Saloni Doshi / Ecoenclose
CEO “But I always think yeah, if it wasn't a little harder or more expensive in some ways, everybody would be doing it. It is always my answer so it has to be something a little different than what's the norm. Otherwise it would be the norm.” - Saloni Doshi of ecoenclose https://www.ecoenclose.com We recognize that no packaging today - including ours - is truly sustainable. All packaging, even the most eco-friendly options, still has a net negative impact on the planet. We firmly believe that this does not have to be true. What will it look like when packaging is truly sustainable? Our north star for sustainable packaging is circularity. We envision a future in which packaging is endlessly recycled or reused, and virgin materials are made from regenerative resources whose production strengthens soils, waterways, habitats, air quality, and local communities. In this future, every piece of packaging can be and is recycled, so no materials and resources are wasted, and no packaging ends up as litter in the oceans. In this future, the energy fueling the manufacturing and distribution of packaging is from endlessly renewable sources. There are two main drivers of our north star - materials circularity and regenerative source materials. Materials Circularity Packaging is made from packaging and becomes packaging again The average American goes through 4.5 lbs of waste daily, of which 30% is packaging. In 2019, the rate of post-consumer waste in packaging among the largest brands in the US was just 6.2%. After being used just once, about 50% of this packaging is then landfilled, causing these raw materials to be wasted forever. Our envisioned future is drastically different. In this future: Packaging is constantly reused as often as possible before being recycled into new packaging materials. Packaging is recycled to be turned back into packaging when it reaches the end of its true useful life. Packaging is never landfilled, never littered, and only composted when composting is the preferred and optimal end-of-life scenario. New packaging is made from recycled packaging. Plastic bags are made from recycled plastic bags. Corrugated boxes are made from recycled corrugated boxes. Glass bottles are made from glass bottles. This means new packaging is made from high levels of post-consumer waste derived from the same material versus down-cycled materials. This long-term vision depends on a robust recycling and remanufacturing supply chain. In this vision: 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. 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. Because the above is true and recycled content has such tremendous manufacturing value, there is a significant effort to ensure all packaging is successfully recycled. Consumers are fully educated on how to recycle effectively and are incentivized to recycle all their waste. 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. MRFs can successfully sell all of their clean bales due to the massive nationwide demand for recycled content. Finally, all packaging is designed for recyclability. Materials that can never technically and efficiently be recycled back into themselves are no longer used in packaging. While the deep commitment of brands, consumers, packaging companies, and manufacturers is essential to achieving t
