What does it require?

This long-term vision depends on a robust recycling and remanufacturing supply chain.

1. Manufacturers in the US have invested in the capabilities, equipment, and capacity that enable them to fully use recycled content, particularly post-consumer content, in their manufacturing of raw packaging materials.

2. Plastic manufacturers can take in used plastic and convert it into high-quality plastic pellets and, eventually, plastic film. Glass manufacturers can effectively take in cullets to be converted into high-quality glass. Paper pulpers and mills can produce high-strength paper from the same type of recycled paper. Because of these capabilities, manufacturers highly demand recycled content, preferring recycled over virgin inputs.

3. Because the above is true and recycled content has tremendous manufacturing value, significant effort is made to ensure that all packaging is successfully recycled.

4. Consumers are fully educated on how to recycle effectively and are incentivized to recycle all their waste.

5. Materials Recovery Facilities (MRFs) and other single-stream recyclers have equipment, people, and processes to take in all recyclable materials and achieve a clean stream.

6. MRFs can successfully sell their clean bales due to the massive nationwide demand for recycled content.

What are the levers to achieve this?

1. A commitment by the private sector, particularly consumer-facing brands, to the use of recycled materials in their packaging.

2. Regulation and legislation to bolster the circular economy, such as EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility), funds infrastructure investments by placing economic incentives and fees for packaging producers. EPR regulation typically encourages producers to both:

   1. Use low-impact materials like recycled content and

   2. Design packaging to be easily recycled by Materials Recovery Facilities.

3. Consumer education, action, and advocacy are critical to long-term success, though the current state of affairs does not hinge on the individual consumer. Producers and regulators continue to be responsible for solving and improving the nature of linear consumption.

How does EcoEnclose support this?

EcoEnclose’s mission is to achieve a future in which packaging is made from packaging and then becomes packaging again.

We do this by:

1. Increasing the circularity of our packaging solutions with consistent investment. Constantly looking for opportunities to improve the post-consumer waste levels of our packaging. Seeking opportunities to move downcycled inputs to truly recycled ones.

2. Designing for recyclability at the end of life. Working with our brands to ensure their entire packaging strategy is, too. Labeling our packaging in straightforward, accurate ways to promote effective recycling by end-consumers and eliminate vague or greenwashing claims.

3. Developing reusable alternatives and encouraging them only when reusable is more ecologically and operationally beneficial than single-use.

4. Working with public agencies and other community organizations to increase recycling infrastructure investments. Working with leaders in zero waste, such as Eco-Cycle, to advocate for 21st-century waste and infrastructure regulation and to design our packaging to be widely recyclable.

5. Engaging with industry organizations, like How2Recycle and the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, that support the circular economy.

What are the levers to achieve this?

Early-adopters. If these innovations had the same functionality and cost as the solutions they were replacing, they would already be mainstream. So, in general, the companies with massive pockets to produce innovative products with these emerging materials at scale are way too large, cost-focused, and risk-averse to try them.

This means it often has to be the sustainability-focused innovators and early adopters who take the leap. They are excited to be at the cutting edge of environmental progress. They have the patience to deal with new materials and solutions' potential issues and unknowns.

A versatile and engaged supply chain, with players willing to take incremental, calculated risks - running new materials and adding higher and higher levels of recycled content.

Public policy that encourages regenerative, low-impact raw materials. Historically, regulation and incentives tend to favor commercialized, monocrop agriculture - with little regard to its environmental and biodiversity impact.

To shift the tides toward regenerative crops and waste products becoming more mainstream, policymakers must create financial incentives for supply chain members to take the leap.

How does EcoEnclose support this?

EcoEnclose catalyzes innovations by serving as a testing partner for novel materials- iterating and getting them to scale.

In 2019, we said yes when the founders of a local start-up company asked if we would test their novel ink on our machines. Living Ink’s algae pigments are on millions of pieces of packaging, textiles, and products every year. In 2023, we partnered with a promising materials start-up that turned responsibly sourced seaweed into traditional plastic alternatives. In 2024, we launched the Sway Polybag, making the first seaweed-based, home-compostable polybags commercially available.  

The collective commitment of our brand community has fueled many sustainability improvements - big and small - over the years.

The purchasing power of our brands (of all sizes) has spurred innovation in manufacturing. These groundbreaking innovations have since become standard offerings in the packaging industry, meaning our community is creating broad, lasting change.

Research & thought leadership. Novel materials don’t have data, history, and experience on their side like conventional, popular materials at scale do.

It can be challenging to assess environmental impact through a science-based lens when LCAs, impact software, and calculators consider only traditional packaging materials - and doing this due diligence is critical to our decision to back a material or technology.

When there is no clear guidance, we do our research - which we then make public to our community. We’ve consistently led the pack with sustainability thought leadership and position pieces and have watched as the rest of the industry follows. Some of our most popular pieces include Compostable Packaging, Seaweed as a Packaging Input, Feedstock and Bio-Inputs Assessment, Bioplastics Resource Hub, and more.