 | Miranda DuPont |
Location
Skokie, Illinois, USA
Role
Packaging DistributorIndustry
Non-foodJob Title
Director of Environmental InitiativesCompany
Empty BoxesProfile
Empty Boxes is a business-to-business packaging distributor specializing in environmentally friendly packaging services. We provide source reduction/reuse programs that help companies keep their corrugated boxes out of the waste stream while meeting and exceeding their own environmental initiatives.
Empty Boxes provides a Recovery Program for companies with excess corrugated they'd like to reuse, a Reusable Box Program offering recovered boxes for resale, and a host of customized packaging materials to help you promote your company's responsible choice to reuse. In the long-term, reuse reduces waste and pollution, extends a box’s life cycle and reduces the need to cut down more trees to make virgin pulp for new boxes.
In my role as Director of Environmental Initiatives, I support each client’s sustainability goals, determine best practices for environmental sustainability, and evaluate environmental impact savings for clients. I have a background in field ecology, and I've worked in wetlands, prairies, rainforests, and landfills. My specialties include environmental sustainability, life cycle management strategies (recycling, upcycling, source reduction, biodegradability), best practices for industrial and consumer sustainable packaging (tree-free paper, chlorine bleach-free products, recycled content and recyclability, etc).
I believe in the power of business and consumers to drive positive environmental change!
Comments
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Sugarcane plastics are
Sugarcane plastics are manufactured using the agricultural waste that's left over after harvesting, which would otherwise be destroyed were it not repurposed, and sugarcane crops are not planted exclusively for this purpose. Corn-based plastics are made using animal grade feed not suitable for human consumption, although corn production in general is extremely resource intensive and tremendously harmful to the natural environment. You're right about adverse impacts on the environment, however. It really doesn't make much sense to switch from plastic resins made in the U.S. to plant-based resins when the plant-based materials are imported from China and the end product can't even be disposed of properly. Many companies are taking advantage of this cultural cognitive dissonance and calling their plant-based products more green than conventional plastics, but I personally think that consumers are partially responsible for buying into this trend.
Why only weight and recyclability?
Interesting reflections, Thomas! The Harvard Business Review just published a great article about sustainability as a business megatrend that might interest you. It's available here: http://hbr.org/2010/05/the-sustainability-imperative/ar/1. I'm constantly asking myself which package is "better" than the next for our clients at Empty Boxes. I think that weight and recyclability alone are arbitrary unless both packages share identical life cycle traits. The greatest impact of a package is usually found elsewhere -- how far the package travels, the raw material's relative abundance in nature, the impact of the manufacturing process, end-of-life options, etc. If you'd like to discuss your options, you can reach me at miranda@emptyboxes.com.
Bernard, I could not agree
Bernard, I could not agree more.
Luke: "I acknowledge that
Luke: "I acknowledge that the carbon impact of producing PLA is better than petrochemical resins either way." Actually, there's a lot of dispute about that. The ULA review of life cycle data compared disposable and compostable plastic bags and found that PLA bags produce more greenhouse gases than regular plastic bags. Bernard: Industrial composting is ideal, but there are very few industrial composters in the U.S., and even fewer facilities that service municipal waste streams. So PLA products end up at recyclers, where they're considered contaminants.
Wonderful news -- two
Wonderful news -- two companies are in place to recycle PLA products after they've been disposed of. It's good to know that someone is rescuing the PLA that's tossed into a recycling bin with PET, picking it up from recycling facilities that might otherwise send it to a landfill, and recycling the PLA for its pellets. But Planco is in Wisconsin. BIOCOR is in California. How is the average consumer supposed to get PLA products into these two facilities? When I leave a restaurant with a PLA-based compostable take-out container, there's no way of knowing whether it'll sit in a landfill for 100 to 1,000 years. We're one step closer toward closing the loop on compostable packaging. But we need dedicated nationwide collection systems for post consumer PLA waste if this is going to work.
Hi, Jon. Thanks for the
Hi, Jon. Thanks for the response. I'm glad we're in agreement that the oxo-biodegradable plastics industry hasn't offered any solutions to the problems caused by plastics. The Moore article you provided a link for is the same article I was referring to. While the author did not explicitly name oxo products, he named fragmented plastic products as a source of marine pollution. Given your description of the oxo process -- the additive causing the plastic material to fragment while actual biodegradation occurs sometimes centuries later -- I understand the outcome to be exactly the same.
Biodegradable v. Recyclable
This is a great and valuable discussion for the packaging industry. Thanks to Jon from EPI for the info about oxo-biodegradable plastics. I feel compelled to address some of the issues presented here in the interest of providing a balanced viewpoint for this important discussion. First of all, in response to Mike’s question about biodegradability in landfills, I've worked in a landfill, and I can say with absolute certainty that landfills are specifically designed to PREVENT biodegradation. The U.S. EPA and the Biodegradable Products Institute have repeatedly said that this is the case. [http://www.bpiworld.org/Default.aspx?pageId=190439] Biodegradable plastics should be disposed of in industrial composters, not in landfills, and municipal reclamation efforts are not adequately matching the distribution of biodegradable plastics. Secondly, I understand Jon’s frustration with regard to the criticisms leveled against oxo-biodegradable plastics, but they are very significant and come from a number of reputable governmental sources. For instance, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's found that fragmented plastics (from OXO-biodegradable products) accumulate persistent organic compounds like PCBs in marine habitats, which contaminates the fish we eat and has been linked with cancer in humans. Jon, I’d love to talk to more about these criticisms, and maybe you can provide me with some insight as to what the industry is doing to improve problem areas like this. I can be reached at Miranda@emptyboxes.com. Thirdly, I personally think that ANY plastic product which facilitates littering is a misguided avenue toward environmental sustainability. Until reclamation catches up with distribution, biodegradable and oxo-biodegradable plastics cater to the same "out of sight, out of mind" mentality that got us into this mess in the first place. Littering is a behavioral problem that needs to change if we're going to protect the planet from packaging waste, and no amount of manufacturing new technologies that make littering easier for the average consumer will accomplish that feat. Empty Boxes is a packaging broker specializing in best practices for environmental sustainability, and we've avoided biodegradable plastics (“oxo” or otherwise) for these reasons. It's admirable that so many industry leaders are taking an interest in environmental sustainability, but it's troublesome that so few focus on improving reclamation practices and municipal recycling operations as a means toward adequately managing packaging waste.
Hi, Savitree. I've spent a
Hi, Savitree. I've spent a great deal of time researching the potential for biodegradable plastics and industrial composting, and I have to say that I agree wholeheartedly with Thomas. Although biodegradable plastics like NatureWorks' Ingeo have great potential, innovation and production have far surpassed large-scale efforts to establish metropolitan waste management of biodegradable materials. In the Chicago area, for instance, there's only one industrial composter certified to process biodegradable plastics, and they only accept very large amounts of feedstock. Your average consumer will toss a biodegradable plastic spray bottle in the blue bin, and that bottle will end up in a landfill. I also feel compelled to point out that nothing biodegrades in a landfill--not even food, least of all plastic resins--because landfills are not designed to allow for biodegradation. The Biodegradable Products Institute, which maintains a database of biodegradable products, has repeatedly refuted this myth (http://www.bpiworld.org). This is perhaps one of the most troublesome common misconceptions facing efforts in sustainable packaging. I support your efforts here to explore options in sustainable packaging and your work at Blissful Home. My advice would be to reduce plastics as much as possible, use only the most commonly recycled plastics (#1 PET and #4 HDPE), and switch to paper wherever possible. Best of luck to you!