CPG stakeholders heard the latest recycling insights from industry experts in Anaheim, California, on Monday, for day one of the Packaging Recycling Summit, presented by Packaging World. Here's what they learned.
Coca-Cola's collaboration for a closed loop system
Jim Velky, senior director of sustainability at The Coca-Cola CompanyCoca-Cola saw that its aluminum cans and rPET bottles sold at universities, sporting events, and concert venues often did not get recovered and recycled into new food-grade packaging, Jim Velky, senior director of sustainability at The Coca-Cola Company, said at the Summit on Monday.
That’s why it developed a closed-loop solution at select venues, where it validates, collects, processes, and returns its packaging as food grade packaging for the beverage supply chain.
The company couldn’t accomplish this task alone, though. That’s why it collaborated with MRFs, PET reclaimers, and aluminum smelters to assist in that material validation. Velky described how this collaboration creates a “multiplier effect,” helping Coca-Cola to expand its recycling strategy into communities.
“As this material is going from the venue to the MRF, we’re capitalizing on the other material they have there, and we work out trade agreements with these MRFs to make sure that material is going back to Coca-Cola suppliers. In 2023, we were able to capture over 60 million pounds of PET bottles and aluminum cans, and we have plans to double that in the next year," Velky said.
Danone's consumer-focused approach to emissions reduction
It costs more to save on packaging scope 3 emissions than it does anywhere else in an end-to-end supply chain, according to Kory Nook, VP of Packaging R&I atDanone North America, who spoke Monday at the Summit.
Kory Nook, VP packaging R&I at Danone North AmericaEffectively reducing packaging scope 3 emissions requires a consumer-centric approach, Nook said.
“First and foremost, we try to put the consumer at the center. If we’re changing a pack to be recyclable, lower weight, or whatever it is, we have to make it better for the consumer. It has to be benefit-led, otherwise the consumer will have a harder time paying for it or they’re not going to understand it, and it’s going to be pointless," Nook said.
Finding the right perspective on EPR
Effective EPR systems come down to the right perspective on what creates the greatest impact, according to Reid Lifset, research scholar at Yale University, who spoke at the Summit.
Lifset spoke in a panel discussion on the basics of EPR, real-world examples, and developments in key U.S. states alongside Neil Menezes of General Mills Inc., Ajit Perera of Talco Plastics Inc., Phil Martinez of MCC Label, and Scott DeFife of the Glass Packaging Institute. He explained emissions reduction should be the primary goal to minimize environmental impact.
“We talk about increasing recycling and sometimes about increasing reuse, and we talk about avoiding landfilling, but looking at the science behind this, we know that the majority of the benefit of recycling and reuse comes not from avoiding landfilling, it comes from displacing primary production. When you use recycled content in lieu of primary content, typically less energy is used and that’s where the major benefit comes from. This focus on landfill diversion is something we say to the public because it’s easier to understand, but it doesn’t accurately represent what’s going on,” said Lifset. “What we want to do is reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and so we should be designing our systems to minimize emissions, not to minimize landfill. Those two things don’t always align.”
A shifting consumer focus on sustainability topics
Consumers consider sustainable packaging a top attribute that makes a brand sustainable in their eyes, but the distinct topic of responsible sourcing is growing in importance, said Kasra Eskandari, associate director at NeilsonIQ, at the Summit.
Said Eskandari, “The perception of the consumer is evolving beyond just the reduction of plastic packaging. They want to look at the whole lifecycle of the product. Where is it sourced? How is it produced? How is it discarded?”
Untapped PCR potential in thermoform
Use of PET bottles for post-consumer recycled (PCR) material has grown in recent years to become the majority use of that recycled and reclaimed packaging content, said Megan Moore, program director at the National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR), at the Summit.
Moore discussed opportunities for improvement in thermoform circularity in a panel alongside Jeff Snyder of Rumpke and Zach Muscato of Plastic Ingenuity. She said recycled thermoform packaging, on the other hand, is a relatively untapped source of PCR content.
“We’re not tapping into that thermoform stream like we could and should. According to NAPCOR data, we have excess capacity for reclamation, but right now in the U.S., we do not have the material to feed it domestically," said Moore. "We have a lot of market drivers that are exporting our feedstock into Mexico for processing, and some feedstock is coming in from Asia for processing, so it is a dynamic market. But today, we could scale up PET reclamation by almost 30% if we had the supply. A big part of that is reclaiming the thermoform that are recyclable, whether that’s co-mingled or ideally in a separate thermoform bale.”
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Jim Velky, senior director of sustainability at The Coca-Cola Company
