DARIEN, Connecticut, US – Smile Beverage Werks has joined the U.S. Plastics Pact, a collaborative, solutions-driven initiative rooted in four ambitious goals intended to drive significant systems change by unifying diverse cross-sector approaches, setting a national strategy, and creating scalable solutions to create a path forward toward a circular economy for plastics in the United States by 2025. The first North American Pact of its kind, the U.S. Pact is a collaboration led by The Recycling Partnership and World Wildlife Fund (WWF), as part of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Plastic Pact Network.
As part of the U.S. Pact, Activators like Smile Beverage Werks® recognize that significant, systemwide change is imperative to realize a circular economy for plastics. As such, the U.S. Pact is convening 100 businesses, retailers, not-for-profit organizations, government agencies, and research institutions across the plastics value chain to bring one voice to U.S. packaging through coordinated initiatives and innovative solutions for rethinking products, packaging, and business models.
“Joining the U.S. Plastics Pact will not only ensure Smile Beverage Werks stays true to its environmental mission as a Public Benefit Corporation, but also allow us to bolster strategic initiatives towards a circular economy for plastic and compostability in the United States,” Co-Founder and CEO Michael Sands said. “We take immense pride in this commitment and are looking forward to contributing in any and all ways that we can.”
As an Activator of the U.S. Plastics Pact, Smile Beverage Werks® has agreed to collectively deliver against these four ambitious goals:
- Define a list of packaging to be designated as problematic or unnecessary by 2021 and take measures to eliminate them by 2025. ?
- 100% of plastic packaging will be reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2025. ?
- Undertake ambitious actions to effectively recycle or compost 50% of plastic packaging by 2025.
- And an average of 30% recycled content or responsibly-sources, biobased content by 2025.
While the U.S. Pact is complementary to and follows the ambitious precedents set by the existing global network of Plastic Pacts, it will be tailored to meet the unique needs and challenges of the U.S. market. The Pact will reflect national priorities and realities, while still propelling the nation closer to other developed nations in its management of plastic waste.
“Together through the U.S. Plastics Pact, we will ignite system change to accelerate progress toward a circular economy,” says Emily Tipaldo, Executive Director of the U.S. Plastics Pact. “The U.S. Pact will mobilize systemwide change through support for upstream innovation and a coordinated national strategy. This unified framework will enable members to fast-track progress toward our ambitious 2025 sustainability goals. Members’ full participation will be vital to reaching our shared goals.”
Achieving this vision will require new levels of accountability from all facets of the plastics supply chain. The U.S. Pact emphasizes measurable change and as such, Smile Beverage Werks® is committed to transparent, annual reporting, guided by WWF’s ReSource: Plastic Footprint Tracker, which will be used to document annual progress against our four goals. In June 2021, the U.S. Plastics Pact established a “Roadmap to 2025,” which identifies key milestones and national solutions to achieving the U.S. targets and realize a circular economy in which plastic never becomes waste.
Smile Beverage Werks continues to disrupt the coffee pod industry by empowering consumers to compost conveniently. Our pod’s patented plant-based design enables users to conveniently throw the entire pod into a compost bin, eliminating the need to separate and clean the capsule, coffee, and lid to make it recyclable. No rinsing is needed to prep our pods, aiding water conservation. All excess bagging is also eliminated without compromising freshness. Our pods have a 12+ month shelf life. Smile Beverage Werks® offers a convenient solution that does not require a switch in consumer behavior. There are private label opportunities available to reduce the overall plastic pollution derived within the coffee pod industry as a whole. Plastic pods can sit in landfills for hundreds of years resulting in negative environmental impacts, such as leaked chemicals into the watershed, pollution, and microplastics in the environment.
