Pulp Goes Certified Plastic Neutral ♲
with rePurpose Global.
"Our packaging helps us tell our story and communicate our values as a brand, but why should it not also tell a story about the legacy we seek to leave behind? In partnership with rePurpose Global, we’re proud to be one of the first brands to achieve Plastic Neutral Certification, one step in a long-term commitment to give our product’s end of lifecycle the attention (and intention) it deserves.”
- Kaitlin Mogentale, Founder, Pulp Pantry
In order to tackle global issues like food waste and climate change, Pulp Pantry strives for circularity in every aspect of business, from sourcing to packaging.
We believe in maximizing resources for the health of people and planet. Achieving Plastic Neutral Certification through rePurpose Global is one small step in a continued commitment to improve upon the environmental impact of Pulp Pantry's business.
The Plastics Problem
In 1960, globally, we produced 120,000 tons of plastic packaging waste.
Today, we produce nearly 15 million tons each year.
Think that plastic is getting recycled? Unfortunately, in the U.S. we recycle just 9 percent of our plastic trash.
Expand this issue globally, and it's estimated that 8 million tonnes of plastic enter our waterways each year.
We've worked hard to find compostable solutions that might work for us, and we continue to do so. Truth is, the industry is just beginning and options that are reasonably economical, truly biodegradable, and that protect product integrity are difficult to come by.
But that's no excuse for complacency. We couldn't sleep at night knowing that our packaging might be just another statistic of ocean-bound plastic polluting our precious waterways.
We learned about rePurpose from a brand friend, Emily of Lil Bucks, and jumped on the opportunity to work with rePurpose Global to support plastic recycling programs abroad. By supporting rePurpose Global to remove and recycle as much ocean-bound plastic waste as our packaging uses, Pulp Pantry is officially certified Plastic Neutral.
What does that mean? From this point forward, your purchase of Pulp Pantry products will carry a zero plastic footprint, always.
Through its partnership with rePurpose Global, Pulp Pantry is empowering waste workers to fight plastic pollution in their communities, supporting ethical wages and providing all its products at a net zero plastic footprint.
Our Recycling Partner:
Pulp Pantry is partnered with CarPe, based in India, for plastic recycling. Funds from our plastic offset will be used by CarPe to recover an amount of low value plastic equivalent to (or higher than) our plastic footprint. This project aims to address the plastic management challenge in semi-urban and rural regions of Maharashtra, India, starting with the small town of Phulambri with a population of about 20,000 people.
The problem of solid waste management has been largely ignored in rural India, creating a crisis of waste dumping and environmental degradation due to lack of infrastructure, capacity-building, and awareness.
Regulations aimed to expand SWM programs in rural areas have tasked the Gram Panchayats (Village Councils) to carry out the function, but these rural self-governance bodies remain severely under-capacitated and lack access to proven methodologies and evidence-based case studies.
Phulambri has around 3,400 households, each generating about 12 kg of mixed solid waste every day, approximately 50% of which is plastic waste. Currently, due to lack of any organized SWM system, residents dump waste in several dump-sites across Phulambri, damaging natural ecosystems.
Working with CarPe, we're able to help support fair wages for marginalized waste workers while keeping trash out of waterways. We offset the cost to recycle our equivalent weight in plastic.
That's one small step for this brand, with a continued commitment to sustainable sourcing and lifecycle management to come.
Learn more about plastic neutrality (you can become certified as a plastic neutral indvidual, too!) via https://www.plasticneutral.global/pulppantry
