delivery routes.

Each mile represents an opportunity to improve efficiency and sustainability. That idea sits at the heart of Graphic Packaging’s initiative to better understand how materials and packaging move through its network and identify practical ways to optimize transportation, serve customer needs and contribute to the company’s broader sustainability objectives. As part of the company’s Better, Every Day sustainability strategy, the initiative applies a continuous-improvement mindset to transportation and logistics, helping evaluate opportunities across its network.

Watch: Graphic Packaging’s head of logistics shares how the company is advancing transportation initiatives and why they matter to its Better, Every Day journey.

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Every Route Is a Decision

Every transportation decision involves a series of tradeoffs. The carrier selected for a route, the mode used to move freight, the efficiency of a trailer load, and the location of inventory can all influence service levels, costs, operational performance, and emissions. What appears to be a transportation decision often shapes outcomes across the business.

That interconnected nature is what inspired Graphic Packaging’s approach. Rather than pursuing a single solution, the initiative is built around the idea that meaningful improvements often come from addressing multiple parts of the transportation network.

“Customers experience the outcomes of logistics every day, whether that’s product availability, service reliability or support for their sustainability objectives. What they don’t always see are the thousands of decisions behind those outcomes. We want to approach those decisions with greater visibility, better data and a long-term view of how value is created across the network.”

— Domingo Amunategui, Vice President of Logistics, Graphic Packaging

Our Better Logistics initiative is organized around four key areas. Each represents a different lever for improving efficiency and performance, recognizing that transportation outcomes are rarely driven by a single decision or technology.

1. The first is carrier selection, partnering with transportation providers that operate modern fleets, maintain strong service standards and are making investments in sustainability.
2. The second is mode conversion, identifying opportunities to shift freight to rail, intermodal or other transportation modes where it makes operational and business sense.
3. The third focuses on alternative fuels, including pilot programs involving renewable natural gas and electric vehicles in select regions.
4. The fourth is network and payload optimization, an ongoing effort to reduce empty miles, increase trailer utilization and improve the efficiency of the transportation network overall.

“The best transportation solutions align with both business and sustainability objectives,” Amunategui said. “That’s why we’re focused on a mix of near-term opportunities that can create value today and longer-term initiatives that help us prepare for the future. Just as importantly, we’re working closely with our carrier partners, whose expertise, infrastructure and willingness to innovate help us explore opportunities we might not otherwise be able to access on our own.”

Taking a Different Route

A route that works well in one region may not make sense in another. Customer requirements, operating environments, infrastructure, distance, and available technologies all influence the decisions logistics teams make every day.

That’s why delivering better packaging logistics is about exploration as much as execution. Across North America and Europe, teams are testing different approaches, gathering data and evaluating how transportation solutions perform in real-world conditions.

KEY PROJECTS

In the Midwest: Exploring Renewable Natural Gas

In the Chicago-Kalamazoo corridor, Graphic Packaging is using eight renewable natural gas (RNG)-powered trucks. The routes play an important role in supplying paperboard to facilities and customers while returning recovered fiber for repulping and reuse. Powered by RNG generated from organic waste sources, including landfill gas, the trucks represent an opportunity to reduce transportation-related emissions within an established freight network while maintaining the reliability required for day-to-day operations.

In the Pacific Northwest: Testing Electric Transportation

In the Pacific Northwest, two fully electric trucks operate on dedicated, short-haul routes across the Portland area, helping move materials and finished packaging between key Graphic Packaging facilities and customers. The project also required charging infrastructure, underscoring the role strategic partnerships can play in helping new transportation technologies move from concept to day-to-day operations.

In the United Kingdom: Accelerating Electric Freight

Across the Atlantic, Graphic Packaging is operating two electric heavy goods vehicles (eHGVs) on routes serving facilities in the East Midlands and North East of England. The project builds on the UK transportation team’s longstanding efforts to improve fleet efficiency through better vehicles, data and routing decisions, work previously recognized with a Masternaut Gold Fleet award. The vehicles are part of a broader industry effort exploring how shared charging infrastructure, fleet data and cross-sector collaboration can enable wider adoption of electric freight transportation.

Choosing the Next Route

The timing is significant.

Companies are working to improve the efficiency and resiliency of complex supply chains amidst geopolitical uncertainty, shifting trade patterns, extreme weather events and continuously evolving consumer expectations. Additionally, brands are looking for more accurate transportation and emissions data for sustainability reporting, including tracking Scope 3 emissions.

Packaging design can play a role, too, with solutions that ship more efficiently, improve pallet utilization or reduce the need for secondary packaging.

At the same time, new technologies, alternative fuels, and improved data visibility are creating new opportunities to evaluate and optimize transportation networks. For Graphic Packaging, logistics is about understanding those opportunities today while building the knowledge, experience and flexibility to navigate whatever comes next.

ATLANTA, Sept. 17, 2026 – Graphic Packaging Holding Company (NYSE: GPK), a global leader in sustainable consumer packaging, has been recognized among America’s leading corporate citizens, ranking No. 5 overall and No. 1 in the materials sector on 3BL’s 2026 100 Best Corporate Citizens list. The recognition reflects Graphic Packaging’s long-standing commitment to community, environment and governance leadership — an important foundation for the company’s next phase of business optimization and growth.

Since 1999, the ranking has assessed the 1,000 largest publicly traded U.S. companies based on their performance and transparency across key areas of corporate citizenship. Graphic Packaging also earned top-five rankings in both environment and human rights, reflecting strong performance in areas including resource efficiency, responsible sourcing and human rights due diligence throughout its value chain.

“We are honored to rank among the top five and first in the materials sector on the 2026 100 Best Corporate Citizens list,” said Robbert Rietbroek, president and chief executive officer of Graphic Packaging. “This recognition reflects the high standards our teams uphold and our continued focus on operational excellence as we deliver sustainable packaging that helps our customers advance their environmental and business goals.”

The 3BL recognition adds to several independent honors Graphic Packaging received in 2026, including:

• 2026 World’s Most Ethical Companies® by Ethisphere
• World’s Most Admired Companies by Fortune
• Top 100 companies for 2026 by JUST Capital

While each recognition is based on a distinct methodology, together they reflect a consistent record of performance across ethics, sustainability, transparency and corporate citizenship.

About 3BL’s 100 Best Corporate Citizens of 2026

The 2026 ranking considers 221 factors across seven pillars and is based on a continuously evolving methodology developed in partnership with ISS STOXX and informed by extensive stakeholder feedback. Less than 20% of all Russell 1000 companies have placed among the 100 Best Corporate Citizens over the past five years.

Unlike other rankings, all data considered for the 100 Best Corporate Citizens must be publicly available, and there is no fee for companies to be considered. The data and information used for the 2026 ranking were published between June 2025 and June 2026.

To view Graphic Packaging’s complete 2026 ranking and methodology, visit 3bl100best.com/companies/GPK.

About Graphic Packaging Holding Company

Graphic Packaging designs and produces consumer packaging made primarily from renewable or recycled materials. An industry leader in innovation, the Company is committed to reducing the environmental footprint of consumer packaging. Graphic Packaging operates a global network of design and manufacturing facilities serving the world’s most widely recognized brands in food, beverage, foodservice, household, and other consumer products. Learn more at www.graphicpkg.com.

About 3BL

Since 2009, more than 1,500 companies have trusted 3BL to distribute their news to credible publishers — extending beyond press releases to the full range of stories that shape stakeholder perception. From Fortune 500 companies to nonprofits, 3BL combines targeted distribution, strategic insights, and measurable analytics to track what’s reaching audiences, identify what’s resonating, and provide the guidance teams need to keep improving. Our digital media division, TriplePundit, covers business through the lens of solutions journalism and supports brand storytelling through the 3BL Studio. Learn more here.

Contact Information

Media: Comms@Graphicpkg.com

Investors: Investor.Relations@Graphicpkg.com

Graphic Packaging President and CEO Robbert Rietbroek has been recognized by Maastricht University as a Notable Alumnus.The recognition honors graduates whose leadership and contributions have made an exceptional impact in their fields and in society. 

Rietbroek earned a master’s degree in economics and business administration from Maastricht University’s School of Business and Economics in 1996.  

Founded in 1976, Maastricht University has one of Europe’s most international student populations, with more than half of its nearly 22,000 students coming from outside the Netherlands. Its School of Business and Economics holds “triple crown” accreditation from AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA—a distinction held by approximately 1% of business schools worldwide. 

Maastricht’s problem-based learning model asks students to work collaboratively, examine issues from multiple perspectives and apply knowledge to complex, real-world problems.  

“The problem-based learning model at Maastricht University shaped how I approach complexity and ambiguity,” Rietbroek told the university. “Learning to evaluate issues from economic, cultural and social perspectives prepared me well to lead organizations across emerging and developed markets.” 

The recognition follows a recent visit to Maastricht University, where Rietbroek returned to the School of Business and Economics and reflected on the role the university played in his professional development.

A Career Across Markets and Industries 

Over nearly three decades, Rietbroek’s career has spanned four continents, five languages and some of the world’s best-known consumer brands. He spent 15 years at Procter & Gamble before moving into senior global leadership positions at Kimberly-Clark and PepsiCo. He later served as CEO of Primo Water and led its transformative merger with BlueTriton Brands to create Primo Brands. 

Across those roles, Rietbroek repeatedly took on businesses navigating growth, operational change and shifting consumer expectations. He describes his leadership approach as combining a long-term perspective with disciplined execution, particularly when the path ahead is uncertain. 

“When the path is not obvious, the stakes are high, and teams need clarity and direction. That is when leadership matters most.” 

Rietbroek also credits unfamiliar assignments—across different markets, cultures and parts of the business—with shaping his judgment as a leader. 

“Some of the most valuable experiences in my career came from stepping into unfamiliar markets, cultures and business challenges. That discomfort builds judgement and resilience.” 

He encourages students and emerging leaders to seek similarly stretching experiences, remain curious and continue developing the financial, commercial and leadership capabilities that will prepare them for opportunities they may not yet anticipate. 

“Embrace risk, accept opportunity, stay curious, and prioritize learning,” he advises. “Careers are rarely linear—credibility is built through consistent performance, and opportunities often arise because people trust you with the next challenging assignment.” 

Asked what advice he would offer students and emerging leaders, Rietbroek emphasized accepting assignments that stretch their capabilities and experiences that encourage learning throughout their careers. 

Read Maastricht University’s feature, “From Maastricht University to Fortune 500 CEO,” to learn more about Robbert’s career journey, leadership philosophy and advice for the next generation of leaders. 

→ Read the full article on Maastricht University’s website