US PACKAGING LAWS
RESHAPE SUSTAINABLE MATERIALS AND MACHINE DESIGN
As new U.S. packaging laws take effect in 2026, OEMs and industry organizations spoke with Packaging OEM about how these changes affect materials, machine design, and long-term planning.
Areshape sustainable materials and machine design 2026 US packaging laws
As new U.S. packaging laws take effect in 2026, OEMs and industry organizations spoke with affect materials, machine design, and long-term planning
SARAH WYNN SENIOR EDITOR PACKAGING OEM
s several new packaging laws are implemented across the United States in 2026, equipment suppliers and industry organizations are speaking with Packaging OEM about how these regulatory changes affect format selection, machine design, and long-term planning.
Legislation includes expanded polystyrene bans, restrictions on Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in food packaging, and post-consumer recycled (PCR) content mandates.
From flexible films to paper-based solutions, the packaging industry is actively responding to regulatory requirements that impact materials and machinery decisions nationwide.
Recyclability and PCR expectations take hold
Several of the laws being implemented this year center on recyclability claims and raise expectations for recycled content in packaging.
Crystal Bayliss, interim executive director of the U.S. Plastics Pact, shared how OEMs should approach designing sustainable packaging.
“One of the most important things companies should be thinking about now is designing for recyclability and recycled content at the same time,” said Bayliss.
She added that meeting those expectations requires coordination across the packaging
BOSCH REXROTH EXPANDS APPBASED AUTOMATION PLATFORM WITH
ctrlX OS
Bosch Rexroth’s ctrlX OS brings an app-based approach to packaging automation, giving OEMs the ability to run applications on Bosch and third-party hardware.
SARAH WYNN • SENIOR EDITOR • PACKAGING OEM
Bosch Rexroth shared updates to its ctrlX automation platform during a recent media briefing, outlining how the Linux-based ctrlX OS supports a more modular, app-based approach to packaging machine controls.
For OEMs, the app-based model is designed to simplify control architecture while supporting faster changeovers, smaller engineering teams, and production lines built with equipment from multiple vendors.
Bosch Rexroth detailed how ctrlX OS can run across Bosch and third-party hardware. The approach allows OEMs to add functionality through applications
rather than fixed control logic tied to programmable logic controllers (PLCs).
“Our ctrlX automation platform is an app-based system running on our various hardware or even other hardware because we have this ctrlX OS, which is a portable operating system that can run on different hardware,” said Dave Cameron, director of product and project management at Bosch Rexroth.
What an app-based approach means for packaging controls
ctrlX OS delivers motion, vision, connectivity, and data capabilities through software rather than tying functionality
A Bosch Rexroth ctrlX drive on display at Automate 2025 in Detroit, Michigan. It’s part of the company’s app-based ctrlX automation platform running ctrlX OS to deliver modular motion, connectivity, and data capabilities for packaging equipment. Sarah Wynn
packaging oem
to a single control architecture. Like on a smartphone, applications can be added, updated, or removed as machine requirements change, without reworking the underlying system.
“It is very open and very scalable,” said Dave Boeldt, product manager at Bosch Rexroth, in an interview with Packaging OEM. “Security is number one, and then number two is the way that they have the openness to be able to connect to different devices. For packaging, we have the full spectrum.”
That openness is supported through Bosch Rexroth’s ctrlX World ecosystem, which now includes more than 110 technology partners. Applications support standard industrial protocols and mixedvendor requirements.
One example is the Device Bridge app, which allows machine data to be collected without changes to existing machine programming. Data can be visualized using tools such as InfluxDB and Grafana dashboards, supporting packaging use cases such as predictive maintenance, overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) tracking, and energy monitoring across mixed-vendor production lines.
The platform also works with thirdparty controls/PCs from Wago, Advantech, and Dell.
Bringing AI and vision to the controller
Bosch Rexroth is also extending intelligence to the controller level through artificial intelligence (AI) and vision applications running on ctrlX OS.
Recent additions include the Hailo-8 AI module and vision applications such as HD Vision and LumiScan. These tools are designed to support inspection tasks on packaging equipment, including fill-level verification, surface defect detection, and label inspection.
“AI has been a really big hot button item in today’s day of age with industrial manufacturing and adding features with sensing and vision,” said Garrett Wagg, product manager for controls at Bosch Rexroth.
Bosch Rexroth has also outlined future AI tools focused on simplifying engineering and configuration tasks at the controller level. “In the future, you’ll be able to say, put together this motion profile, or something along those lines, into a PLC,” Boeldt said.
Balancing openness with built-in security
As packaging environments become more connected, Bosch Rexroth emphasized that cybersecurity is built directly into the ctrlX platform architecture. Security features include secure boot, sandboxed applications, a trusted platform module (TPM) chip, and VPN and firewall applications.
These protections are designed to support compliance with the European Union’s Cyber Resilience Act, which introduces legally binding cybersecurity requirements for connected products beginning in 2027.
“With the Cyber Resilience Act, it’s shifting the voluntary best practices and guidelines that are now available and making them legally binding obligations that must be followed with any product that is connected to a network,” Boeldt said.
Bosch Rexroth said the ctrlX platform is designed to support increasingly software-driven packaging systems as OEMs balance flexibility, connectivity, and security requirements. OEM
