Atkins Nutritionals, Inc., Denver, reports that it has made the packaging for its popular snack bars and shakes more eco-friendly. Atkins has improved its green packaging profile by choosing a snack bar carton manufacturer, All Packaging Company (APC, www.allpack.com), that supports wind power through the purchase of carbon offsets. In addition, the snack bar cartons are now only produced with Forest Stewardship Council (FSC, www.fscus.org)-certified paperboard. This certification requires chain of custody proof that the forest sources are managed responsibly and sustainably.
For its shake line, Atkins continues to employ Tetra Pak (www.tetrapak.com) cartons, and its paperboard shake wrappers have received third-party validation to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) for its sustainable fiber-sourcing practices. Snack bar carton manufacturer All Packaging Company has purchased carbon offset rights equivalent to the emissions created from 1.4 million kilowatt hours of APC's 2008 electricity purchases.
NativeEnergy (www.nativeenergy.com) has purchased, on APC's behalf, the Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) generated by a Farmer Distributed Wind project in Minnesota. The farmers use the offset funds to help pay for the cost of building and maintaining wind turbines, and then sell the electricity generated by the turbine pool to the local utility, by transfer to the national grid. As a result, APC has received the rights to the expected wind energy produced during the next 20 years. This ownership enables APC, and its customers such as Atkins, to use the logo "Carton Made With Wind Energy" on its cartons.
