Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) event Boston 2023 Sept 23rd to 25th 2023
The Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) Boston event brought together over 500 member organizations (companies, non for profits, government etc) to offer information and insights to move packaging in a more sustainable direction. The event is a mix of educational sessions, speakers, tours to local sustainable businesses and trade show. I have been attending these events since our company joined the SPC in 2019.
The authentic changes for all organizations differ but the direction does not. The direction is moving towards less emissions, less waste, more understanding, and more inclusion. All of these are required for systems to change. No one organization can do it alone, yet all play a starring role.
Here is a sampling of the sessions from the three-day event.
Examples of tours of local organizations:
- Keurig Dr Pepper HQ R&D tour and coffee tasting
- Waste Management Billerica MRF (Material Recovery Facility)
- Fenway Park Tour
- Black Earth Compost* I attended this one…see below.
- EREMA Tech Center
- Ocean Spray and Bog Tour
- Wellesley Recycling and Disposal facility
Examples of educational sessions:
- Compostable Pods going mainstream: how brands are driving compostable materials to scale
- Landscape of 2023 EPR legislation
- How food service and retailers are tackling Massachusetts organic’s diversion law
- Designing and developing sustainable healthcare packaging
- Circular packaging case studies from leading retailers.
- A new carbon economy: Innovating to a post pollution future.
- We can’t recycle our way out of climate change…so let’s change the message.
- Oregon’s recycling modernization act and implications for packaging
- Meet the PRO: what’s next for EPR Implementation
- States leading the drive for safer chemicals and materials
- Advancing sustainability in a changing world
Black Earth Composting: I toured Black Earth Composting’s newest facility which is set to open in two months. Black Earth picks up compostable waste from regional organizations and sells made compost mainly to farmers. Currently, more of their revenue comes from pickups than selling compost. To make compost, the right mix of air, water and temperature combines to activate microorganisms. The new facility helped reveal the process in showing the air and moisture piping infrastructure beneath the piles of compostable waste that would begin to arrive soon. The open-air covered structure had multiple bays where compostable material sits and moves multiple times in a process which hastens organic waste breakdown. In the final bay, the once pile of twigs, organic waste, leaves and compostable packaging transforms into compost for farmers. Organic waste laws have aided the growth of composting in Massachusetts.
In 2014, the regulation went into place whereby any organization who generated 1 ton of organic waste per week would have to avoid the landfill through finding other means of disposal: feeding people in need, composting, anaerobic digestion, or animal feed. In 2023, the mandate dropped to half ton per week. In the years to come, the mandate will continue to drop which will cause an increasing number of people to legally have to divert their organic waste away from landfills. Scaling the law over 10 plus years has provided the time for building awareness, education and composting infrastructure.
Our tour guide who was also the owner of the company was asked “does certified compostable packaging compost like other organics?” With no hesitation, the answer was “yes as long as it is certified compostable.“ He went on to relay that the issue is not does certified compostable packaging compost because it does under the right conditions. The issue is consumer confusion as to what is and is not compostable — keeping organic waste streams “clean” of non-compostable packaging allows more effective composting. The guide also advocated for all packaging touching food to be compostable. While seemingly unrealistic at least for now, it would reduce contamination in organic waste stream and increase food scrap collection.
Notes from sessions attended:
- When we compost, we are essentially recycling carbon.
- The Sustainable Packaging Coalition operates on 4 pillars: innovation, policy, packaging design, recovery.
- Between 1 in 5 and 1 in 7 Americans suffer from food insecurity. 35% of food is wasted. Lovin’ Spoonful’s is a Boston based company who connects food leftovers and waste (restaurants, schools, grocery stores) and distributes it to those in need. The speaker said hunger is not about supply as there is plenty of food — it’s about distribution.
- PSI — Product Stewardship Institute is a national non-profit organization focused on consumer product and packaging. PSI is heavily involved in consulting states on EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) laws and organizations to help compliance.
- 135 EPR laws have been passed in the U. S. —18 in packaging. EPR laws are a rising trend.
- Main drivers: The EPR legislation ground for packaging has been plowed by items like paint, mattresses and carpets that have already experienced regulation. This combined with no longer exporting plastics packaging recyclables and anti-plastic backlash has created fertile ground for packaging EPR.
- 4 states have laws in place — ME, CA, CA, & OR
- Proposed bills in a lot of states
- Who is affected? brand? converter? film maker? It varies from state to state and product to product. All will be touched to some degree. Reporting will likely be “waste based” reporting. Composition of the packaging will affect what organization’s pay. By example, what fits easily in recycling streams will be charged less.
- Advancing sustainability in a changing world: John Wilson presented and is the Amcor sustainability manager. Amcor spends over 100 million a year on R&D.
- Three things to consider: there will always be a role for packaging, requirements of packaging are increasing, and responsible packaging is the answer.
- Pressures to change come from…. climate change, consumer recognition of waste, plastics in ocean, retailer mandates (Walmart, Amazon Loblaw etc), golden design rule #6 (which calls for increasing the recycling value of flexible consumer products) and legislative changes.
- Interview: Monique Oxender Chief Corporate Affairs Officer — Kuerig/Dr Pepper
- Look for areas to improve your sustainability impact not only what you control but also where you have influence.
- Collaboration is key. Partnership key in goal setting.
- We need and look for innovation in our supply chain.
- Be curious. Keep asking why and how.
- Infrastructure, education, access. Example: Just because an item is compostable, does not mean it will be composted. We need to be curious to help solve how to help educate, help access and help infrastructure to composting.
- Driscoll’s walking the walk:
- Driscoll’s fruit company—-PET clamshell really helped Driscoll’s become a leader in the fruit (strawberries, blueberries etc.) industry over the last decade. But now the PET clamshell is viewed as evil in an anti-plastic world. Packaging must allow consumers to see the berries and protect the fruit. A task force was created to change and reduce packaging impact. They did 4 things:
- Reduced material used in clamshells. Use of PCR
- Did a Life Cycle Analysis to determine clamshell had a lower overall environmental impact than alternatives.
- Devoted resourced to helping close recycling loops for clamshells.
- Reduced/Reconsidered secondary and tertiary packaging.
- Driscoll’s fruit company—-PET clamshell really helped Driscoll’s become a leader in the fruit (strawberries, blueberries etc.) industry over the last decade. But now the PET clamshell is viewed as evil in an anti-plastic world. Packaging must allow consumers to see the berries and protect the fruit. A task force was created to change and reduce packaging impact. They did 4 things:
- SpecRight…. Laura Foti
- What was… Spreadsheets and pdfs, One time reporting, Profits over sustainability, fewer SKUs
- What is…. Digital data, real-time, sustainability as a mandate, SKU zilla (speaks to innovation)
- Want to make decision making faster. How? With better more accurate data. Sustainability software helps.
- Goal is less data chasing and more time innovating.
The Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) has multiple events each year and lots of educational resources.
For more information (or membership application), visit www.sustainablepackaging.org.