Month: April 2015

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The Myth of Non-Existent Recycling Markets

This past weekend, the drop-off recycling center in GreenBlue’s hometown of Charlottesville, VA informed residents that, due to a lack of re-sale markets, it would stop collecting plastic films and plastic foam packaging. The problem wasn’t that markets don’t exist. The problem was that it collected these materials in one large bin, along with all plastics bearing the resin identification codes 3-7. Separating all these materials, once combined, can be hard. Plastic films, especially, bind equipment in the sorting facilities, and foam plastic is lightweight and breaks into tiny bits. The result? Bales of messy mixed plastic materials, intertwined with plastic films and bits of styrofoam, that just aren’t that valuable to re-processors.

Several years ago, GreenBlue received a grant from the state of California to study this topic. My research project was called “Closing the Loop,” and the goal was to look at how well the recovery infrastructure (bags, bins, trucks, sorting facilities, etc.) in different countries captures recyclable packaging materials. I studied recovery infrastructure in the U.S., Australia, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, and the UK. In my final report, Road Map for Effective Material Value Recovery, one of my findings that cut across country or package type was that the cleaner (more separated) the material, the easier it was to sell that material for a consistently higher price in any market condition. Whether it was HDPE in the U.S., glass in Belgium, multi-layer cartons in Australia, or plastic film in Germany, those recycling programs that asked consumers to sort their recycling up front, even minimally, had no trouble finding a market for their material. The demand exists, but it’s for high-quality bales of post-consumer recycled material. Forget selling to pickier domestic markets — even China has stopped taking our most contaminated bales of materials.
In the U.S., single-stream recycling collection has been increasing in popularity. Single-stream means residents put all recyclable materials (paper, plastic, glass, metals, and cartons) in one bin separate from other trash. While not a recycling “best practice” based on my research, single-stream collection has some benefits, including simplicity for residents and a greater volume of materials collected. But as more types of materials are mixed together, the resulting bales of sorted materials are worth less and less. And this doesn’t even begin to take into account the abysmally contaminated material bales produced by “dirty” material recovery facilities out of “all-in-one” collectionsplastic film recycling where trash and recycling are mixed together in one bin.
In the U.S., we need to increase the quantity of recyclable materials collected. But let’s not forget about quality!If something sounds too good to be true, like all-in-one collection, it probably is. As citizens, sometimes we may have to take that extra little step and separate our recyclables, or due to “lack of markets” our cities will stop collecting them altogether.
Oh, and one more thing: you can recycle those plastic films at local retail store drop-offs! Go here for more information.
 

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GreenBlue Uncategorized

Happy Earth Day from GreenBlue

For us at GreenBlue, Earth Day isn’t just another silly holiday set on our pocket calendars. Earth Day is every day, and it’s our passion to make the world a cleaner, better place to live. Whether it’s our forest management certification program, our recycling label, our material health assessment, or our clean chemical formulation database, to say we care about the Earth would be an understatement. While we all care deeply for the Earth, we all have different perspectives on what this special day means to us.

“What does Earth Day mean to you?”

Adam Gendell – Project Manager, Sustainable Packaging Coalitionadam
“Every day can’t be Earth Day. We need a pointed reminder to celebrate the progress and raised awareness we’ve achieved and also the issues that need to be tackled. To me, Earth Day ought to serve as that special highlight of our work and set the stage for the other 364 days on the calendar.”
 
Shea Zwerver – Executive Assistantshea
“I learned from my glorious mother that Earth Day was in celebration of Mother Earth and all her bountiful resources and beauty she provides. Since it takes place in April, I always think of new life — baby animals being born, plants sprouting from the ground, trees and flowers blooming. As I have gotten older, almost every day is Earth Day to me where I appreciate what the Earth provides us with, and its beauty!”
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A baby house finches that lived on my back porch last year, and are back again this year building another nest.
Anne Elsea – Communications Associateannev
“We all owe so much to the Earth; it gives us white sand beaches, breathtaking Swiss Alps (see below), and my personal favorite, a beautiful backdrop to a Virginia winery (see featured image). Celebrating the Earth at the height of spring is such an amazing opportunity to look at how we can better serve Earth so that future generations will be able to enjoy the blooming flowers and sunny days.”

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My favorite photo taken on a trip to Switzerland

 
Anne Bedarf- Senior Manager, Sustainable Packaging Coalitionanneb1
“I always say Earth Day is Every Day!”
 
Tom Pollock – Senior Manager of Forest Projectstom_photo
“Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, former U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, starting an important movement in 1969 that is now recognized around the world and inspiring great work that continues to grow.”
 
Liz Shoch- Senior Manager, Sustainable Packaging Coalitionliz_photo
“Honestly? Earth Day itself doesn’t mean that much to me! That may sound like heresy, but I try to incorporate environmental practices into my life EVERY day, not just April 22. They might be small efforts, like trying a different detergent or starting to collect household plastic wraps for recycling at my local retail stores. But little by little, I and my family try to think about doing the right environmental thing all year long. My toddler now knows that we recycle certain items and she loves to put them in our recycling bin. Might as well start her early!
Calling attention to environmental issues on one day a year is important, but I worry that most people think it’s a one-day concern. We didn’t create our significant environmental problems (such as climate change, air pollution, deforestation, overfishing) overnight, and we won’t be able to solve them overnight either.
On Earth Day, I think the most important thing is for each of us to take a moment and go outside and appreciate our environment — listen to the birds, look for early spring flowers, even pull a few weeds or complain about tree pollen! Just this morning in my yard, I spotted my first catbird of the year, returning to nest in Virginia after a winter in Mexico.
Making that regular connection with our natural environment helps keep us mindful of the world outside our doors and reinforce our behaviors all year long.”
Happy 45th Anniversary Earth Day! And happy 4.54 billion (and counting) years of being amazing, planet Earth!
-The GreenBlue Staff

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Sustainability Tools Uncategorized

SUSTPACK 2015 — Adaptation and Resiliency

The keynote speakers for day one of SustPack 2015 provided a kick-start to this conference dedicated to issues relevant to sustainable packaging. All three speakers presented evidence suggesting that industry as a whole (not just the packaging value chain) is struggling to adapt to a diversity of “stimuli” — a shrinking resource base with increasing costs for raw materials, changing expectations of customers, investors and society’s notion of what is required to be a good corporate citizen, and hopefully, a sense of personal responsibility to be effective agents of change, helping their companies to adapt and thrive in what several of the speakers referred to as a “highly dynamic marketplace.”
SUSTPACKheader2.132535David Kiron, a professor from MIT and co-author of a series of publications has conducted extensive research to understand the differences between “walkers,” companies that demonstrate a clear commitment, backed up by evidence that they are on a path to becoming more sustainable enterprises and the “talkers,” companies that acknowledge the importance of sustainability but are struggling to understand how to use sustainability as a compass to guide their strategies for survival if not future growth. In short, how to adapt their business models to a shifting landscape with new realities.
I was struck by a couple of thoughts while listening to David’s research. As someone who works for a non-profit organization attempting to inform and build the capacity of businesses to implement more sustainable practices, I welcome any insights into how we might help companies “walk the talk.” It’s almost a reflexive response of American business culture to want to be seen as “decisive,” “proactive,” “leading” and “visionary.” We need more companies to lead by example, to demonstrate what is possible so that others may follow – quickly. As sustainability professionals, we get frustrated by the seemingly inexhaustible energy to want to talk, gather more data, dispute the data, gather different data in order to debate whether one can truly make a “business case for sustainability.” But this is all a part of the process of learning how to evolve, to adapt.  “Talkers” play a critical role in the process of evolution. Their role is to build awareness in their companies and industry sectors, to amplify the signal, creating positive reinforcement for companies when they decide to take the leap of leadership.
Tamara Bekefi from Daedalus Strategic Advising provided a compelling rationale for why companies should continue talking if not walking. Apparently, it’s not only the Socially Responsible Investment (SRIs) firms that have their ear to the ground. The number of investors looking for evidence of corporations that are using sustainability as a means of forecasting and mitigating risk to their business is increasing. Investors clearly see the correlation between the metrics that are used to define sustainable business practices and the more traditional ones that companies currently hold as important and attempt to measure their performance against: risk management, innovation, reputation (license to operate + ability to attract talent), stakeholder demand, competition, staying ahead of regulations, etc.
In response, companies are beginning to integrate sustainability reporting into their annual reports as opposed to treating them as supplemental to their business operations. It will be interesting to see if the investment community also steps up to the plate and realizes it will be difficult for companies to make the necessary long-term investments that more sustainable solutions require and still meet Wall Street’s expectations for short-term revenue growth. Similar to the “slow food movement,” the “slow money” movement needs Wall Street to adjust its financial metrics to recognize and reward companies who are building wealth more slowly (i.e., sustainably) by planning for future, long-term growth. Maybe Wall Street can judge such investments by utilizing a “sustainability ROI” as opposed to the typical ROI of 2-3 years.
The final speaker of the session was Bill Frerking from Georgia Pacific. Bill reminded the audience that much of sustainability is relative and depends on a variety of things: the type of business your company is in, where the company sits in the value chain, who your customers are, who your influential stakeholders are, as well as the culture of the company. One of the basic challenges of operating a business, let alone one aspiring to be more sustainable is the ability to manage different interests of stakeholders when they often have conflicting demands. Bill noted that just as one cannot approach packaging as a monolithic problem or opportunity, sustainability is not a “one size fits all” solution. All companies should realize that the pursuit of sustainability is about resolving conflicting demands (“trade-offs”) in a manner that makes sense to the unique attributes of your business.
One assertion that Bill made in his presentation that I did not agree with was the idea that “market demand” (i.e., consumers) could send clear signals for their preferences to purchase more sustainable products. A common refrain that one hears from companies about why they are not doing more to address sustainable production is that their customers “are not asking for it.” The market can be an efficient mechanism for governing the supply and demand of resources used for production but not necessarily as a rationale for using those resources more sustainably. Thus far, the sustainability movement is still in the process of  educating the manufacturing community about why sustainable production and consumption is critical to the future security of their businesses. The idea that the average consumer has the education, information, and context necessary to make an informed purchasing decision to send a clear signal of demand or preference is either naive or disingenuous, and counterproductive to the work that must be done. Companies who have the foresight, talent, and ambition to lead by example will not be those whose approach is to “let the market decide.”

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Is Trash No Longer a “Weighty” Issue?

Traditionally, we have always used weight (in tons) to measure the amount of trash we generate and the amount of recycling and organic matter that’s collected for recovery. For example, both the U.S. EPA’s annual Municipal Solid Waste Facts and Figures report and Eurostat’s waste statistics for for European countries both report based on weight. Over time, this has allowed us to compare how we are doing on recycling from year to year in a meaningful way. However, the changing waste stream has made these types of comparisons over time less meaningful. At SUSTPACK 2015, one session focused on “Strategic Views of Recyclability and Recovery” and several of the speakers mentioned this changing waste stream issue.
There are actually two related issues: one is the lightweighting of traditional packaging such as bottles and cans made of glass, metal, and plastic. Second, even these light weight traditional packaging formats are being replaced by flexible films and pouches. While the weight of packaging has gone down, the quantity of collected packaging has actually increased, according to Susan Robinson of Waste Management, leading to higher costs for a company like Waste Management to process and sort the same ton of material. Gerald Rebitzer of Amcor Flexibles presented a provocative scenario that purposely questioned the sustainability of traditional recycling at all costs. His presentation put forth two extreme and hypothetical scenarios — one where all packaging is made of rigid materials (glass, metal, plastic) and is recycled at 100%, and one where all packaging is made of only flexible films and none of it is recycled. Which is more sustainable? In the end, Gerald commented that we need a hybrid of the scenarios, but the point of the comparison was to show that traditional material recycling is not always the most sustainable option. In fact, material reduction, the first “R” in the reduce/reuse/recycle mantra, remains the most effective sustainability action we can take.
Both Susan and Gerald suggested that weight, the traditional metric we use to measure waste generation and materials collected for recycling, is no longer relevant. This is because of the changing waste stream, but also because so many other life cycle assessment metrics could potentially provide a more relevant picture of sustainability for packaging recovery. They both suggested carbon footprint as a new metric, but Gerald also put forward additional life cycle metrics, such as water use.
I don’t like to abandon our tried and true weight metric completely for the sake of comparison over time, but I do think it’s time to start adding new metrics to our discussions about packaging recycling and recovery in the future. Should we start reporting our recycling, not in tons, but in carbon dioxide equivalents?

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Sustainability Tools

The Key to Corporate Buy-In: Trickle-Up Employee Engagement?

When you ask any professional from a corporate sustainability leader about the keys for driving their sustainability efforts, you will likely hear a common refrain: Support from corporate leadership creates enthusiasm that trickles down through every corner of the company. This idea was illuminated at the SUSTPACK session, “How to Run a Thread of Sustainability Champions Throughout the Enterprise to Challenge the Status Quo.” Although the nature of the speaker’s companies shared little in common, every speaker attributed much of their success in leading sustainability initiatives to the willingness of their company’s leadership.
It’s something we hear about all the time, and it’s no mystery that corporate buy-in drives any effort through a company, but we rarely hear about how to obtain that support from leadership. The speakers in this session offered their advice. Michael Chung from Johnson & Johnson spoke about their focused and streamlined approach that cuts across all sectors of the business with a simplistic set of goals — making it easy for corporate leadership to understand and reinforce the efforts from the top. Ashley Hall from Walmart stressed the importance of setting sustainability targets that resonated with other corporate goals, never ignoring trade-offs and shooting for win-wins. Tetra Pak’s Carla Fantoni recommended developing internal sustainability champions from outside the sustainability team and creating the desired enthusiasm from within, which was supported by an insight from PepsiCo’s Daniel Brena that we rarely hear: It’s always nice to have support from the top ranks, and if you happen to have it, you’ll likely be in good shape, but it doesn’t need to start at the top. A groundswell of enthusiasm from the bottom of a corporate pyramid can be just as effective — and maybe more effective. Because when employees get excited about sustainability initiatives and spread that energy throughout the bottom ranks of a company, leadership listens.

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Eliminate Toxicity Recover More

Inspiring products showcased at SUSTPACK

Loliware cups (from Loliware.com)

At GreenBlue, we like to follow a sustainable materials management agenda of “use wisely, eliminate toxicity, and recover more.” Thursday morning at SustPack2015’s Innovative Packaging Flash Talks, each innovation appropriately originated from similar sustainability goals.
Jason Foster began the session talking about Replenish, a company and product designed to eliminate waste and save consumers money. Replenish uses a concentrate refill pod and a plastic bottle to create a reusable product that is typically found in a disposable package with a one-time-use product. Foster got the idea for the product after he noticed that companies were not using their products, and ultimately money wisely. Many products (particularly cleaning, personal care, and detergent products) are 90% water, and Foster thought why ship so much water in unnecessary containers when consumers have this substance in their homes already. Thus the Replenish Refill System was born. Check it out – the idea is pretty amazing and it’s hard to believe no one thought of it sooner!

Replenish Refill System (from myreplenish.com)
Replenish Refill System (from myreplenish.com)

 
 
Loliware is a start-up company only about a year old that is taking a very unique approach to foodservice packaging. Chelsea Briganti presented about her company that created the first “biodegr[edible]” cups as they like to call it. Loliware cups are biodegradable and edible! This is a new company that currently only sells cups, but it is incredible to think of other ways this technology could be used. Brigante mentioned the idea of an edible water bottle to be used in marathons or developing nations. At $12 for 4 cups, I might not trade out my disposable cups for edible ones quite yet, but I’m intrigued to see how the company and innovation grows in the next few years.
Loliware cups (from Loliware.com)
Loliware cups (from Loliware.com)

 
 
Next up was Travis Carter of Veritiv speaking about a collaborative innovation his company worked on with Dell. Veritiv helped Dell determine how to use their waste (Old Corrugated Cardboard, or OCC) to their advantage. Through the partnership, Dell transitioned from EPE foam cushion packaging to OCC molded fiber cushions. Approximately 80% of the OCC used for the new fiber cushions originated from Dell waste. This was a great example of how a material can change from “waste” to a valuable resource with the help of collaboration and innovation. I do wonder though if Dell is further working on the recovery end and articulating recyclability to their consumers to help close the loop.
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The next innovation is based on the chemical process of creating a biodegradable plastic from methane. Molly Morse told the SustPack audience about the process and benefits of the Mango Materials technology. Mango Materials’ plastics can biodegrade in home and industrial composting facilities, and initially they are focusing on plastics that will likely end up in nature and could most benefit from biodegradability (marine environments, agriculture, etc.) Currently Mango Materials is focused on microbeads found in cleansers. These beads are typically polyethylene and often slip through the waste water treatment facilities and end up polluting our waterways. This would not be an issue with biodegradable Mango Materials plastic. Sounds like a great solution to a trending issue in the sustainability industry!
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Last but certainly not least, Eduardo Ruiz of the Dow Chemical Company spoke about Dow’s polyethylene stand-up pouch. The stand-up pouch is a game-changer in the food industry as a recyclable alternative to standard multi-material pouches. As a pure polyethylene (PE) pouch, the package is recyclable at retail and store drop-off locations that accept other PE packages such as grocery, dry cleaning, and produce bags, case wraps, and packaging air-pillows. Ruiz gave the How2Recycle Label a mention, as these stand-up pouches are eligible to carry the Store Drop-off Label indicating to consumers their recyclability. Currently the technology is being used for pouch packages for dry and frozen foods and this will likely be expanded in the future to industries such as personal care, detergents, beverages, etc.
DOW
Be sure to keep these folks on your radar, as unique innovations such as these are bound to grow in the coming years!
 

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Sustainable Packaging Coalition Uncategorized

Biopolymers’ Interconnectivity

Tom Pollock breaks down what is happening at the biopolymer field and what was discussed at the SUSTPACK 2015 working session.

New Biopolymers Outlook for Sustainable Packaging

Need more proof that drinking beer can help save the planet? One of the many interesting key global trends Debra Darby, independent consultant of Darby Marketing, highlighted in her presentation “New Biopolymers Outlook for Sustainable Packaging” at SUSTPACK 2015 was the opportunity for organic waste products – including grain as the by-product of the distilling process – to find a new life in the exciting and innovative world of biopolymers.
Bags, flexibles, films, and coffee packaging were just some of the examples Debra cited in which consumers and brands have helped biopolymers products achieve pull-through in industry. Important to making this work will be industry collaboration and communication to drive development to join the ranks of such companies taking advantage of biobased materials such as Natureworks, Metabolix, BASF, Honeywell, Novamont, Innovia, Meridian Holdings Group, and Braskem.
 

Taking the Next Step: The Growing Production of Bio-Based Chemical Intermediates Enables New Opportunities

Julia Allen, Research Analyst, LUX Research
There are signs of hope in the biopolymer industry. Julia Allen, Research Analyst at LUX Research was an excellent follow-up to the previous presentation by providing a comprehensive overview of where biopolymers are today and what you can expect in the near future. Julia cited 7.4 million MT growth of emerging biopolymer technologies by 2018. Much of this will be led by intermediate chemicals, which she predicts is going to be the biggest driver and user of biopolymers. Through this is a constantly changing and sometimes difficult to predict industry, key producers behind capacity growth will be M&G Chemicals, Butamax, and BioAmber.
Maybe one of the most interesting points in Julia’s presentation was that bio-based chemical intermediaries will continue to enable current opportunities and help create new opportunities for sustainability in terms of new markets and applications. It’s encouraging to think about the many positive applications in this emerging market.
 

Bioplastics 2.0: Low-Cost Full Cycle Recoverable Packaging

Ian DeWeerdt, CFO, Full Cycle Bioplastics

Compostable. Marine degradable. Landfill degradable. High Performance. Affordable.

These are some of the most common promises you’ll hear about bioplastics but in many cases the reality is a bit more complicated. Ian DeWeerdt, CFO of Full Cycle Bioplastics, provided a compelling case for why industry is still working on fulfilling some of these promises and what available technologies could help bring us closer to the potential of biopolymers. PHA, for example, is an additive that can help us move toward our goals. It’s expensive today, and Ian suggested that focusing on cost could be an important strategy moving forward.
Why is it so expensive? Feedstock costs and GMO bacteria are the top two reasons. Feedstock yields require GMO bacteria, and containment of that bacteria is a big cost driver. Full Cycle Bioplastics, however, has found a strategy to address this challenge by using waste feedstock and natural bacteria. By working closely with waste haulers and composting facilities, Full Cycle Bioplastics has found a path forward for future PHA manufacturing facilities. When PHA volume goes up, Ian explained, PHA prices go down. And affordability, as we know, is a key component to meeting the overall sustainability benefits biopolymers can offer.

Biobased Packaging – An Industrial Ecosystem Perspective

Denny Hall, Executive Director, OBIA (Bioproduct Innovation Center), Ohio State University

How many national championships is enough for The Ohio State University?

It seems as if they aren’t quite satisfied, yet as Denny Hall, Executive Director of the Bioproduct Innovation Center at OSU (OBIC) gave the eye-opening example of the over 95% waste diversion rate for the total of Ohio State football games at their expansive home stadium. OSU led the nation in the 2014  Zero Waste challenge Denny and his team participated in. Although that’s an impressive statistic, what is more impressive is where waste was diverted to and what OBIC is doing with it.
Bioproducts represent an important economic development opportunity, especially for rural America. OBIC’s “Cell to Sell Innovation Pipeline” is creating new supply chains by looking at working with agricultural biobased feedstocks. A OBIC survey of biobased markets revealed that consumers are not quite as knowledgable about products as they hoped. People think they know about this technology, but when pressed to name applications and companies, Ohio State came up with a rare loss. Denny suggested a need to create a coordinated marketing effort to spread understanding of biobased products and applications that matched the value the indicated for utilizing biobased materials. An excellent example Denny cited was similar to that of the natural food trend. With 2,363 companies part of the USDA bio-preferred program and 18,442 products available in the U.S. – it seems that the potential is there through technologies such as anaerobic digestion.

Certification vs Collaboration – Securing End of Life Options for Compostable Bio-Packaging

Susanna Carson, President, BSI Biodegradable Solutions
Susanna Carson, President, BSI Biodegradable Solutions, doesn’t take “No” for answer. In her excellent presentation, Susanna relayed her story about brand value and waste through the perspective of her company Besics‘ efforts to find opportunities for composting biopolymer products. Noting that it is the consumer making the choices and pushing the market, demand for bio-packaging is clearly gaining momentum. Besics realized compostability needs third-party certification and collaboration through the value. Susanna’s research found that biopolymer acceptance at composting facilities in her region is about 53%. Twenty three percent outright banned biopolymers and 24% gave a “kinda-sorta” answer. The source of the “no’s and kinda sorta’s” was the claim that ‘bio-plastics don’t compost’. Ms. Carson suggested a gap between the science of compostability and compost facility operations.
P.S. An excellent job by moderators Brad Rodgers of PEPSICO and Nina Goodrich of GreenBlue. The presentations and presenters provided a logical and informative flow to a complex subject. Looking forward to see what has progressed at SPC Advance in Charlotte later this year!
 
 

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A Newcomer's Perspective on MRFs

Just before the truck dumped a new load of (mostly) recyclable trash

SUSTPACK 2015 started early Tuesday with a tour of place many consumers will contribute to each week, but will never think about — A Waste Management facility. The tour of the Tampa, FL facility started with an introduction to Waste Management’s (WM) recovery numbers and a brief overview of what materials the Tampa facility can recycle. A few of the recycling figures stood out to me — an admitted newbie to the recycling and sustainability industry.

  • In 2010, the U.S. produced 250 million tons of municipal solid waste
  • While paper and paperboard take the prize for biggest percentage of total municipal solid waste (28.5%), diapers alone represent 3.4% of total municipal solid waste!
  • Roughly 34% of total municipal solid waste is recycled, meaning 1/3 of our trash is diverted from landfills and other garbage disposal locations.

SUSTPACK MRF
The many levels of conveyor belts inside the Tampa, FL facility.

Then, it was time to see where the recycling magic happens. Inside the warehouse we were able to watch as workers made split second decisions about what had to be taken out of the recycling flow. Some of my favorite random objects that people had recycled included yellow caution tape, a dust bin, and two closet doors. It reinforces the belief that recyclability education is very much lacking in the U.S.
While the closet doors may have been an entertaining outlier, seeing how many plastic bags and styrofoam containers ended up at the WM facility I realized firsthand how important the How2Recycle program and website is as a resource to consumers. When consumers see the numbers on the bottom of different packages, they often think it can automatically be recycled; I definitely did before I started working for GreenBlue.
Beyond promoting consumer recycling, the tour of the WM facility taught me so much about the limitations of individual facilities. While this particular facility receives products from a single stream recycling system, many counties are not able to utilize this type of collection method. Single stream reduces the effort required on the part of the consumer, but increases costs at the facility. Dual stream requires consumers to be more educated about how to properly separate recyclable products. The facility representative expressed how he would like to accept more items, like styrofoam, but how it just isn’t possible with equipment at his facility. As an average consumer who recycles, I was led to believe that all recycling facilities accept all the usual suspects: water and soda bottles, printer paper and magazines. This just isn’t the case and it really takes due diligence on the part of the citizen to learn about their local recycling services.
I believe that we communications professionals working in the recycling and sustainability sphere have our work cut out for us when it comes to informing the public about these “invisible” facilities and what consumers can do to improve recycling output.

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Recover More Sustainability Tools

Experts weigh in on Marine Debris at SUSTPACK 2015

Credit: NOAA

Anne Bedarf shares what the experts had to say about marine debris,  a complex issue of importance to many at SUSTPACK 2015.
Dr. Kara Lavender Law of the Sea Education Association kicked off the session with the review of the current science of marine debris. She debunked the idea that marine debris is like a floating landfill; rather, while sometimes individual objects can be seen in the open ocean, most of the debris takes the form of microplastics or ends up on beaches, shorelines, and the seafloor. There may even be significant portions within marine animals and seabirds, but this has yet to be quantified. There are a variety of sources, including waste and litter that flow from land, natural disasters, microplastics in wastewater, and maritime activities, including lost cargo.
Ted Siegler of DSM Environmental Services made the point that marine debris is not just an ocean problem, but an “all waterways” problem that can be seen in lakes and rivers. Expanding recycling to the point where all trash bins are paired with recycling bins, particularly in public spaces like parks and beaches, is one part of the solution. Collaboration to implement financing systems for locally-based waste collection systems is another important solution.
Dr. Linda Zettler at Brown University introduced the fascinating concept of the “Plastisphere,” the colony of microorganisms that can live on marine debris. The debris is surprisingly easy for populations to develop, acting as “an oasis in the desert” and can serve to transport invasive species and displace native species such as the endemic populations of the Sargasso sea.
Well-known expert on biodegradation, Dr. Ramani Narayan of Michigan State University, made the important points that:

  • Biobased does not equal biodegradable or compostable.
  • Marine biodegradability is setting up the wrong pathway for industry and for all of us; it is not a disposal environment.
  • There is value if a product inadvertently enters the marine environment that it breaks down, if it isn’t toxic and is usable as “food.” However, the material can still persist for a long period of time and is not a solution — but reduces risk.

For more information.
The final speaker, Nicholas Mallos from The  Ocean Conservancy made the important point that marine litter is not just plastic. A concerted global approach needed, and their project, the Trash Free Seas Alliance, aims to do just that and apply solutions to developing countries where no infrastructure exists. For more information:
The final question to be answered is: What about the consumer’s role? The point was made that at least in the U.S., we need to have recycling bins everywhere to send the message that materials have value and that recycling is important. Also, teaching children ocean literacy and the value of marine ecology will instill important values that will help solve this conundrum.
 

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Sustainable Packaging Coalition

A Unique Approach to Understanding Consumers

When hundreds of packaging professionals are gathered at an event together, a discussion surrounding consumers is inevitable. It is interesting that we as professionals in the industry make so many assumptions about consumer understanding of sustainability attributes of packages but rarely do we talk to consumers about their assumptions. And when we do bring the general public together for surveys or tests, they are typically addressed with leading questions in an unfamiliar office space designed to get answers and move on to the next person.
Wednesday morning at SUSTPACK, Cara Cosentino of Watch Me Think exemplified how videos of consumer interactions with packages are great tools for better industry understanding of the public. Cosentino mentioned that Watch Me Think started as a way for companies to get to know their consumers. Those of us in the packaging industry are all “consumers” too, so it’s odd to think that we might not be able to, but grasping consumers’ thoughts is a constant struggle. Using consumer videos, Watch Me Think has created a comfortable atmosphere for people to express their opinions honestly and effectively.
Cosentino showed the audience glimpses of consumers (or “thinkers” as Watch Me Think likes to call them) interacting with everyday packages and explaining their feelings of sustainable packaging in general. The organization strives to be an authentic look at consumers and her examples certainly showed this authenticity. A few people in the video mentioned that they prefer reusable and recyclable packages and that sustainability is on their mind when grabbing packages off the shelf; however, a few opened up and said environmental efforts have “absolutely no effect on products I purchase.”  These consumers mentioned that money and convenience influence their purchasing decisions much more than sustainability factors. Regardless of the purchasing practices, all of the consumers expressed frustration with over-packaging. E-commerce, toy, and pharmaceutical packaging were among the categories mentioned guilty of over-packaging.
In the SPC’s How2Recycle Label Program we often struggle with consumer understanding, as we are creating on-package recycling labels that will be displayed on millions of commonly purchased packages. It would be interesting to see how consumers feel about the different terminology used in How2Recycle and how well they understand and appreciate seeing the many different label types (Widely Recycled, Check Locally, Store Drop-off, and Not Yet Recycled). Extensive consumer testing was done during the development of How2Recycle, but now that the label is commonly found on store shelves it would be fascinating to see real-time videos of consumers interacting with it!
In the meantime, we appreciate all consumer feedback through our online survey at how2recycle.info. Let us know what you think of the program!