As we celebrate our planet’s 51st Earth Day this week, we are proud of our Culture of Sustainability. We consider the environment in daily decision making related to our sourcing, operations, product development, marketing, community and employee engagement. And the reality is, it feels like Earth Day Every Day here at Outlook Group. Below are a few reasons why we feel this way:
Iconic Landfill Diversion Practices
Our internal operations demonstrate iconic landfill diversion practices. Outlook Group started on a path to reduce our environmental impact more than a decade ago. Today we divert more than 95% of our manufacturing waste from going to landfills—either by recycling fiber and other materials, or by sending laminated films, pressure sensitive label material, matrix waste and release liner to our Waste-to-Energy (WTE) partners.
Sustainable Packaging Assessment and Roadmap Development
We have developed a Sustainable Packaging Journey Assessment tool for identifying opportunities, developing a roadmap and realizing sustainability goals. Our team works with our customers to create a Sustainability Roadmap to success, calling out specific short-term and long-term sustainability goals, tracking progress together. Our Business Development Managers educate, consult, evaluate, and most of all lead our customers toward their Sustainability goals.
Comprehensive Sustainability Consultation
Comprehensive Sustainability takes focus, discipline, determination, and the right partner who understands how to provide guidance in meeting your goals. We share resources from many disciplines of our business to assist with the many disciplines of our customers’ businesses. This ensures we’re formulating an all-inclusive sustainability plan. For example, by leveraging our expertise in converting downgauged materials, customers have reduced their environmental impact while improving operational efficiency.
Recognized Leaders in Sustainable Business Practices
Our label and packaging industry recognized us with the TLMI Calvin Frost Environmental Leadership Award, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce elected us as a WMC Business Friend of the Environment, and most recently, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources awarded Outlook Group with its Recycling Excellence Award.
Innovative Biodegradable and Recyclable Products Versus Compostable
Consumers see bags of snacks on-shelf flaunting compostable packaging and think by choosing this product, they’re doing their part to slow the global plastic waste problem. The Reality is, there are about 185 industrial composting facilities in the U.S., and fewer than half of those accept today’s commercialized compostable packaging. Once consumers are more aware of these challenges, they might view the brand’s compostable claim as greenwashing. For this reason, Outlook Group offers product considerations beyond composability:
1 – Store Drop Off (SDO) or Recycle-Ready options allow conscious consumers to place their PE plastic packaging into collection bins at more than 32,000 retail stores across the U.S.
2 – Newly developed Landfill Biodegradable materials can be collected in the existing waste stream. The biodegradable product Outlook Group offers rapidly breaks down to landfill gas (LFG), a combination of methane and CO2, which can be harvested as an energy source. Our biodegradable product has been validated to not release microplastics into the ecosystem.
Circular Economy Commitment
In order to achieve the New Plastics Economy, we need to incorporate facets of the Sustainability Spectrum below. The Sustainability Spectrum shows there are many avenues to improving sustainability on the journey from a linear to a circular economy. We use a combination of design tactics, tools, products and services to be a positive stakeholder in the Circular Economy. Our Sustainability Roadmap creates a plan for goal achievement with the information compiled using our assessment tool and the spectrum. Outlook Group has the experience and products to help eliminate unnecessary or problematic packaging to ensure the value of materials is kept high to support circular reuse.
Supply Chain Partnerships
Our vendor and customer relationships are key to our sustainability success, and to improving our operations, products and services to make our planet the best environment it can be. Achieving a culture that feels like Earth Day Every Day is something that has taken time and development over a decade or more, and our Outlook Group team understands the importance of passion and collaboration when it comes to taking sustainability in manufacturing, and sustainability in packaging development, to the next level.
Contact us to discuss how to design packaging for sustainability objectives, to learn how we are diverting packaging waste from landfills, to review your sustainable packaging goals, and to document your sustainable packaging journey together. You can rely on Outlook Group to be your partner in making a positive impact.