GreenBlue's Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) held its Spring Conference recently in San Francisco, bringing together professionals from companies, government agencies and other non-profits interested not only in packaging sustainability, but sustainability overall as it applies to products and systems.

During the meeting, the SPC released the Soft Launch Report for the How2Recycle Label, detailing the findings of the past year. In all, 12 companies have joined the program—Kellogg's the most recent. The soft launch findings verify the How2Recycle Label is understood by consumers, leads consumers to action, elicits positive impressions of products and companies, and meets Federal Trade Commission requirements. 

The Label also proved to be a valuable tool for companies wishing to understand the specific recyclability of their packaging. In short, it is fulfilling the project goal of improving both the quality and quantity of package recycling. 

To help potential participants understand the business perspective of How2Recycle Label implementation, one of the SPC meeting breakout sessions featured the stories of three companies: Sealed Air, Kellogg Co. and Seventh Generation.

Laura Taney of Sealed Air kicked off the presentation focusing on the company's experience implementing the "Store Drop-off" version of the label for polyethylene (PE) films on its Fill Air inflatable packaging. Taney recommended internal training and involvement happen early, particularly with marketing and legal departments. It considered participation in the H2R Label to be a great success, as it:

• Strengthened relationships with its customers;

• Contributed to sales growth;

• Enhanced the value of its products; and 

• Improved overall sustainability value propositions for Sealed Air and its customers.

Sealed Air will be placing the Label on additional PE film products in the near future.

Next, Melissa Craig of Kellogg Co. shared her perspective. The company's goals in using the Label centered on informing its consumers on the recyclability of all package components and delivering a consistent message across all brands, in addition to being the first in the cereal category to use the Label.

Craig found that, because new products were involved, a non-disclosure agreement was essential. The How2Recycle License Agreement now includes an NDA section as an important learning from the soft launch. Finally, Craig found that a desire to move forward quickly must be balanced with an approach that takes into consideration varying packaging types, previously used recyclability language and company-wide communications. The Label was introduced on Special K cereal in April 2013, with other brands following soon after.

Peter Swaine of Seventh Generation was the final speaker. Seventh Generation's focus on using post-consumer recycled content drove its support of the How2Recycle Label. As of April 2013, the company has used it on 71 stock-keeping units (SKUs).

Seventh Generation is incorporating the Label on all packaging as the label art is updated. A key internal tool was creating a "How2Recycle Library" that showed the appropriate label for each packaging type.

Swaine described the need to "run the gauntlet" of departments when doing internal consulting on the Label, including creative, operations, packaging, consumer science, claims, quality assurance, regulatory/legal, consumer relations and brand management. 

For the Label to have maximum effectiveness, additional participation is needed. See www.how2recycle.info/how2join for more information.

Author Anne Bedarf is a senior manager at GreenBlue's Sustainable Packaging Coalition. For information about the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, visit www.sustainablepackaging.org

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