Field Notes

The packaging industry, like every other, has long been driven by the need to serve customers efficiently. At its core, packaging innovation has centered around three objectives: protecting the product, enhancing shelf appeal, and managing costs. Companies that consistently deliver on these fronts tend to succeed. Those that don’t, struggle....

In this series, we've been breaking down the five essential requirements of a functioning recycling system. Together, they form the foundation of what we call The Recycling Reset - a roadmap for what recycling could and should be. Our goal isn’t to romanticize the current system. It’s to redesign it...

Here at Atlantic Packaging and the A New Earth Project, we're about more than just making sustainable packaging; we're heavily invested in shaping a sustainable future. This endeavor is fueled by a broader, more holistic view of what sustainability means. As Wes Carter, our President, eloquently states, “At Atlantic Packaging,...

The U.S. recycling system is at a breaking point—and we are all  losing faith. In the Netflix documentary, Buy Now:The Shopping Conspiracy, a searing indictment of global consumerism, a brief segment on recycling hits like a gut punch: the chasing-arrows symbol that has appeared on plastic packaging for decades doesn’t actually...

As states like California, Oregon, Colorado, Maine, and Minnesota roll out ambitious new Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policies for packaging, stakeholders are busy grappling with the major hurdles to achieving the bold targets now mandated. The goal of EPR is to hold producers and distributors accountable for the proper end-of-life...

The Critical Role of Viable End Markets in Recycling In our previous post, we provided a concise overview of the 5 Essentials of a Highly Functional Recycling System, summarizing The Recycling Partnership’s latest comprehensive report on the gap between the current state of our recycling system and where it needs...