Month: October 2015

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GreenBlue Sustainable Packaging Coalition

Debate on Bag Bans is Centerpiece for Hot Button Topics Addressed at SPC Advance

Sustainable Packaging Coalition annual conference encourages dialogue and collaboration among leading brands, government agencies, and NGOs

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Brad Rodgers from PepsiCo poses with leading opponent and proponent of bag bans, Marcus Erisken from 5 Gyres (center) and Phil Rozenski from NOVOLEX (right) Photo by Holly Elmore, of Elemental Impact

 
The Sustainable Packaging Coalition’s members-only conference, SPC Advance, provided a forum for industry to engage in dialogue and education on a number of important issues affecting packaging sustainability, punctuated by a lively debate on legislation banning plastic shopping bags.
Nearly 200 attendees from every major stakeholder group convened in Charlotte, NC to address topics including Federal Trade Commission compliance, Extended Producer Responsibility, and the recent wave of local and regional regulatory requirements for foodservice packaging.
The debate on bag bans provided the highlight of the conference, with Marcus Eriksen from 5 Gyres providing a compelling set of arguments to support the environmental rationale for banning plastic shopping bags and Phil Rozenski from NOVOLEX delivering a counterpoint with an equally convincing presentation to persuade the audience that plastic bags have their place in a sustainable materials economy. After both presenters delivered their arguments, a robust Q&A and discussion revealed that common ground exists between environmental activists and the packaging industry: the SPC’s How2Recycle labeling system, which both parties agree facilitates and encourages consumer recycling behaviors. The conference provided a forum for many contentious issues facing the packaging industry, but the collaborative atmosphere fostered more discovery of common ground than widening of divides.
The program at SPC Advance was not restricted to controversial issues, however, and attendees were offered numerous opportunities to engage in collective work to move the needle on today’s opportunities in sustainable packaging including recovery of hard-to-recycle plastics, the role of packaging in the recently popularized concept of the Circular Economy, and the sustainability considerations for pharmaceutical packaging. Attendees heard from several leading business thinkers, highlighted by an energizing keynote presentation from Domtar CEO John Williams, who reminded the audience that “You should tell your own sustainability story in your own authentic way to the audiences that you care most about.”
Networking and education remained a mainstay at SPC Advance 2016, and attendees found ample opportunities to make new connections and reflect on the content of the program at activities including a catered rooftop pool reception, a pub crawl through downtown Charlotte, and tours of material recovery facilities and fiber-producing woodlands. By the end of the conference, SPC Advance attendees were left with new connections, new ideas, and a deep appreciation for the confluence of environmental activism, voluntary industry initiatives, governmental regulation, and the future of sustainable packaging.
 
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SPC Advance: Charlotte Compost tour

Composting at Earth Farms Organics is growing as more local businesses and institutions recycle their food waste. Mr. Lanier expects to see an organics ban in North Carolina within 10 years.

On Day 3 of SPC Advance, Anne Bedarf and Ryan Cooper lead a tour of Earth Farms Organics Composting Operation.

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GreenBlue Sustainable Packaging Coalition

Sustainable Packaging Coalition says goodbye to 3 Executive Committee Members

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Victor Bell, Steve Mahler, and Brad Rogers are finishing their three-year term on the SPC Executive Committee

 
Every fall, the SPC holds elections for the distinguished Executive Committee. The nine elected committee members join one GreenBlue representative and serve as advisors to GreenBlue’s Sustainable Packaging Coalition for three year terms. In their advisory capacity, the Executive Committee provides strategic and fiscal guidances on meetings, events, projects, and all other aspects of the Coalition. The three Executive Committee members who are ending their term this year are Brad Rodgers, Victor Bell, and Steve Mahler. All three have shown dedication to advancing sustainable packaging and have contributed countless hours and an incredible amount of their expertise to the Sustainable Packaging Coalition. Before we welcome three new Executive Committee members, we want to give thanks to Victor, Steve, and Brad for their dedication to the SPC over their term.

Victor Bell

Environmental Packaging International

President
Victor has been a supportive member of the SPC since the very beginning of the Coalition, and has brought his deep institutional knowledge of the SPC to EC discussions. Over the past three years he has played a valuable role in SPC events by shaping conference agendas and moderating panels, and continues to support the adoption and use of the SPC’s COMPASS life cycle assessment tool. His support and passion for the SPC are undeniable, and he’s been an outgoing ambassador for the SPC over the years and has been responsible for recruiting a number of great new members.

Steve Mahler

Caraustar Industries Inc.

Design Manager
During his time on the Executive Committee, Steve has been a strong voice representing packaging converters in the membership. He spearheaded the Consumer Education and Outreach Industry Leadership Committee’s work on a fun and innovative student video challenge on orange juice packaging. However, most of us will remember him as the creator and champion of the “Trashies” packaging awards. Steve’s goal was to bring the packaging community together for a fun event to recognize that exceptional people, partnerships, public awareness work, and processes are necessary to achieve sustainable packaging. We think he succeeded and can’t wait to see him emcee the next Trashies at SustPack 2016 in Chicago!

Brad Rodgers

Pepsico

Director of Sustainable Packaging, Advanced Materials Research
As an EC member, Brad has been an outgoing and generous resource for the members, willingly sharing his knowledge and time. Brad served on the organizing committee for SustPack 2015 and has generously supported the SPC’s work by sponsoring Coalition events. His support of the Essentials of Sustainable Packaging course, the Biopolymers Working Group, and the Multi-Laminate Flexible Recovery Industry Leadership Committee has been instrumental to the ongoing success of the initiatives. As he rolls off the Executive Committee, Brad will continue to serve in a leadership role on the SPC Brand Council, recently established to discuss how brand owners can lead the broader sustainable packaging agenda.
 

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Uncategorized

The SPC response to "Reign of Recycling"

I am deeply troubled by Mr. Tierney’s one-dimensional view of the value of recycling. Landfill costs do not reflect the true cost of natural capital impacts.  To use cost of landfilling as the benchmark to determine value of recycling is missing the point. Enlightened industry sectors in the U.S.   have started to embrace circular economy concepts. The increased interest is driven by the recognition that we cannot continue our linear approach to taking, making and wasting our resources. Our current economic system does not have a way to account for the natural and social capital that it needs as inputs to keep functioning profitably.
Mr. Tierney argues that “For centuries, the real cost of labor has been increasing while the real cost of raw materials has been declining.” Many materials are in increasingly short supply and commodities are not continuing to behave the way they have in the past. According to the World Bank, commodity prices have historically been inversely related to growth. This relationship changed in 2000 when resource prices that had been declining since 1900 started to increase rapidly.1 Massive linear overconsumption is not sustainable. The circular economy supports keeping materials in circulation for their highest and best use. It is a system that is restorative or regenerative by design.
Our current recycling infrastructure is under-supported. As a society we have recognized the importance of recycling materials but we have not committed to the cost of building an infrastructure that will allow us to keep the materials clean and separate for their highest and best use. We need to work to increase consumer participation, use technology to create the appropriate infrastructure and develop markets for the materials we collect. The private and public sector must work together to develop the best solutions.
The good news is that the recycling industry is the center of attention for innovation relating to the changing mix of materials that are being recycled.
Work is underway to develop markets for many types of rigid plastics and to test new technologies for collecting and sorting flexible films.

To bury our heads along with valuable materials just doesn’t make sense.
 
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The Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) is a project of GreenBlue, a nonprofit dedicated to the sustainable use of materials in society.  The SPC is a membership-based group that brings together business, educational institutions, and government agencies to collectively broaden the understanding of packaging sustainability and develop meaningful improvements for packaging solutions. 
 
 
 

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Circular Economy Technology and Innovation at SPC Advance

Representatives from Kimberly-Clark, MHG, Recycling Partnership, Braskem, and Printpack gathered on stage the last day of SPC Advance to discuss advancement of the circular economy through technologies and innovations. Braskem presented in conjunction with Printpack about their collaborations on bioplastic. Mikel Knight and Joe Jankowski presented the environmental benefits of bioplastics, including the lower carbon footprint than typical plastics and the recyclability. Ben Jarrett discussed Kimberly Clark’s use of wheat-straw (a wheat by-product) and bamboo as a feedstock for some of their paper products such as a line of toilet paper. Jarrett encouraged attendees to explore the LCAs comparing the associated impacts of the different feed stocks. For example the use of virgin and recycled fibers versus the use of bamboo fiber, or wheat-straw fiber
The last speaker on the panel was Keefe Harrison, Executive Director of the Recycling Partnership. Recycling might not a new technology or innovation, however, recycled material as a feedstock is a key element in advancing the circular economy. As Keefe Harrison stated:

“recycling is about developing feed stocks.”

Keefe places committed communities at the top of a list for “6 aspects of a healthy recycling system approach.”
“Local governments are the means by which recycled materials is captured within American communities,” said Harrison. “Local governments provide access to recycling to their residents. Whether that access is a drop-off location or curbside pick-up. When a government is capturing recyclables then they have a consistent feedstock supply.”
The important role of local governments was echoed throughout the conference. As expressed by several SPC Advance speakers, the variance in recyclable materials across regions, states and counties plays a major recycling challenge. Neighboring counties could accept different materials depending on where they are sending the material. Amy Duquette with HAVI Global Solutions spoke on how in her current position she will sometimes call up governments to discuss whether or not certain materials are accepted in their recycling systems. As a company that produces consumer packaging there is a sense of responsibility to create packaging that is recoverable. However, the recoverability can drastically change depending on the infrastructure, regulations, and access in an area. Cities such as Seattle are leading the way in recycling and composting efforts. Other municipalities can join by providing adequate access to recycling for their residents. The Recycling Partnership works to help municipalities scale up recycling efforts in communities.
Increased recycling rates as well as the use of alternative materials will help lead the U.S. toward a circular economy.

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Pharmaceutical and Biopolymers ILCs launch at SPC Advance

As one of the first working sessions to kick-off SPC Advance, the combined pharmaceutical and biopolymers brainstorming sessions generated a number of innovative ideas and set-up the process for members to engage in the two projects moving forward. There was interesting overlap in these two initiatives as both the pharmaceutical and biopolymer industries are utilizing cutting-edge technologies and present significant opportunities for innovation. We are very excited to now have both of these new ILCs off the ground and running!
Members shared a number of innovative ideas during pharmaceutical packaging brainstorming session with everyone agreeing that there are real sustainability gains to be made in both material sourcing and recovery areas of the value chain. Cold chain packaging was described by members as an example  where there is a need for solid thinking and supply chain collaboration around how to recover and/or reuse materials. The group also  discussed the need for dialogue across the supply chain, new initiatives drugstore companies are exploring, medical/hospital waste needs, and over-the-counter bottle and label recovery. It was an excellent brainstorming session that helped define the focus area (or areas) of the ILC as we move forward.
In the fascinating and emerging world of biopolymers, attendees  heard a number of valuable insights from members, most of all concerning the need for better education in the marketplace. For example, the prevailing (and incorrect) thinking that feedstocks for biopolymers necessarily disrupt what would otherwise be a food supply. Not the case. Biopolymer feedstocks are often residual material that normally gets sent to the landfill. But more than anything else, the discussion was very much focused on the potential that biopolymers present and the exciting opportunity that the SPC member companies have in exploring ways to bring these materials to the mainstream and leverage environmental benefits.
Thank you to Rob Fitzgerald, Director of Sustainable Packaging, The Estee Lauder Companies Inc.; and Owen Schultz, Vice President of Business Development, Earth Renewable for volunteering as co-chairs of the Biopolymers Working Group. Also thank you to Jason Sawicki, Senior Manager Operational Excellence and Packaging, Genentech; and Guy Gagnon of Ecolopharm for volunteering as co-chairs of the the Pharma Packaging Working Group.
Companies signed up to the Pharmaceutical Packaging and Biopolymers Working Group should look for invitations to the first conference calls to be held for each group in early November.
Through strong member support, an informed and science-based approach, supply chain collaborations and continuous outreach, the goal of the Pharmaceutical Packaging and Biopolymers Working Group is to understand the benefits, identify roadblocks and challenges, and develop solutions to bring innovations to market in a meaningful way.
 

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GreenBlue Sustainable Packaging Coalition

Brand owners provide insights into moving sustainability forward within their companies

Brad Rogers (PepsiCo), Julie Zaniewski (Unilever), Amy Duquette (Havi Global Solutions), Kim Carswell (Target), and Nina Goodrich (SPC & GreenBlue) during the Setting the Agenda panel.

Attendees at the last session of SPC Advance heard honest responses from leading brand owners on how they are moving sustainable packaging forward within their companies. Panelists Kim Carswell from Target, Brad Rodgers from PepsiCo, Amy Duquette from HAVI Global Solutions, and Julie Zaniewski from Unilever were presented with an array of questions from the moderator, SPC Director, Nina Goodrich.
Weeks prior to the SPC Advance, SPC staff convened to brainstorm the questions that would be used during this panel. It was a fun process, and since then I had been looking forward to this panel. My expectations were exceeded as the panelists offered genuine responses and insights on sustainability from their experiences at their Fortune 500 companies.
Here are a few highlights that stuck with me:
“Packaging is a gateway to our consumers,” stated Kim Carswell, an eloquent description of how a brand owner could view packaging. Carswell went on saying that Target likes to give consumers alternative options for the products/packaging end-of-life, instead of the materials having to go to landfill. Target is constantly asking how its designs influence end-of-life.
Similarly, Amy Duquette from HAVI (which represents the packaging department of McDonald’s) said that packaging is the consumer’s last experience with the brand and that experience should be as positive as possible. Through mechanics such as the How2Recyle Label, brands can empower consumers to do the right thing, in this case recycle packaging. Amy Duquette expressed that it can often take a long time to get changes made (in this case getting the How2Recycle label on McDonald’s packaging) so you have to have realistic expectations. Companies have many internal steps which can cause obstacles when moving sustainability forward.
Correspondingly, when asked, “How do you get stuff done in your companies when it comes to sustainability?” Brad Rodgers from PepsiCo and Julie Zaniewski from Unilever agreed that their companies are fortunate to have CEOs who are committed to sustainability however that is not the whole answer. At such large, diverse companies it is critical to engage employees at every level. One person’s definition is usually at odds with another person’s s therefore it’s important to provide employees with a common definition of sustainable packaging. Once there is a common definition within  the company, employees can begin to evaluate their products based on that criteria. For example, Julie Zaniewski mentioned that among cost savings and quality, sustainability can become another checkpoint on the list, leading project managers to answer the question “how does this affect the footprint?” Building on to employee engagement, Kim Carswell offered great advice to “socialize the work internally.” Kim offered a personal lesson learned to pause and layout the framework and intent so you have a greater sense of where you are going and the outcome you want to achieve.
In conclusion, a company can move sustainability forward in a variety of ways. Decisions on how to move forward need to be looked at from a diversity of perspectives and holistically. That is why sustainability can be so hard to grasp because it is all encompassing; companies have to think about sourcing, costs of materials, employee knowledge/education, unintended consequences, social and environmental impacts, recovery, reuse feasibility and so on. But it starts with one step. These steps could be visually displaying a common definition of sustainable packaging, putting into place procurement policies, such as purchasing a certain percentage of recycled content, educating staff on sustainability (SPC’s ESP course is a great resource to do this), or initiate a take-back program. I gathered that the end goal is to be holistic throughout the supply chain and collaboration among the different levels is what moves sustainable packaging forward.

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Preview Of EPA’s Strategic Outlook For Sustainable Materials Management For 2017-2022

During the SPC Advance day 2 session that explored the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s outlook on sustainable materials management, Deputy Director of EPA’s Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery, Kathleen Salyer, was able to provide SPC members with a preview of their forthcoming strategies for 2017-2022.
The top three priorities for EPA’s sustainable materials management strategy will be 1) the built environment, 2) sustainable foods management, and 3) sustainable packaging.
Within sustainable foods management and sustainable packaging, EPA hopes to convene and support partnerships around developing infrastructure to handle food waste and end-of-life packaging. More specifically, for sustainable foods management, EPA will promote opportunities to reduce food waste by approaching these opportunities via the EPA’s ownFood Recovery Hierarchy and Food Recovery Summit. Additionally, improving and standardizing measurement of wasted food will be a priority at the agency in coming years.
For sustainable packaging in particular, EPA wants to improve research, data, and policies around sustainable packaging in order to increase information about recovery and material production. The EPA hopes that this improved data will drive industry progress in sustainable materials management, since the need for data is often a strong influence in sustainability decision making.
The 2017-2022 EPA strategy is especially exciting for the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, since SPC initiatives likeregional composting projects and the How2Compost label will directly align with these critical action areas.
EPA strongly encourages interested parties to provide feedback on this strategic outlook over the forthcoming months. She invites SPC members and anyone else to provide comments to salyer.kathleen@epa.gov.

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GreenBlue

GreenBlue diverts waste at local music festival

The rainy weather didn’t stop the GreenBlue team from diverting waste from the landfill at a local music festival in Charlottesville, Va earlier this month12063541_743428787457_8661497749450800568_n.
GreenBlue approached the Tom Tom Fall Block Party organizers to start a composting initiative at one of the biggest festivals in Charlottesville. Luckily the festival was open to the proposal and GreenBlue was able to work with local composting hauler, Black Bear Composting, to begin collecting food waste, paper products, and compostable foodservice products from Tom Tom Fall Block Party.
We at GreenBlue love sharing our passion with the community and getting to do on-the-ground environmental work. During the two-day event, we collected eight 65-gallon bins of materials that totaled up to 240 pounds of diverted waste!
According to Black Bear Composting, by separating your organics to be composted, you are:

  • Saving resources – Landfill space is a finite resource with growing demand. Composting saves valuable landfill space for actual trash.
  • Reducing greenhouse gases – When organics decompose in landfills they create methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than CO2

With the help of a couple dedicated volunteers we were able to not only help compost at the festival, but also educate the community about what composting is, why it’s important, and what items are compostable.
We have high hopes that we will be able to continue scaling up composting efforts in our hometown in tandem with the successful Scaling up Composting in Charlotte pilot project that is wrapping up this month.

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Re-Thinking Acronyms: A Look At EPR In Canada

In October 2009, the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) approved a Canada-wide Action Plan for Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). EPR is an environmental policy approach in which a producer’s responsibility for a product is extended to the post-consumer stage of that product’s lifecycle. EPR had visibility on Day 2 of SPC Advance in Charlotte, where an invigorating panel of experts on Canadian EPR discussed the latest developments across Canada and the efforts in one Province to evolve resource recovery under EPR.
Canada is a global leader in EPR, with many of Canada’s 10 provinces and territories already on-board with an established EPR program or working to transition municipally-led programs into full EPR programs. Participating provinces distribute responsibility between industry or municipality in various ways. For example, Manitoba has had an 80/20 shared responsibility between industry and municipality, respectively, since 2010. In 2014, industry producers took on 100% responsibility for packaging and printed paper waste diversion across British Columbia.
At the conference, one of the key quotes from the panel came from Al Metauro, President & CEO of Cascades Recovery, Inc. “Doing the same things and expecting the same outcomes is insanity”, referring to waste management approaches that underperform in meeting the recovery needs of the changing waste stream. Packaging formats have drastically changed in the past 10 years, and often the new packaging formats are difficult to capture with machinery and systems designed for waste streams of the past. In British Columbia, the aim has become re-engineering the recovery system with EPR as a catalyst for progress benefiting industries, municipalities, and consumers.
Successful EPR in British Columbia involves a key partnership between Multi-Material BC (MMBC), the non-profit organization managing the Province’s residential recycling program, and Green by Nature (GBN), the group contracted to manage the entire post-collection system for the Province. Funded entirely by industry, MMBC services 1.24 million homes and multi-family dwellings, operates over 200 recycling depots and drop-off locations, and introduces curbside recycling programs to more and more communities across British Columbia. While MMBC still faces the tough realities confronting material recoverers and recyclers across the world — such as volatile commodity markets and pressure to keep stewardship fees stable -— the transition to industry-led packaging and paper product recovery has proven successful and worthwhile in other ways. People are often uneasy of change, but MMBC has seen nearly 75% of residents stating that the new system either meets or exceeds their expectations, with many believing that it’s improved. High approval ratings and resident satisfaction are reflected in their diversion figures, with about 116,000 tonnes collected within the first 7.5 months of operation in 2014. Notably, this includes expanded polystyrene, which is widely unrecyclable in the United States.
Partnering with MMBC who collects the materials from curbside or drop-off locations, GBN re-engineers the systems and optimizes data to better inform industry partners. By tracking data on recovered materials, GBN is positioned to work with supply chain partners (such as brand owners) to understand if their products are recovered, to identify areas for improvements, and to facilitate productive conversations.
By seizing the opportunity to re-engineer and redesign recovery systems on a Province-wide scale, the collaboration between MMBC and GNB demonstrates the success and potential of EPR to not only recover more, but to transform the way we approach brand owners and packaging companies as invaluable partners rather than wrongdoers at fault. Thus far, the partnership in British Columbia is successful with an 80% diversion rate that exceeded the required Provincial recovery rate by 5% in its first year of operation.
Perhaps what we at the Sustainable Packaging Coalition need to do is expand our alphabet soup acronyms and consider EPR to mean Every Package Recycled.