Happy Family Organics has joined companies around the world in making a series of packaging commitments aimed at advancing toward a circular economy—becoming the first organic baby food brand in the U.S. to pledge to make its packaging fully reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025.

“At Happy Family Organics, we’re far more than producers of organic baby food. We aim to be pioneers in sustainable agriculture and manufacturing practices, knowing that the health of our planet affects the long-term health of our children,” said Anne Laraway, CEO of Happy Family Organics, in a statement. “These commitments are a step in the right direction, and we recognize that global, systemic change is needed to truly make an impact. As parents, the notion that any of our packaging ends up in landfills is not OK with us. That’s why we’re partnering with leading sustainability organizations to help scale our initiatives, and we encourage other companies with a mission to serve children to join this global commitment to create a more sustainable future for our kids.”

To help in the shift toward a circular economy, Happy Family Organics commits to transforming its packaging in three ways: packaging designed for circularity, preservation of natural resources and consumer education.

Currently, 75 percent of Happy Family Organics packaging by weight is recyclable, but the company said it is committed to making 100 percent of its packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025. The path to recyclability isn’t as simple as designing packaging to be recycled. It also requires systemic change to address infrastructure challenges that prevent recyclable materials from being recycled in practice, according to the company. As such, Happy Family Organics is engaging and collaborating with leading organizations including Closed Loop Partners, Sustainable Packaging Coalition and OSC² to identify and implement initiatives that will ensure packaging can be recycled, reused or composted.   

One of Happy Family Organics’ primary packaging initiatives is developing a recyclable spouted pouch, a convenient format for parents feeding children on-the-go. Currently, there is not a scalable end-of-life solution for multilayer film, but the company said it is actively working with suppliers to develop solutions to improve its packaging supply chain. 

Happy Family Organics also said it aims to increase the demand for recycled materials. To that end, the company will use an average of 25 percent recycled material in all rigid plastic packaging by 2025 and ensure zero deforestation in paper packaging.

And because recycling can be confusing for consumers, the brand pledges to include the How2Recycle label on 100 percent of primary packaging by 2025.