Compostable Packaging Collaborative

Sharing knowledge and best practices on labeling and composting infrastructure for compostable packaging, including both fiber products and compostable bioplastics.

Contact

collaboratives@greenblue.org

SPC Team Lead

Olga Kachook, Director of Innovation

Co-Chairs

Eric Klingenberg, Mars

Shannon Pinc, Natureworks

Renaud des Rosiers, Amy's Kitchen

This Collaborative’s mission is to identify best practices for compostable packaging design and labeling, as well as to understand and support the composting industry, in order to catalyze the growth of compostable packaging. We do this through:

• Educating Collaborative members on the challenges and opportunities for compostable packaging design, labeling, supply, and collection through presentations from members as well as outside presenters from across the composting value chain.
  
• Providing resources to empower members to better understand the compostable packaging collection and consumer education landscape, including maps of composting infrastructure and food waste legislation resources.
• Supporting the development of future SPC compostable packaging work products, such as a best practices guide for brands and converters, by providing feedback as requested by the CPC chair and co-chairs, to inform the final deliverable.

On monthly calls we discuss industry updates, research, and reports; hear about trends and solutions with guest speakers from the composting and legislative arenas; and share ideas for new approaches to labeling and designing compostable packaging. 
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Are you a current SPC member who wants to join the Collaborative?

Email collaboratives@greenblue.org

Understanding Compostable Packaging

Compostable packaging is receiving significant attention from brands and retailers. Though composting infrastructure is not yet widespread across the U.S., interest in this recovery pathway is growing rapidly. As more communities look to divert food scraps (currently at least 15% of the waste stream) out of the landfill, composting will be a big part of their materials management strategy. At the same time, cities across the U.S. are beginning to require compostable packaging for foodservice vendors, and retailers, quick service chains, and even airlines are jumping on board.
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It’s not just food service that’s turning to compostable packaging. In response to recycling challenges, CPGs are also starting to include compostable packaging as part of their packaging sustainability goals. Unilever, Danone, and PepsiCo have all included compostable packaging as a strategy for tackling currently unrecoverable packaging waste. 
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What is the value of compostable packaging, and why do we need it as part of a suite of solutions that improve the sustainability of packaging? Compostable packaging is critical for:

• Capturing and diverting food waste from landfills 
• Creating a simplified consumer experience and a cleaner recycling stream
• Serving as an alternative to non-recyclable packaging
• Supporting biological cycles of the circular economy
• Supplementing carbon sources in the composting process
• Supporting soils as a carbon sink through composting

The first step to designing compostable packaging is to understand whether it is the right fit for your packaging application. Compostable packaging should not be a blanket solution for all packaging. Rather, it should be used in applications where it helps divert food waste out of landfills and into compost bins, reduce food scrap contamination of recyclable materials, or replace non-recyclable packaging.

Consumer Perceptions of Compostability 

Increasingly, consumers report a strong preference for packaging to be compostable. Three recent studies help illuminate how compostable packaging is perceived by consumers. 
A survey of European consumers found that 32% of consumers believe this type of packaging is the least damaging for the environment, and 50% of consumers would buy a product for its compostable packaging. (Amcor) 
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In the UK, 85 percent of surveyed consumers believe that food packaging should be compostable, with two thirds of those asked agreeing that the food industry should lead the move towards compostable packaging. (resource.co) 
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In the US, 60% of surveyed consumers called compostable packaging “extremely or very eco-friendly” (EcoFocus), and 71% of Millenials feel positive towards companies that only use packaging that is compostable (Evergreen Packaging).  

Produce Stickers and Labels

Plastic stickers are used on a variety of produce to carry price look-up, or PLU, codes. The International Federation for Produce Standards has assigned over 1,400 codes since 1990. While these stickers are typically made out of traditional non-recyclable, non-compostable plastic, more brands and retailers are exploring compostable alternatives (see Case studies).

A big problem at composting facilities

By some measures, produce stickers are part of the “big three” of contaminants at composting facilities, resisting identification and/or removal and showing up in finished compost. According to European Environment Agency briefing documents, replacing conventional plastics with certified compostable plastics for items that are often mixed with, or attached to, food waste can help reduce contamination with conventional plastics, and produce stickers are a key solution.

Compostable alternatives

Compostable produce stickers are not yet widely available. However, several manufacturers have market-ready compostable produce stickers or sticker components:

• Elevate Packaging, together with Bio4Life, produces compostable labels certified to the European compost standard EN13432 for industrial composting, the North American BPI certification for industrial composting, and are approved for direct food contact.
• Sinclair produced its first 100% certified compostable sticker, called EcoLabel, in 2019. All the components, including the face stock, adhesive, and ink passed testing to show compliance with EN 13432, and is certified by TÜV Austria under the OK Compost – Industrial and Seedling certification.
• Avery Dennison offers compostable adhesives that have passed EN 13432 and can be applied to compostable papers to create labels

Case studies

A handful of retailers and growers have explored using compostable stickers, primarily in New Zealand, Ireland, and the Netherlands.

• Fyffes launched a banana band in 2019 made from paper that was fully compostable and sourced from certified Forestry Stewardship Council approved sources.
• Bostock New Zealand, an organic apple grower, planned to roll out more industrially-compostable stickers in 2020 after a successful trial in 2019.
• New Zealand kiwi marketer Zespri reported that it had been trialing the Sinclair EcoLabel prototype since 2010
• In 2020, PLUS, a Netherlands-based co-op, reported that it was offering bananas wrapped with a compostable band and apples and pears with “biodegradable” stickers
• Dutch fruit cooperative Fruitmasters offers a brand of apples that use compostable produce stickers.
• Del Monte France switched to home compostable banana stickers (using the Sinclair label) to comply with the new French legislation, and will offer these new stickers across several markets in the EU starting in 2023
• In 2023, Zespri will switching to compostable labels for its kiwifruit in European markets

Legislation - proposed and passed

Legislation that attempts to address plastic produce stickers is on the horizon - see the locations with proposed and passed legislation below:

Learn more

• https://sustainablepackaging.org/produce-stickers-a-small-but-mighty-problem/
• https://sustainablepackaging.org/produce-stickers-are-they-the-next-straw/
• https://sustainablepackaging.org/produce-stickers-the-benefits-of-going-compostable/

Resources

Compostables 101 Infographics
The SPC has developed graphics that define and illustrate the key concepts of compostable packaging and composting. These graphics can help companies share foundational information with customers, supply chain partners, and stakeholders such as composter, municipalities, and institutions.

• Why Compost?
  
• Bioeconomy and the Circular Economy
  
• Definitions: Biodegradable vs. Compostable
• Circularity Benefits of Compostable Packaging
  
• The Value of Compostable Packaging
  
• The Value of Compostable Packaging Without Access to Composting Programs
  
• Fit for Compostability
  
• Compostability Certifications Around the World
  
• Home, Community, and Commercial & Industrial Composting
• Types of Composting Systems
  
• Contamination Removal
  
• How to Scale a Composting System
  
• Lab vs. Field Testing for Compostable Packaging
  
• Setting Up a Three-Bin Composting System
  
• Reducing Contamination with an "All-Compostable" Suite
  

Ensuring the Success of Compostable Packaging
The goal of this document is to organize the barriers facing compostable packaging and the solutions needed, as well as to outline the organizations working to address and ultimately overcome these barriers. In highlighting what additional efforts are needed and how companies can get involved, this document aims to spur further investment, research, and collaboration. It seeks to ensure that compostable packaging can be used effectively by brands, foodservice companies, and other stakeholders.

Recordings from Past Collaborative Meetings
SPC members can log in to review presentations from past collaborative meetings.

Understanding the Role of Compostable Packaging in North America
This guide aims to provide a framework for understanding the best role for compostable packaging in a sustainable packaging strategy. It offers considerations for appropriate use cases, insights into composting infrastructure and municipal collection programs, and perspectives on composter and consumer engagement. It clarifies the recovery ecosystem surrounding compostable packaging today, for the benefit of brands, retailers, municipalities, consumers, and other stakeholders.

BPI's Guidelines For The Labeling And Identification Of Compostable Products And Packaging
‍‍The Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI) published new identification guidelines in 2020, making it "easy for consumers, composters and others to identify compostable products and packaging, with the goals of reducing contamination, facilitating food scrap composting programs, and decreasing landfill methane production."

‍Composting Facilities Map
‍The Compostable Packaging Collaborative brings together members from across the value chain to discuss issues, share resources, and identify best practices.

GreenBlue has developed several interactive maps and charts of composting infrastructure and supportive legislation in the United States, available on Tableau Public: 

• Composting Facilities in the United States

• Food Waste Legislation

• Composting Access by Population Density of States, Counties, and Urban Areas

These maps seek to provide insight into basic questions such as where composting facilities are located in the United States and how many accept compostable packaging. Additionally, the maps display where state and local legislation has banned the disposal of food waste to landfills. Legislation that bans food waste from landfills often spurs the expansion of composting infrastructure, since composting is identified as one of several alternative pathways for food waste.

Composting access maps show composting facility locations overlaid on the United States by state and urban populations, with more densely populated areas in darker blue. Information on state and urban populations might be used to calculate residential access to composting programs. It can also be used to identify high-population cities that do not currently have sufficient access to composting infrastructure, and are therefore unable to compost food waste or compostable packaging.

Food Waste Legislation Map
‍The map shows state and municipal-level food waste legislation in the United States. This map can be used to identify which states and municipalities are requiring composting in order to divert food waste from landfill.
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Essentials of Compostable Packaging
‍The Essentials of Compostable Packaging is an immersive foundational course that explores the basics of composting, the current state of composting infrastructure, residential and commercial access, as well as best practices for compostable packaging design, labeling, testing, and certification. 

Access to this on-demand video course is available for free to SPC Members. 
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Value of Compostable Packaging Report
‍The Value of Compostable Packaging Report explores how compostable packaging may enable increased food scrap diversion, building feedstock for compost manufacturers. 
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Biocycle's 2017 State of Organics Recycling Report
‍BioCycle asked states to complete an organics recycling “Snapshot Survey” to collect most recent data on composting, anaerobic digestion and quantities of organics diverted.
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How2Compost
‍How2Compost is a standardized on-package label that clearly communicates composting instructions to the public. Both How2Compost and How2Recycle, its companion program, involve a coalition of forward thinking brands who want their packaging to be recycled and composted and are empowering consumers through smart packaging labels.
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Plant Based Products Council
‍The Plant Based Products Council strives to guide the evolving global economy toward more sustainable and responsible consumer products and packaging.
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US Composting Council Target Organics Project 
‍The USCC Target Organics Project aims to assemble resources that can be used to advance compost infrastructure and compost use in local communities across the United States. 
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Field Study: Foodservice Packaging as Compost Facility Feedstock
‍This field study was designed to answer the following question: How does compostable foodservice packaging compare with other conventional organic inputs (e.g. yard trimmings, straw, wood shavings, grass, food scraps, etc.) in its contribution to balancing targeted carbon to nitrogen (C:N) ratios, providing nutrients, and acting as a bulking agent in compost feedstocks?

Participating Members

Increasingly, consumers report a strong preference for packaging to be compostable. Three recent studies help illuminate how compostable packaging is perceived by consumers. 
A survey of European consumers found that 32% of consumers believe this type of packaging is the least damaging for the environment, and 50% of consumers would buy a product for its compostable packaging. (Amcor) 
‍
In the UK, 85 percent of surveyed consumers believe that food packaging should be compostable, with two thirds of those asked agreeing that the food industry should lead the move towards compostable packaging. (resource.co) 
‍
In the US, 60% of surveyed consumers called compostable packaging “extremely or very eco-friendly” (EcoFocus), and 71% of Millenials feel positive towards companies that only use packaging that is compostable (Evergreen Packaging).