With more and more states passing Extended Producer Responsibility legislation for packaging – the Maryland and Washington state legislatures are among the latest to do so – sustainable packaging is only going to become more important.
There are many routes to sustainable packaging, and one of those is plant-based, compostable alternative plastic. PlantSwitch has emerged as a leader in this area, and we recently sat down with Dillon Baxter, co-founder and CEO of PlantSwitch, to discuss some of the game-changing packaging options that the company is providing.
PlantSwitch’s plastic has been hitting national retail shelves from Costco to Walmart and will soon be on shelves in Whole Foods.
“The core of our technology is upcycling agricultural waste into a direct plastic replacement that feels and functions like a traditional plastic does, but biodegrades in the natural environment in the matter of just a couple months,” Baxter explains. “We also are very focused on quality and cost, and we feel that we really differentiated ourselves there.”
Baxter said PlantSwitch’s focus on “solving distribution” has been key to the company’s success.
“We started making our own forks, knives, spoons and straws out of our own material, and then selling those directly to the customer, and that’s allowed us to have really great distribution and get into the market quickly,” Baxter said.
We asked Baxter if he’s seen any indications of state-level EPR regulations boosting demand for PlantSwitch’s products and if he expects those products to play a key role in helping firms comply with EPR regulations.
“There’s a ton of tailwinds. EPR is definitely one of them. Every single major enterprise customer – foodservice, retail, hospitality – is very aware of their sustainability footprints, and many of them have been very forward-thinking,” Baxter said. “Everyone who we talk to is thinking about ‘How do we eliminate plastic waste throughout our supply chain? How do we use less virgin plastic? How do we reduce our carbon footprint?’ EPR is a huge driver of that.”
To watch the entire video interview above.
