Led by The Recycling Partnership and World Wildlife Fund in partnership with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the U.S. Plastics Pact will unify approaches to rethink the way we design, use, and reuse plastics
DARIEN, CT – Today, 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.
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About Smile Beverage Werks PBC
Smile Beverage Werks, PBC is a Delaware Public Benefits Corporation with a sustainability mission. We are committed to developing and manufacturing compostable food and beverage packaging including single-use coffee pods, straws, and bags. Founded by serial entrepreneur Michael Sands and green construction expert Frank Schuster, Smile Beverage Werks® produces the only commercially compostable, carbon neutral coffee pods not requiring any additional film for shelf life or a separation of lid, filter, and grounds for disposal. Smile Beverage Werks® pods are compatible with Nespresso Classic and Keurig brewing systems. Follow @smilecoffeewerks on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram or visit our website SmileCoffeeWerks.com to learn more.
© 2021, Smile Coffee Werks
Smile Coffee Werks and the green coffee pod are U.S. registered trademarks of Smile Beverage Werks, LLC. All rights reserved. Commercial composting facilities may not exist in your area. Visit FindAComposter.com to find a compost facility near you!
Smile Coffee Werks is not affiliated with, endorsed, or sponsored by Nespresso or Keurig Green Mountain Inc. Nespresso® is a registered trademark of Socieìteì des Produits Nestleì S.A. Keurig® is a registered Trademark of Keurig Green Mountain Inc.
About The Recycling Partnership
The Recycling Partnership is a national nonprofit organization that leverages corporate partner funding to transform recycling for good in states, cities, and communities nationwide. As the leading organization in the country that engages the full recycling supply chain from the corporations that manufacture products and packaging to local governments charged with recycling to industry end markets, haulers, material recovery facilities, and converters, The Recycling Partnership positively impacts recycling at every step in the process. Since 2014, the nonprofit change agent diverted 230 million pounds of new recyclables from landfills, saved 465 million gallons of water, avoided more than 250,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases, and drove significant reductions in targeted contamination rates. Learn more at www.recyclingpartnership.org
About World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
WWF is one of the world’s leading conservation organizations, working in nearly 100 countries for over half a century to help people and nature thrive. With the support of more than 5 million members worldwide, WWF is dedicated to delivering science-based solutions to preserve the diversity and abundance of life on Earth, halt the degradation of the environment and combat the climate crisis. Visit www.worldwildlife.org to learn more and keep up with the latest sustainability news by following @WWFBetterBiz on Twitter and signing up for our newsletter and news alerts here.
About The Ellen MacArthur Foundation
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation was launched in 2010 with the aim of accelerating the transition to the circular economy. Since its creation, the charity has emerged as a global thought leader, putting the circular economy on the agenda of decision-makers around the world. The charity’s work focuses on seven key areas: insight and analysis; business; institutions, governments, and cities; systemic initiatives; circular design; learning; and communications.
Further information: www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org | @circulareconomy
About The New Plastics Economy and The Plastics Pact
Since 2016, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy initiative has rallied businesses and governments behind a positive vision of a circular economy for plastic. Its 2016 and 2017 New Plastics Economy reports captured worldwide headlines, revealing the financial and environmental costs of waste plastic and pollution.
The Plastics Pact is a global network of initiatives that brings together all key stakeholders at the national or regional level behind a common vision with a concrete set of ambitious local targets. It builds a unique platform to exchange learnings and best practices across regions to accelerate the transition to a circular economy for plastic - a New Plastics Economy - in which it never becomes waste or pollution.
Further information: www.newplasticseconomy.org | @circulareconomy
