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Hey guys,

We have had several customers approach us with questions about California's Rigid Plastic Packaging Container Program; what it is, and how to become compliant? I may have mentioned that at last year's Pack Expo in Las Vegas the AVPM, which I served on the Board of, invited Victor Bell of Environmental Packaging International to present on this topic. He and his company work to help international brands meet various environmental and reporting compliancy issues. I have received permission to post portions of this presentation here, for my devoted sustainable packaging loves.

Before I get into the nitty gritty, however, I think it is important to put this legislation into perspective. In its essence, this program looks to increase recycling of rigid plastic containers in California. This is in part to support another piece of legislation in CA (The Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989), which requires cities and counties to reduce the amount of waste disposed in landfills by 50% by 2000 through source reduction, recycling, and composting. The RPPC bill aims to increase recycling of plastic containers (and reduce the amount of plastic containers going to landfill) by requiring increasing levels of postconsumer recycled materials be incorporated into plastic containers sold in California. The law states,

...It is therefore, the intent of the Legislature to spur markets for plastic materials collected for recycling by requiring manufactures utilizing increasing amounts of postconsumer recycled material in their rigid plastic containers only if the use of that material does not present an unreasonably risk to the public health and safety, and to achieve high recycling rates for these rigid plastic packaging containers.

Sounds rad. I like recycling. I like waste diversion. But I honestly don't really get it. And here is why: in 2012 Moore Recycling Associates reports that plastic PET thermoformed containers (plastic clamshells, blisters, trays, etc.) are now "accepted for recycling in the majority of American communities," and therefore, technically recyclable. This was an awesome accomplishment for all plastics and PET stakeholders and the result of years of collaboration, investment, and execution: Industry had to demonstrate to recyclers that collecting PET plastic rigid containers would provide value and not contaminate the existing PET bottle stream; municipalities had to communicate to residents what materials were now accepted via curb side systems; specs for purchasing PET thermoform and bottle bales and PET thermoform only bales had to be created and published; sorting and baling technologies had to be developed to allow for the efficient sortation and sale of PET thermoform containers; and, domestic and international markets had to be assured of a consistent, quality stream of post consumer PET thermoform recyclate. What I am trying to say is that the plastics industry brought their A game when it came to getting PET thermoformed containers included in the country's recycling infrastructure.

Fast forward to 2013 and reports show that plastic rigid containers continue to be accepted for recycling, at a rate much high than their paperboard and molded pulp counterparts. So hey, Whole Foods, your molded pulp takeout containers are all going to landfill, sorry. Unless you have partnered with a local composting facility that will accept the dirty containers for composting, which is super doubtful being that there is only a handful in the country, none which to my knowledge have partnered with retailers like Whole Foods. But I am getting off track.

So great, we are accepting plastic rigid containers for recycling. But are they actually being recycled? Any plastics buyer will tell you that post consumer PET regrind has a cost premium, as you conceptually pay for the process of recycling, which is more expensive than the process of virgin material production (plastics production is a by product of fossil fuel extraction). So we now are requiring brands to increase the amount of post consumer plastic in the packaging they buy even though this material is more expensive than virgin or post industrial plastics and even though these same brands are already sourcing the cheapest products from the cheapest labor pools of the world in order to remain competitive in the global retail environment.

I thought that an economically sustainable model for post consumer plastics recycling could be achieved where the cost of recycling is competitive with the cost of virgin material production (2010 Recycling Report). After further research, however, I have concluded that recycling will always be a cost; the question now needs to become, who's cost (2013 Recycling Report)?

These sentiments are echoed in an email exchange I had with my friend at CalRecycle, the same friend who guided me through the research that later culminated in my 2010 Recycling Report (available above for download). I explained that I have grown frustrated with trying to increase the recycling rates of post consumer plastic packaging because it doesn't seem as though a sustainable economic model exists, which would catalyze increased plastics recycling. In other words, if there was money to be made in recycling post consumer plastics, we would recycle post consumer plastics.

I write,

I feel as though I have arrived at a cross roads of sorts with my research; what else do you think the industry needs to do to increase plastic recycling rates? If thermoforms can be recycled now, will they? Not unless there is economic motivation to do so. Or political requirement? Is that what the California Rigid Plastic Packaging Container Program attempts to facilitate? That is, increasing plastic recycling in California by requiring recycled content in the packaging? Who is supposed to pay for the premium cost of post consumer plastics recyclate?

My friend responds,

You have found yourself faced with the same issue we at CalRecycle (or any group looking to increase recycling rates) eventually finds themselves. There's no good real answer. Once you have removed the technological barriers to recycling, how do you take that next step and actually make it happen? If you ask the free market folks they will say that if it can be done, the free market will do it. If the free market doesn't do it then it can't be done without expensive government requirements and/or subsidies. Others feel that you need to develop the end market by developing buyers for goods made from recycled content and yet others say you must make it easier for the collection, sorting, recycling processes to provide feedstock at a reasonable price.

All of these approaches have been tried for nearly every material and some work better than others but it's very specific to the material in question and nothing is a "silver bullet."

I think you are right that the intent of [CA RPPC] is to increase recycling by requiring more recycled content in rigid plastic packages. But who pays for the premium? Ultimately the consumers (theoretically at least), however the cost of materials would be initially borne by the packaging manufacturer (though there is nothing that I' aware of that specifically dictates how the economics work).*

How is it possible that this CA RPPC program has been on the books since 1991 yet we are still unsure of how the economics work? What is the status of this program? Is it increasing recycling? Is it working?

*Please note: the response above is from my friend at CalRecycle, who does not work on the RPPC program, and therefore can't be considered as speaking on behalf of the RPPC group. I have reached out to the RPPC group at CalRecycle to attain information on the program's success. Stay tuned!!!

I will post Bell's presentation re: CA RPPC program, in my next blog. Thought I'd let you mull this over for a bit.

Below is a 5 minute presentaion I gave on the economics of recycling post consumer plastic packaging for RECOUP's Plastics Recycling Conference. It provides a nice overview of my research. And a sweet mug shot.

Above: Example of PET thermoformed plastic container

Hello all!

I don't know how I missed this April Packaging World article, which describes the results of a survey of 700 material recovery facilities about what types of packaging are accepted for recycling. As we know, to claim a package is "recyclable" means that the package has to be accepted for recycling in the "majority of America communities" i.e. over 50%. As such, this type of research is helpful for communicating the realitiy of recycling in America. 

According the surveys, "Rigid plastic items like cups and takeout containers made from plastic had the second highest acceptance ratings, between 50% and 70% of the MRFs included in the study."

And..."Cups, beverage carriers, containers and egg cartons made from coated paper, molded pulp and styrofoam had the lowest acceptance ratings at under 50% of the MRFs included." 

Dang oh dang! I knew that as per this Report plastic thermoformed containers are considered recyclable as the majority of communities accept them for recycling BUT I didn't know that the acceptance rate was so high compared to the paper-based packaging alternatives! 

For more details on the survey, click here. 

So, who's ready to buy some thermoformed plastic egg cartons?! Go recycling!

To learn about the insane progress in thermoformed container recycling I encourage you to check out my reports, available for download below. 

Recycling Report (2010): the truth about blister and clamshell recycling in America with suggestions for the industry

Recycling Report (2013): the state of post-consumer PET recycling, past, present & future

Left: molded pulp egg carton, limited recyclability; right: plastic egg carton, recyclable 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Chicago—November 2, 2014—Dordan Manufacturing returns to International Pack Expo with interactive displays aimed at educating show attendees about custom thermoformed packaging solutions and sustainable packaging.

Touch, smell, see and er, taste? the latest and greatest bio-based/biodegradable/compostable and otherwise ‘green’ plastics with Dordan’s Bio Resin Show N Tell; learn about Dordan’s Design for Thermoforming Process with 3D package design modeling videos and photo-realistic package design renderings; and, discover how Seeing it Sells it with Klockner’s eyetracking study.

Dordan’s Bio Resin Show N Tell is an environmental comparative of 9+ alternative resins; cost and performance analysis included. By understanding the capabilities and limitations of the available “eco-plastics,” Dordan hopes to provide Pack Expo attendees with the information required to make more informed packaging decisions. To be unveiled in Chicago is fourth-generation algae plastic, demonstrating continuing innovations in synthesizing aquatic biomass for plastic applications.

Dordan is an engineering-based designer and manufacturer of custom thermoformed packaging solutions. All of our package designs are therefore 100% thermoformable and optimize the capabilities inherent in the art of thermoforming. Learn about our Design for Thermoforming Process with 3D package modeling videos and photo-realistic package renderings, streaming live in an interactive package design exhibit.

“Now more than ever, brand owners and their suppliers are held accountable by consumers, retailers and regulatory agencies to reduce the environmental impact of their supply chains,” says Chandler Slavin, sustainability coordinator and marketing manager, Dordan Manufacturing, Inc. “Our philosophy behind the ‘Design for Thermoforming Process’ was to empower them with a holistic approach to design strategy, material selection and machinery usage — minimizing inefficiencies along the way and helping fully understand the sustainability-enhancing measures behind their packaging.”

And lastly, learn how package design dictates product sales with Klockner’s groundbreaking eyetracking study video, streaming in HD in this exhibit from Dordan. By fashioning retail shoppers with heat mapping eyetracking glasses, it was determined that clamshell packaging facilitates product sales 402% times more than paperboard boxes.

Located in the Lakeside Upper Hall, booth #8403, Dordan looks forward to sharing its educational and interactive exhibits with the international packaging community.

About Dordan Manufacturing Co. Inc.

Dordan Manufacturing is an engineering-based designer and manufacture of custom thermoformed packaging solutions, like plastic clamshells, blisters, trays and components. Based 50 miles Northwest of Chicago in Woodstock IL, Dordan is a 50,000 square foot facility equipped with sophisticated software and machining technologies. Family owned and operated, Dordan has 50-years-experience designing and manufacturing thermoforms parts that perform. Dordan Manufacturing is ISO 9001:2008 certified for the design, manufacture, and distribution of thermoformed packaging.

Hello world!

In anticipation of our great country's Birthday, I thought I would take a moment to mention the good people of the Made in America Movement. This grassroots organization works to educate consumers on the political and economic importance of buying made in America products. 

For members of the Made in America Movement, buying American products equates to creating American jobs. And what is more patriotic than supporting a working future for America this 4th of July?!

As an American manufacture of custom thermoformed packaging, Dordan is proud to support the Made in America Movement.

Take the pledge to buy American this Independence Day.

I "graduate" from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in three weeks. Good God how time flies when your mind is being ever expanded by thought provoking discourse. And I have something to say. Not once, ONCE, was sustainability discussed in the context of business strategy. You know what was discussed? Finance. Marketing. Negotiations and decision making. Capital budgeting. You know, fun stuff. And I am being serious about it being fun. These professors are brilliant.

I started work in the "real world" in sustainability-- trying to understand what it was and how to take advantage of it for Dordan; I did an extensive amount of traveling because of this, "networking" with people twice my age and experience. I was a sponge, absorbing every factoid about sustainability so I too could become an expert and help our clients, as I liked to say, "achieve more sustainable packaging solutions." Unfortunately for me and my love affair with sustainability, Dordan's clients didn't care about sustainable packaging; they cared about cost and performance, reliable and convenient service, speed to market and innovations in design and manufacturing. Shocker!

I spent 4 years as Dordan's Sustainability Coordinator researching and writing about recycling in America in hopes that the clamshell packaging that Dordan manufactures would become recyclable. In 2012, thermoformed containers became "technically" recyclable, insofar as the majority of communities now accepted them for recycling. Upon release of this information I was totally PUMPED, for the once impossible had become possible, thanks to collaboration among key stakeholders and investment in infrastructure. I sent a "congrats, plastic clamshell packages are now recyclable" email to Dordan's contact database, assuming that now that thermoforms were "recyclable," the orders would just fly in. Afterall, as a packaging engineer for Burts Bee's told me at my first Sustainable Packaging Walmart Expo in 2009, he was getting out of thermoformed packaging because they were "not recyclable." Well now that they are, you surley will be sourcing them from us then, right? Nope, China!

Pardon me for the nuances of cynicism that intercept my prose; perhaps I'm foreshadowing here.

So back to Booth. Booth, you have taught me that Dordan is a totally kick ass company with a unique and authentic history and corporate culture. No, we are not some fancy pants design firm in LA nor do we pretend to be; we are not a "solutions provider" as every other company attests but a quality American manufacturer that actually makes stuff, you know, with machines. My father and his team built this company, transforming it from a dirty store front operation on Elston Avenue in Chicago to a 50,000 square foot ISO 9001:2008 certified facility whose floors you could arguable eat off of.

What is the value of pride? Loyalty? Business school has taught me that these are qualities that you can't buy nor manufacture; they are what makes doing business worth it, aside from that beefy bonus you get. I believe that owning and running a successful and sustainable business is the best social good we can offer. Lucky for me, that's what my family specializes in.

Sustainable packaging? How about sustainable business? At Dordan, you can have both.

Is this an Instagram photo!? Nope, just an old polaroid of my Dad and Dordan's CEO (in white tee) at old Dordan, circa 1974. Badass.

Well, my last post about Dinner on DePaul, Environmentalism and Sustainability, was accidently deleted, whoops! In a nut shell I was invited to DePaul's Alumni Center in April to have dinner with students interested in careers in sustainability. It was awesome and I heart environmental studies majors. Go science!

Last week I got to attend the University of Chicago BOOTH School of Business Management Conference, which was amazing. The keynote presenter during the luncheon was none other than Mr. Rahm Emanuel, who I almost got to meet after I rushed the podium following his on stage interview. Damn body guards!

After the luncheon conference attendees were invited to various class sessions, like Emerging Markets and Enterpreneurship. I chose to sit in on the Women and Leadership and Business and Creativity class sessions and oh boy was my mind blow.

FIRST I got to meet practically my life role model, Rachel Kohler, who runs a division of the family owned company that carries her name, Kohler. Turns out she is a BOOTH alum; who knew?!

Being in a classroom full of women in business talking about women in business made me really happy. I left feeling totally inspired.

THEN I got to witness a live choreography turned ballet performance right in front of my eyeballs! This "visiting artist" at BOOTH was a professional ballet dancer and is now investigating the intersection of the artistic process and business creativity with one of the University's top thinkers on business strategy. Whoa.

I graduate from BOOTH's Chicago Management Institute at the end of June and am excited to begin applying the concepts learned to Dordan's business strategy.

And here is a picture of me shooting skeet in KOHLER, which is to be confused with Rachel Kohler and Kohler Company, enjoy!