As US states embrace extended producer responsibility (EPR) programs, brand owners can proactively design or redesign packaging to come out ahead — and win over eco-minded consumers in the process. In states like Maine and Oregon, new laws are being introduced to bolster municipal recycling initiatives. Dubbed Extended Producer Responsibility Programs (EPRs), the policies aim to reduce the volume and toxicity and increase the recycling of packaging material. EPR programs will also take the cost of recycling off of taxpayers and put them onto manufacturers by taxing them based on the recyclability of their materials. These laws have the potential to create real change two-fold: One, by offering fundamentally expensive municipal recycling programs a lending hand with operating costs, while simultaneously encouraging consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies to reduce their carbon footprint. Given many recycling programs across the country have been suspended due to collection costs and inefficiencies, it’s not surprising that many other states are considering similar regulation.

In so many fundamental ways, environmental sustainability is baked into the nature of the paper and paper-based packaging industry – from the ability and financial incentive to regrow its primary raw material to the biodegradability of its products. As the call for the circularity of product lifecycles is growing louder, paper has always had a head start. And the industry’s strong support and investment in recycling has transformed the circularity of paper products from vision to reality. At a time when there is growing alarm about the low recycled rates of other materials, paper recycling is a stark exception. While the recycling rate of other materials is as low as the single digits – for example, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports the recycling rate for plastics is just 8.7% – 66% of all paper products in the United States and 70% in Canada are being recycled. This is near the theoretical maximum recycling rate when items like hygiene products and long-held items such as archived records and books are excluded. For those grades that can be almost entirely recovered and reused, such as corrugated cardboard boxes, the recycling rates are higher than 90%.

The Andesco Awards, which have been running since 2005, recognise the exemplary achievements of companies in the public utilities and communications sectors. Smurfit Kappa has a strong track record in sustainability and embeds circularity across all its business operations. The fibres Smurfit Kappa uses in paper production are from sustainably managed forests. In Colombia, the company has 44,000 hectares of commercial forestry plantations and 22,000 hectares of natural forests that are protected and preserved and FSC® certified. Click Read More below for additional information.