Zero Landfill
Editor's note—The following is an op-ed piece by Calvin Frost, CEO of Channeled Resources Group (CRG), focusing on one of the important sustainability issues facing the pressure-sensitive labeling industry—that of release liner waste and landfilling. Frost is a well-known advocate for addressing this issue head on and his company has initiated recent partnerships with companies such as Greenwood Fuels and Precision AirConvey to provide label converters with feasible alternatives to the status quo of the pressure-sensitive waste stream.
When you're finished changing, you're finished," at least that's what Ben Franklin said. Think about it and it's pretty accurate. When you're done growing, you're done. When you're done learning, you stop. And, here's the rub: if you don't change and grow and learn, all the time, every day, you don't improve. Without a doubt, that's true.
I have a dream that all package-printing byproduct—all coated, treated, and laminated paper, and film byproducts—will find useful end of life. To reach this will require change, which means, improvement.
Several weeks ago in Dallas I listened to a wonderful presentation at PepsiCo Frito-Lay's Research and Development Center in Dallas during the Sustainable Packaging Coalition's fall conference. All attendees were invited to a reception hosted by PepsiCo Frito-Lay. It was great. Dave Haft, senior VP sustainability, productivity, and quality, our host at the reception, told us of the BHAG (Bold Hairy Audacious Goal) challenge that he made to his team in 1999. It was to reduce water, fossil fuel, solid waste, and vehicle fuel by 2015. Not unbelievably, his team not only met, but has already exceeded the goal. They have delivered. PepsiCo Frito-Lay has continued to change.
Windex is a cleaning product made by S.C. Johnson. Historically, the product was packaged in a glass container. I can remember cleaning windows as a kid with Windex. When I ran out of fluid the bottle was tossed (ok, recycled) and I'd get another bottle to finish the job. S.C. Johnson has recently introduced Windex Mini, a pouch containing a concentrated refill that, when mixed with water, is an alternative to buying a new bottle of Windex.
According to the company, the refill pouch uses 90 percent less plastic than its standard 26 fluid ounce bottle. Each pouch avoids the transportation of 22.4 fluid ounces, or 1.5 pounds of water. To really put this in perspective, if just one fifth of the 21 million bottles of Windex sold in a year are refilled, 350,000 pounds of plastic would not be used and 735,000 gallons of water wouldn't be transported. It is a win-win for S.C. Johnson … and for the environment.
I have a dream that this project will be successful. That we, the consumers, will understand that the concentrate just makes good common sense, even though it is a bit inconvenient because we will have to fill a bottle with concentrate and water. Remember, if you don't change, you don't improve.
And, one more story, a message from Lee Scott, president and CEO of Wal-Mart. In 2005, Scott defined his vision for the 21st century. In this speech, he called for his company to eliminate all the waste that Wal-Mart stores and facilities send to the landfills by 2025. That's "zero waste." Wow, what a BHAG! What suddenly turned Wal-Mart green? Reduction of costs—and I'm ok with that. Scott observed, "If we throw it away, we had to buy it first. So we pay twice, once to get it, and once to have it taken away. What if we reverse that cycle? What if our suppliers send us less and everything they send us has value as a recycled product? No waste and we get paid instead."
When I initially read this I thought, ok, maybe they can reduce by 50, even 60 percent. But Scott was very clear. He meant "zero." Indeed, Wal-Mart is making great strides internally and externally. Its scorecard forces reduction and minimization by vendors. Its internal initiatives have created recycling schemes for metal, fiber, and plastic. It has even redirected organics to food banks, animal feed, and composting. I have a dream and maybe, just maybe, with leaders like PepsiCo Frito-Lay, S.C. Johnson, Wal-Mart, and others, it may come true.
During the recent Labelexpo show in Brussels, the Tarsus Group released an illustrated "how to" encyclopedia for being a greener label supplier, label converter, and label user. The book by Michael Fairley and Danielle Jerschefske, is called, "Environmental Performance and Sustainable Labeling." The topic covered one of the overriding themes of the show. Every exhibitor talked about its green products, its reduced carbon footprint, its sustainability policy, and its green certification standard. Surprisingly, no one talked about byproduct.
The book, the show, and the above three examples point to the "power of waste," not the problem of waste. Indeed, as you may have noticed in my second paragraph, I don't really like to use the word "waste." I much prefer to think of waste as "industry byproduct" and how the diversion of byproduct into useful applications should be our focus. If our industry leaders will think of our waste as byproduct and have similar visions to those of S.C. Johnson, PepsiCo Frito-Lay, and Wal-Mart, we will begin to solve the most serious issue of non-recyclable packaging: waste, sometimes called byproduct.
I predict that my dream will be fulfilled. I predict that we will close the loop and non-recyclable byproduct will ultimately be an asset, not a liability. The solution is to divert non-recyclable byproduct into energy. Most of you are aware that there are more and more schemes that use our byproduct as feedstock to create renewable energy. Granted, we lack critical mass, but change is coming. Ultimately, the brand owner will require that his print supplier subscribe to a certification standard, a standard like TLMI's L.I.F.E. (Label Initiative for the Environment). L.I.F.E. is very specific with metrics that require improvement, such as demonstrating that you have reduced energy and water usage from year to year, and that you have diverted solid waste from the landfill.
Together our supply chain will follow the examples of industry leaders and drive change. We will approach "zero landfill." We will become better stewards of the community and fulfill my dream. pP
Related story: Label Release Liner: Looking to the Future