Live at PRS Day Two: General Mills, Mars, Campbell's, and More Share Recycling Strategies

"AI really helps me understand what matters. In a world where these requirements are changing so quickly, your speed of understanding really matters," Ashcraft said.

Sustainable design as the first step, not a final checkpoint

The most consequential sustainability decisions are made at the very first design step, not as a final checkpoint.

Gayatri Keskar Ph.D., Global Packaging Materials Science Leader, KenvuePackaging WorldFor Gayatri Keskar, Ph.D., Global Packaging Materials Science Leader at Kenvue, the aim is to move sustainability from a box checked at the end of the process to a capability that shapes design from the start.

Keskar claimed in a session that packaging has to removes friction so a sustainable choice never feels like a compromise. To do this, change has to work across three connected levels at once: the human level, infrastructure level, and the systemic level.

Driving that shift, she said, is Kenvue's Sustainable Innovation Profiler, paired with a partnership with Greyparrot that runs design choices through a digital twin of real-world recovery systems, testing how they affect detection and recovery before a prototype is ever built.

"Many packaging formats are recyclable technically by design," Keskar said. "However, their actual recovery depends upon what happens in between. Using digital twin of real-world recovery systems, Greyparrot's Deepnest platform is helping Kenvue identify how specific components like labels, pumps, and respective material choices can affect detection and recovery rates."

Recycling is an economics problem, not a behavior issue

Many conversations about recycling focus on intention or compliance. But Tom Szaky, Founder and CEO of TerraCycle, focused on economics. He argued that recycling only works at scale when the value of the material, plus any subsidy, exceeds the cost of collecting and converting it, which is why so many materials never pencil out in curbside systems.

EPR can improve that equation, Szaky said, but it's no cure-all. If the funding merelyTom Szaky, Founder & CEO, TerraCyclePackaging World shuffles costs around rather than adding net investment, recycling rates may not actually climb.

Reuse, he explained, isn't mainly a consumer-behavior problem. Across pilots in five countries, behavior held steady. The bigger barrier was retail economics, more complexity, no added revenue.

His biggest takeaway: sustainability solutions scale faster when they align with the incentives of brands, retailers, and consumers rather than working against them. The future of waste and reuse may hinge less on what is theoretically recyclable and more on what is economically and operationally possible.

"Understand how the chess pieces actually move, not how you want them to move," Szaky said. "Then build systems around that empathetic POV."

Strategizing for EPR compliance

For companies working to comply with new EPR regulations, small and individual changes may not cut it.

(L to R) Matt Reynolds of Packaging World, Suzanne Shelton of ERM Shelton, Mike Roxas of Ahold Delhaize USA, Molly Campbell of Campbell'sPackaging WorldPanel speakers from Campbell’s and Ahold Delhaize USA described the adjustments likely needed for companies to comply with these regulations.

To meet the aggregate packaging requirements for states like New Jersey, Ahold Delhaize uses data to prioritize packaging that will make the biggest impact, explained Mike Roxas, Packaging Engineering Manager, Own Brands at Ahold Delhaize.

“We can find what our fastest movers are. And sometimes the fastest movers actually have low packaging, so it’s not that straightforward. So, we’re looking for our heaviest use of plastic packaging,” said Roxas.

For Campbell’s and its large portfolio of packaging formats, EPR compliance will require a varied and strategic approach, explained Molly Campbell, Manager, Packaging Sustainability at the company. Redesigning packaging for only a few categories likely won’t result in full compliance for some states.

“We’ve had to take a step back and look at what’s the most strategic way to approach this. It really has been a shift in getting cross-category support, and telling that story cross-categorically to leadership,” Campbell said.

An invitation to sit at the EPR table

EPR laws are now taking effect across seven U.S. states, each with its own definition of "producer," its own fee structure, and its own reporting categories. But during a discussion at the summit, speakers from The Recycling Partnership and the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC) said progress hinges on getting everyone into the same room.(L to R) Christina Seibert of Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County, John Hite of The Recycling PartnershipPackaging World

Making sense of that growing patchwork begins with collaboration, said John Hite, Senior Director of Public Policy and Government Affairs at The Recycling Partnership. "This is a table that everybody should be sitting at, whether it's local governments or state governments or brands, trade associations, or others," he said. "I believe in a big round table with everybody helping contribute to the conversation."

From the local-government side, that invitation to brands came with a challenge attached. Christina Seibert, Executive Director at SWANCC, said she wants ground-level honesty rather than rehearsed talking points. "When I call, I hope you answer and show up and have a meeting with us," Seibert said. "What I want to hear is, what are your real challenges? And not only how can I understand your challenge, but what's your alternative?"

"I think the more state that we can have singing from the same song sheet and pointing in the same direction, the better," Hite said. "It's not going to be a perfect science. We may wind up seeing some amendments down the road to legislation, but ultimately we need to keep helping regulators understand that incentives need to point in the same direction for them to work."

Coordinating virgin plastic reductions

Cutting virgin plastic from private-brand packaging is as much a coordination challenge as a materials one.

Mike Roxas, Packaging Engineering Manager, Own Brands, Ahold Delhaize USAPackaging WorldAt the summit, Roxas of Ahold Delhaize USA described how the company is working to reduce virgin plastic in its own-brand packaging through greater PCR use, source reduction, paperization, and the exploration of advanced recycling.

But the progress, Roxas explained, rests on more than material choices. It calls for alignment across internal teams and external partners, plus accurate packaging data down to the component level across a large SKU portfolio.

As the company presses ahead on sustainability, Roxas stressed "progress over perfection."

"Data is very important to us, because we have a lot of SKUs, and we have to know where that packaging goes or what opportunities we have," Roxas said. "You have to have accurate data down to the component."