Initiative connects the surf and outdoor community with the global supply chain to create packaging solutions for a healthy planet
A New Earth Project - New Earth Approved S3 System. (Credit: Cision US Inc./ A New Earth Project)
Today, A New Earth Project, a coalition of outdoor enthusiasts, industry-leading brands, and innovative packaging suppliers, announced the launch of its global effort to create, scale, and advocate for sustainable packaging solutions to help eliminate plastic pollution from the world’s oceans, lakes, and rivers.
A New Earth Project started as a conversation between surfers on the North Shore of Oahu and has grown into a robust movement to raise awareness of and find critical solutions to address the increasing levels of plastic pollution in global waterways. Supported by Atlantic Packaging, the largest privately held packaging company in North America, the initiative brings together the voices of ocean and water advocacy groups with brands and organizations in the supply chain equipped to bring solutions to the table to remediate the problems that exist today. With a team built by founder Wes Carter, president and third-generation leader of Atlantic Packaging, the initiative is supported by veterans from the surf, outdoor, media, and packaging industries.
“The plastic pollution problem is personal for me. I’ve witnessed it in my own life and have only seen it get worse. After hearing well-known surfers share their personal stories of how they’ve observed the rise in plastic pollution in the oceans, there was a big moment when I realized a lot of the plastic waste was coming from packaging, a supply chain that I’m part of,” said Carter. “This was the catalyst for A New Earth Project and is at the heart of this strategic collaboration. Atlantic Packaging has a seat at the table with the largest consumer product companies in the world. We are in a unique position of having both the ability, and what I believe is the responsibility, to drive the changes that must occur.”
Drawing on Atlantic Packaging’s 75-year history in the global packaging supply chain, this initiative delivers real solutions through the introduction of the New Earth Approved catalog, a collection of products and capabilities adhering to key criteria, including: 100 percent curbside recyclable, made from renewable resources, and not harmful to wildlife or ecosystems. The New Earth Approved catalog brings the purchasing power and delivery capabilities of Atlantic Packaging to businesses of all sizes. Partners may also tap into Atlantic Packaging’s award-winning Packaging Solution Center in Charlotte, NC, which helps brands solve their most challenging packaging problems in alignment with the ethos of New Earth Approved.
“We have been shipping so many boards directly to peoples’ homes, and the amount of plastic we were using was overwhelming; we knew this was a big issue, and that we had to do something about it,” said Jon Pyzel, founder of Pyzel Surfboards. “When the team at A New Earth Project came back with the S3, it gave us the ability to remove all single-use plastic from our surfboard shipping system and replace it with a fully curbside recyclable option. This shift makes our packaging a meaningful brand attribute and signals to our customers that we are doing our part to be more sustainable.”
Source: Company Press Release