John Hewitt, Consumer Brands SVP of Packaging and Sustainability appeared on Food Processing’s “Food for Thought” podcast and spoke with Packaging Dive’s editor.
Food Processing’s “Food for Thought” podcast:
“So when it comes to consumer package goods and the packaging that is around them, first and foremost, our companies are committed to source reducing. There have been numerous package redesigns over the decades really, that have just taken material out of the stream. And I think that’s one of the most important elements when we talk about recycling to think about and look at is, hey, before we recycle it, have we source reduced it to the lowest package amount that is available?”
“Andy, one of the things that we are doing, the consumer packaged goods are doing, consumer brands members are doing right now, is we’re certainly not waiting for somebody else to figure out what the solution is with respects to standardization. Our members are actively implementing tools to make it easier for the consumer. And some of those specific tools are on package recycling instructions.
So you can literally flip a package over and know what to do with it. For those items that are not widely recyclable, that you may be familiar with, like a check locally designation on the package, we are integrating a technology based approach through QR codes that allow consumers to literally take their smartphone, snap a picture of that QR code, type in their zip code, and it will tell them exactly what to do with the end of life of that packaging, to make sure that they can recycle it or not recycle it. I think public-private partnerships are really, really important when it comes to standardization.
We are working with numerous states on their recycling program, standardizing rules, standardizing packaging types, making recycling simpler for the consumer.”
Listen to the full podcast here.
Read the full article here.