The U.S. uses 12 to 15 billion pounds of flexible packaging and films annually, but only 5% is recycled each year. The MBOLD-led coalition of businesses and innovators aims to change that by creating a circular economy for flexible films and packaging materials in the Upper Midwest. Founding coalition members include General Mills, Schwan’s Company, Target, Ecolab, Cargill, and the University of Minnesota, with other major brands and partners having signed on since. This innovative collaboration across the film value chain brings together film recyclers and converters to create and purchase recycled resin for use in a variety of products.

Attend this session, where members of the coalition will discuss: 

• The advantages brands and CPGs derive from regional, voluntary circular supply chains. 
• The blueprint for creating a system like this in any region. 
• The cost and benefit tradeoffs that brands and CPGs seeking to join these partnerships need to make. 
• Packaging films that are actually recyclable at MRFs and which films could be profitable to recycle if MRFs could accept them.