Consumers want and government demands to reduce non-biodegradable substances. These manufacturers are looking for alternatives.
On Thursday, November 11, 2021, James Beutler, production manager of Paragon Films, loads rolls of Titus hand film onto a pallet for storage in the stretch film manufacturer’s manufacturing facility in Union Gap, Washington (Jake Parrish for Crosscut )
Franz Bakery uses a small U-shaped plastic label to secure each bag of bread.
The closure used by the Portland-based company has the same appearance as the ubiquitous label used to close almost every loaf of bread in the grocery store, but with a subtle but significant difference.
Two years ago, Franz Bakery started using Eco-Lok, a bag cover made by Kwik Lok in Yakima. Thanks to the use of plant materials such as corn and potatoes, the oil produced can be reduced by up to 20%.
As the transition takes place, Franz Bakery is committed to providing more environmentally friendly and sustainable products, partly because it will reduce the use of plastic by 10% by 2023, and recycle all metals, wooden pallets, waste oil, plastic and cardboard in the entire Pacific Northwest. The bakery site uses and converts food waste into feed for local farms.
"This fits our efforts at the time," said Ken Waltos, Franz's vice president of purchasing.
The company said that Kwik Lok's Eco-Lok uses less fuel and reduces greenhouse gas emissions.
"When you sell millions of products, it starts to increase," said Karen Reed, Kwik Lok's director of global marketing and communications.
Kwik Lok is one of several plastic packaging manufacturers in Yakima Valley. They seek to find alternatives to traditional plastic products in response to consumer pressure and new government regulations.
Yakima’s plastics industry provides hundreds of jobs for residents of central Washington. Everything from bread bag sealing to frozen food bags comes from these facilities. In order to maintain economic sustainability, these companies are also striving to achieve environmental sustainability.
The environmental impact of the extensive use of plastics is well known: most plastics are not biodegradable, leaving plastics in landfills and landscapes, and causing harm to wildlife. Plastics are mainly made of fossil fuels, which increase greenhouse gases and cause global climate change.
Therefore, many governments and the public hope that plastic packaging manufacturers find less destructive alternatives. By creating environmentally sustainable products, manufacturers also help their commercial customers improve their products and respond to government and consumer pressure.
Alliances such as the United States Plastics Convention have established benchmarks aimed at significantly reducing the amount of plastic entering the environment and increasing the reuse and recycling of materials already in circulation. The U.S. Plastics Convention is working hard to make a radical change in just a few years.
"Quick turnaround means urgency. It creates pressure to take action-it's a necessary pressure," said Tiana Lightfoot Svendsen, project and communications manager for the agreement. "We have no time to waste. We want to make great strides to keep plastics in the economy and away from the environment."
Franz Bakery uses Eco-Lok, a bag seal made by Kwik Lok in Yakima. It uses plant-based materials such as corn and potatoes and therefore uses less oil. (Photo provided by Guile)
Franz Bakery uses Eco-Lok, a bag seal made by Kwik Lok in Yakima. It uses plant-based materials such as corn and potatoes and therefore uses less oil. (Photo provided by Guile)
Reid said that for Yakima manufacturer Kwik Lok, as a new generation of family business-the third generation-has taken over in recent years, there has been an even greater push for sustainability.
CEO Don Carrell looks for alternative materials for customers (bakery companies and food retailers) in nearly 100 countries.
"Our customers in these countries have their own goals and values in terms of environment and sustainability," Reid said. "Diversity is a good thing for us, this is the right approach."
Kwik Lok launched Eco-Lok in the United States in 2019 and released the product in Japan this fall. The company also introduced a bottle cap called Fibre-Lok, which is a bottle cap made of cotton and wood. This product is aimed at European customers because it complies with French household compostable standards and other regulations.
The company sees these products as a start, but they still need to be improved. Fibre-Lok does not perform well in humid climates. And Eco-Lok does not work in some countries/regions that want to avoid the use of biomass materials.
The company hopes to reduce its carbon footprint by 20% by 2025, and by 2025, 50% of its global sales will be sustainable products.
"We don't have a perfect product," Reid said. "We have many good products. We will continue to research materials science with universities and other partners around the world."
A Titus hand film passes through the Paragon Films production facility in Union Gap, Washington on Thursday, November 11, 2021. Titus is one of Paragon Films' proprietary stretch films, which are thinner than most other stretch films it produces. class. This reduces materials and waste. (Jack Parrish is a crosscut)
A Titus hand film passes through the Paragon Films production facility in Union Gap, Washington on Thursday, November 11, 2021. Titus is one of Paragon Films' proprietary stretch films, which are thinner than most other stretch films it produces. class. This reduces materials and waste. (Jack Parrish is a crosscut)
Paragon Films is a manufacturer of packaging materials used to secure transport product pallets. Its method is to create a durable and thinner film that requires less plastic material overall, thereby reducing the amount of plastic entering the environment.
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, opened a factory in Union Gap, a suburb of Yakima in 2013. It created Titus, which the company claims is the thinnest film on the market. The company's senior vice president of marketing and customer operations, Tim Moar, said it is about four times thicker than mainstream products on the market.
Moar declined to provide specific sales figures, but said the response so far has prompted the company to work to increase the film production capacity of its three factories.
"The limitation lies in our own capabilities and our underestimation of the capabilities of this movie," Moore said. "The demand for the product exceeded our expectations."
Like Kwik Lok, the product is a starting point. The next step is to provide films containing post-consumer recycling or PCR components made from items such as plastic bottles.
However, the challenge is to maintain the thickness of the film, he said. It seems that adding PCR requires an increase in film thickness, which increases the plastic material required.
"You are actually increasing the plastic problem," Moar said.
Paragon Films employee Michael Stafford walks down a ladder next to a recycling machine at the Paragon Films production facility in Union Gap, Washington, on Thursday, November 11, 2021. Films that do not meet the specifications in this facility will be reused to produce new films. (Jack Parrish is a crosscut)
Paragon Films employee Michael Stafford walks down a ladder next to a recycling machine at the Paragon Films production facility in Union Gap, Washington, on Thursday, November 11, 2021. Films that do not meet the specifications in this facility will be reused to produce new films. (Jack Parrish is a crosscut)
Moar hopes to solve this problem as soon as possible after several states including Washington pass laws requiring different plastic products (such as garbage bags and milk cans) to contain the lowest PCR content.
Moar believes that it will not be long before the products produced by Paragon Films will be subject to these regulations, which increases the urgency of developing products with PCR content.
"We will start to see regulations on shipping packaging," he said. "(This) is important for us to be ahead of the game."
Novolex produces more than 100 different types of packaging at its Novolex Shields plant in Yakima, and has developed plastic bag and film unloading points at retailers across the country. The company reuses the plastic resin in these products for new product manufacturing in the company's national factories.
Phil Rozenski, vice president of public affairs at Novolex, said that while regulations drive action, so do consumer needs.
He said: "Consumers have seen the level of packaging waste rise after being so close to their homes, and they are putting increasing pressure on brands and manufacturers to solve the problem of end-of-life products."
Washington State passed several laws to improve the management of plastics currently in circulation and reduce their use.
In October, a statewide ban on plastic bags took effect. According to the ban, retailers charge consumers for plastic bags and must use stronger, reusable plastic bags.
Earlier this year, the legislature passed Senate Bill 5022, which included several regulations to reduce, reuse and recycle plastics.
According to the law, a variety of plastic products, including garbage bags, beverage containers and household cleaners, will require a minimum amount of post-consumer recycled content. The amount required will increase over time. By 2031, certain products (such as household cleaning containers and beverage containers) need to have more than 50% post-consumer recycled content. By 2036, similar quantities of milk cans and plastic wine containers will be required.
On Thursday, November 11, 2021, Gabe Rodriguez uses a forklift to move Torque hand film pallets in Paragon Films' storage warehouse in Union Gap, Washington. Paragon Films distributes its stretch films globally for commercial, non-food related packaging. (Jack Parrish is a crosscut)
On Thursday, November 11, 2021, Gabe Rodriguez uses a forklift to move Torque hand film pallets in Paragon Films' storage warehouse in Union Gap, Washington. Paragon Films distributes its stretch films globally for commercial, non-food related packaging. (Jack Parrish is a crosscut)
Alli Kingfisher, a plastic policy expert at the State Department of Ecology, who is implementing the law, said that the purpose of requiring more products to increase the content of recycled plastic is to create more uses for the plastic discarded in recycling bins by Washingtonians.
The law also hopes to reduce the use of plastics. Starting next year, restaurants and catering service companies are required to provide disposable service supplies, such as plastic utensils, only on request. From 2023 to 2024, the state will ban the sale and distribution of items made of polystyrene, which is usually sold under the polystyrene foam brand. The ban will start with non-food items, such as packaging peanuts, and then extend to food containers and leisure refrigerators.
Kingfisher stated that the timetable is designed to give manufacturers time to make changes. For food containers, they also need to ensure that new products meet food safety standards.
It will take time to develop the technology that best complies with the new regulations.
"There must be a two-way education between ecology and producers," she said. "Our approach is to have a conversation about establishing the plan (and) how we can more easily meet the requirements of the law."
State officials hope that the new plastics law will enable it to achieve multiple sustainability benchmarks, including 100% recyclable, reusable or compostable packaging by 2025. The state also wants all packaging to contain at least 20% post-consumer recycled materials.
Washington State is part of the U.S. Plastics Convention, which recently set the following benchmarks for 2025:
• Develop a list of packages designated as problematic or unnecessary by 2021, and take steps to eliminate them by 2025.
• 100% plastic packaging is reusable, recyclable or compostable.
• Take action to recycle or compost 50% of plastic packaging.
• The average recycled content or responsibly sourced bio-based content in plastic packaging should be at least 30%.
Those who join the agreement, known as activators, promise to incorporate practices into their operations to achieve the goals of the agreement. A consortium led by the Recycling Partnership and WWF will release a report on the implementation of these benchmarks early next year.
The U.S. Plastics Convention, led by the Recycling Partnership and WWF, is part of the Allen MacArthur Foundation Plastics Convention Network, which is an extensive global network of similar collaborations aimed at solving plastic problems.
The goal is to encourage participants to work towards these goals in the face of challenges, including the availability of recycled materials and current recycling and composting infrastructure issues.
"Considering all these issues, what can we do?" Lightfoot Swenson said. "Instead of using them as an excuse?"
Lightfoot Svendsen said the agreement is a way for companies to stay ahead of regulation.
A study outlining recommendations for plastics management in Washington State discussed the importance of the "extended producer responsibility" policy. There, the manufacturer will be responsible for minimizing the impact on the environment at every stage-from design to care at the end of the product life cycle.
"They will be forced to do this at some point," she said. "It is more financially feasible to plan now. They need to know what will happen in the future so they can start the transition."
The Kwik Lok company in Yakima produces Eco-Lok, a bag cover that is made with less oil by using plant materials such as corn and potatoes. The company said that Eco-Lok consumes less fuel, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions. (Photo provided by Guile)
The Kwik Lok company in Yakima produces Eco-Lok, a bag cover that is made with less oil by using plant materials such as corn and potatoes. The company said that Eco-Lok consumes less fuel, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions. (Photo provided by Guile)
Kwik Lok is a member of the American Plastics Convention and the ANZPAC Plastics Convention, the latter being a similar alliance of Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. Kwik Lok has a manufacturing plant near Melbourne, Australia.
Reid said participating in such alliances provides transparency and enforces accountability, and they are fulfilling their promise to reduce plastic use.
This spirit of cooperation extends to Kwik Lok's customers.
Waltos, Franz Bakery's vice president of procurement, said that when Kwik Lok started developing Eco-Lok, it contacted Franz Bakery and asked the company to provide bread for product testing.
The company readily agreed. When Kwik Lok completed product development, Franz Bakery was able to test the product for several months before launch.
For Waltos, the opportunity to test the product is beneficial because he believes that most customers have not noticed the change in the bottle cap.
"This shows that the tab is working," he said.
In a recent sustainability report, Kwik Lok estimated that Franz Bakery's conversion from traditional plastic bottle caps to Eco-Lok would save fuel equivalent to driving from Mexico to Canada several times.
Reed believes that as the company continues to develop bottle caps that can help customers achieve various sustainable development goals and solve major environmental issues, cooperation with customers is essential.
"It's much less transactional, and it's more about cooperation," Reid said. "It's also richer and more substantial."
This story has been updated to correct the percentage of plant-based materials in the Eco-Lok cover.
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Mai Hoang is a Central/Eastern Washington reporter for Crosscut, and she seeks to provide a broader perspective on what is happening east of Cascade and the relationship between the region and the rest of the state. Find her on Twitter @maiphoang or Facebook, or you can email her at mai.hoang@crosscut.com.
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