Whole Foods Market’s Rocky Mountain Region is preparing to launch two sizes of paperboard deli containers with a new coating that replaces 100% polyethylene with one that combines PE and calcium carbonate, for a reduction in the use of plastics. Jim McConnell, store supplies and services specialist for the region, says that the use of Smart Planet Technologies’ clear EarthCoating™ is an “in-the-meantime solution” that will reduce Whole Foods’ use of PE while suppliers, including Smart Planet, work on developing a coating that can be certified compostable.
“What I really want is a compostable coating that can be third party-certified as such and third party-certified as non-GMO,” McConnell says. “It would be a real game changer in the industry.”
