Yesterday the U.S. Plastics Pact (U.S. Pact) announced the winners of their inaugural Sustainable Packaging Innovation Award with U.S. Pact member Walmart at GreenBiz’s VERGE Climate Tech Event.

“We know that the only way to effectively address both the plastic waste crisis and climate destabilization is through systems change. While more than half of the Paris Agreement target can be achieved by a global switch to renewable energy, the rest will depend on other factors such as our relationship with things - how they are made, transported, used, and whether they become waste or are kept in the economy,” said Emily Tipaldo, U.S. Plastics Pact Executive Director. “The U.S. Pact has set a national strategy with our Activators to eliminate plastic pollution across the packaging value chain. We are proud to recognize the first cohort of scalable innovations which align with our four targets.”

Award Winners:

• Compostability: Smile Compostable Solutions’ Coffee Pods are the only fully certified compostable turn-key pod system. Smile offers private label options for producers of coffee pods that are compatible with Keurig brewers.

• Recyclability: Amcor’s AmSky™, a breakthrough blister system innovation, free from vinyl and aluminum. AmSky is both a more sustainable alternative for the most in-demand healthcare packaging and designed for recycling in rigid and flexible recycling streams

• Refill: The Clorox Company’s Concentrated Refillable Cleaners, a refill spray solution. In addition to less plastic used there is also less weight and carbon emitted from transport since customers add water at home.

• Reuse: DeliverZero’s reusable delivery containers provide a more sustainable alternative for the takeout food industry. DeliverZero containers can be used up to 1,000 times and have a return rate of 98%.

Winners will receive manufacturing trial discussions with the potential to pilot with Walmart, four 30-minute mentoring sessions with the Walmart Private Brands Packaging Teams, a technology showcase with procurement and technical staff from U.S. Pact Activators spanning the plastics value chain, and will be interviewed on Cory Connors’ Sustainable Packaging Podcast.

“Packaging design is an area where we believe retailers and brands can lean in. And at Walmart, we are all about driving efficiencies, which is why we launched the Circular Connector earlier this year as a free, online portal to help connect sustainable packaging solution providers with organizations looking for them – even available for our competitors. It’s like a match making solution for sustainable packaging and we are excited the tool was used to help identify the winners and other solutions with the capacity to accelerate our journey toward circularity,” said, Ashley C. Hall, Director of Sustainable Packaging for Walmart and U.S. Pact Advisory Council Vice-Chair.

Winners and Honorable Mentions were chosen by a robust judging panel that included retailers, manufacturers, and not-for-profit organizations. The submissions were evaluated based on their compliance to U.S. Pact and Walmart design guidelines, circularity, carbon impact, manufacturability, and impact to the consumer experience.

Honorable Mentions will also have the chance to participate in the U.S. Pact Innovation Award Showcase on January 24, 2023 from 1 - 3 p.m. ET. The content of the presentations will target packaging R&D and buyers from companies that use packaging, such as manufacturers and foodservice companies. The showcase is open to all.

Honorable Mentions:

Compostability:

Recyclability:

Reuse: