London-based packaging company DS Smith has announced the addition of two employees to its Atlanta-based North American team. Evan Johnson has joined the company as its external paper sales director, and Emma Budzisz has been hired as the director of marketing.

 

Johnson has held sales roles across multiple industries focused on national account development, territory management, business to business and consumer sales and merchant development. He has worked for ECHOtape, Pak-Lite Inc. and Priority Payment Systems.

Johnson will be responsible for expanding DS Smith’s North America Paper Sales organization and offerings in North America.

 

Budzisz joins DS Smith from The Coca-Cola Co., where she focused on the development of brand vision and consumer and commercial marketing plans that were rooted in consumer and shopper insights for traditional and digital/social media campaigns at the local, regional and international levels.

She brings additional experience from her senior marketing roles in consumer, retail and e-commerce across various portfolios of well-established and startup brands.

Budzisz will lead the development of marketing and e-commerce objectives, supporting sales and growth initiatives for DS Smith Packaging in North America. She will develop and drive promotions, marketing and e-commerce strategies.

The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM), based in New Haven, is asking state leaders to support solutions designed to create a better future for municipal waste management and recycling.  

Local leaders have worked closely with Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Katie Dykes and staff and the Connecticut Coalition for Sustainable Materials Management over the last year with a focus on finding solutions to the state’s waste management crisis, the CCM says. 

Leading CMC's efforts are First Selectman of Bethel Matthew Knickerbocker, Milford Mayor Ben Blake, Stratford Mayor Laura Hoydick and First Selectman of Durham Laura Francis.

Additionally, CCM says it is calling on the state to collaborate with local leaders to evaluate current markets and identify new local and regional opportunities for unconventional or novel uses of recycling and municipal solid waste and to consider tax breaks and recycled materials minimums to help create new markets. 

Local leaders also are calling for eliminating glass from single-stream recycling programs, saying it will alleviate costs to communities and assist in reducing contamination. Additionally, CCM supports finding solutions for the removal of organic waste from the municipal solid waste stream. “We understand the complexities of organics removal and as such would caution that any source-separated system that is created does not leave municipalities with the financial burdens of separate hauling costs,” the organization adds in a news release about its efforts.  

CCM also advocates for expanding S.B. 1037, the bottle deposit law, to include wine and liquor glass bottles and recommends that any new revenue is protected and “recycled” back into the system to support infrastructure and process improvements. The organization calls for language to be included in S.B. 1037 that would remove glass from the recycling stream.

“Connecticut towns and cities cannot afford to ride the volatile waste management markets,” says Joe DeLong, CCM executive director and CEO. “There are ideas out there for municipalities to reduce the tipping fees for their towns; in one case that means banning certain items altogether, in another you remove items like glass and organic material from the stream altogether. Let’s not let perfection be the enemy of progress here and encourage the legislature to support bills before them to provide small but significant steps towards a holistic solution to our waste management crisis.”

The Council of the Great Lakes Region (CGLR), based in Cleveland, has announced the creation of Circular Great Lakes, a regional initiative focused initially on keeping valuable plastic materials out of the waste stream and the environment by forging a future without waste in this vital, binational economic region.

“Plastic waste and pollution are serious issues in the Great Lakes,” says Mark Fisher, president and CEO of CGLR. “Circular Great Lakes will be the catalyst for identifying the transformational projects, forming the partnerships and mobilizing the public-private sector investments required to ensure this valuable material never becomes waste in this region, North America’s economic engine.”

Circular Great Lakes will work with partners including the Alliance to End Plastic Waste (Alliance) to develop a circular economy strategy for plastics in the region, setting the stage for targeted actions and partnerships over the next five years. Priorities of the initiative include driving systemic changes necessary to close the loop for plastics in the region, shifting away from a linear, take-make-dispose economy and materials management mindset.

"The Alliance firmly believes that enabling a circular economy will be key to ending plastic waste in the environment. The Circular Great Lakes initiative by the Council of the Great Lakes Region is an important step that aims to accelerate the region’s transition towards a zero plastic waste future. We look forward to collaborating with CGLR to develop the insights and expertise needed to realize this shared vision," says Jacob Duer, president and CEO of the Alliance.

The Alliance is a global nonprofit organization partnering with government, environmental and economic development NGOs and communities around the world to address the challenge to end plastic waste in the environment. The focus areas under Circular Great Lakes align with the Alliance’s strategic pillars of infrastructure, innovation, education and engagement and clean up. As such, the Alliance recognizes that the initiative could present interesting opportunities for its member companies to consider for their own investment.

Founding corporate activation partners and funders of Circular Great Lakes include Dow, Inc., Charter Next Generation, Imperial, Pregis Corporation, American Packaging Corp. and Rothmans Benson & Hedges.  More than 20 knowledge partners from government, academia and the nonprofit sectors are supporting the initiative.

Plastics Recyclers Europe, which has developed RecyClass recyclability testing standards, has recognized Plastics Forming Enterprises (PFE), Amherst, New Hampshire, as an accredited laboratory for all four product categories: polyethylene terephthalate rigids, high-density polyethylene rigids, polypropylene rigids and polyethylene flexibles. This makes PFE the first U.S. testing facility to achieve accreditation to perform RecyClass testing as well as the only laboratory in the world to be accredited to perform testing in all four product categories.

A recognized leader in consulting, R&D and recyclability testing in the Americas, PFE has played an instrumental role in developing the prevailing recyclability testing protocols that have been widely adopted in the Americas. PFE has led work with clients to make notable design changes that align packaging with recycling systems, including removing metal springs from pumps and transitioning aerosol cans to all plastic. PFE says its suite of services enables informed design that ensures materials have a chance to be used for many life cycles.   

“We look forward to helping our clientele navigate the testing requirements of RecyClass and offering the services of our pilot operation and complete testing lab on a global scale,” says Kristi Hansen, president of PFE. “With 35-plus years of industry expertise, we have become the only accredited company worldwide to conduct plastic recycling R&D for all Association of Plastics Recyclers (APR), European PET Bottle Platform and RecyClass recycling qualification protocols.”

These protocols are supported by other organizations, such as the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, es una Asociación Civil sin fines de lucro and China Sustainable Plastics Association. 

Companies that work with PFE toward approval to either the Critical Guidance Protocol offered by APR or RecyClass can avoid unnecessary, duplicative testing where possible, saving time and resources for seeking recyclability testing in either market, the company says. 

More information is available by visiting www.plasticsforming.com or by emailing info@plasticsforming.com.