"PACKAGING MATTERS" @ SeeChange'25 and A New Earth Project with Don Meek

Join us at SeeChange'25 this September in Vermont! 

https://www.seechangesessions.com/sept-25/

So thankful to be on the team at Atlantic Packaging and A New Earth Project with Don Meek. 

https://www.atlanticpkg.com/

https://anewearthproject.com/pages/our-story

What's the future of sustainable packaging? 

How can brands get together with Atlantic Packaging and A New Earth Project to make their packaging even more sustainable? 

How will See Change 25 become the place to be to discuss how positive changes can be made in the packaging industry? 

https://anewearthproject.com/collections/new-earth-approved

Connect with Cory

Connect with Cory on LinkedIn here: 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/cory-connors/

I'm here to help you make your packaging more sustainable! Reach out today and I'll get back to you asap. 

This podcast is an independent production and the podcast production is an original work of the author. All rights of ownership and reproduction are retained—copyright 2022.

Transcript

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Welcome to Sustainable Packaging with Cory Connors. Today's guest is my friend Don Meek, the managing director of a New Earth Project. this is very exciting. I want to say this is the first sustainable packaging podcast that is presented by Atlantic Packaging and, officially, and I'm so thrilled to be a part of this team With you, Don. welcome sir. Thank you, Cory. It's awesome to be joining you today and welcome to the team. We're thrilled to have you, man. Thank you. I have admired your work for a very long time and, couldn't be prouder to, to be a part of the team, but let's talk about you a little bit. what's your background? How did you get into packaging of all things? Oh, I'm an accidental packaging guy. I spent most of my career in media and content and film and, I met Wes Carter about four years ago, through a very happy accident. and, we met and I learned about what he was doing, in the sustainability, frame with Atlantic and the concept behind a new Earth project. And. And how he was thinking about sustainability overall. The direction that he was taking the company and given the focus on storytelling, and particularly given that the initiative started within the surf industry. Actually, a new Earth project originally was a, project focused on reimagining a surfboard shipping system for Pyzel surfboards to eliminate single use plastic bubble wrap and plastic tape, and replacing that with a fiber solution. and then making a short film to document that was the genesis of the New Earth Project. And I saw the direction that the company was going in and I raised my hand and I said, I think I can help, certainly from a storytelling standpoint. And that was about four years ago. And, it has evolved from there. So that's how I got involved and I'm just absolutely thrilled to be here. you've done incredible things in a very short amount of time at the company, so I wanna commend you for that. well, I appreciate that. But it's an extraordinary team and that's the unique thing about Atlantic and in New Earth Project is that this is a, never experienced anything like this in my career. where it is a true team effort and it is collaborative, it is supportive. And the leadership that we get from Wes and Rusty Carter. So Rusty is Wes' dad. They're the third gen, Wes is the third generation of the Carter family to run the business, and it's just extraordinary what those guys have built. I agree a hundred percent. It's a totally unique and innovative company and, I think we've got very bright future in front of us, to make a real, great impact. And one of those things that, that you do and we do here at, the company is, events. And I wanna talk about that today. Sea Change 25 coming up here shortly in Vermont. Yes. you've really spearheaded that. and can you tell us about what it is and why? Why we should go. I. Yeah, absolutely. So this is gonna be a real, public service announcement on behalf of Sea Change, sea change sessions. I was introduced to, when I first started, I was introduced to Alex Lolly and the team at Sea Change sessions by my friend Mark Sperling, who said, what you guys are doing in sustainability, you need to meet these guys in Vermont. They've come up with a really unique event series that I think would make a lot of sense. And I went, and first of all, it is in the most beautiful facility, there right on Lake Champlain in South Burlington, Rus Scully and his partner Rob Lair. Who run Hula Ventures took the Old Lodge oven factory, this beautiful brick building that had fallen into disrepair, and they've completely rehabbed it into the one of, one of the most beautiful coworking spaces that you've ever seen. And they've also got a venture fund and an incubator. And so they built this out. It's really become the center of innovation in New England. It's an extraordinary place. And they had an original theory with sea change. let's blow up the conference model. Let's bring a lot of really interesting. creative, accomplished people. Let's put 'em in a room together. Let's ask some, these are people that would not normally be in the same room. Let's do that on purpose and then let's ask some provocative questions of this, of this cohort and see what happens. And it was a really interesting way to approach things like bring. Interesting, but interested people, right, who really wanna make a difference in the world. And it was everything from, I, and I'll tell you over the last three or four years at, as it has evolved, it has really evolved into something extraordinary. So a couple of years ago, actually, when we first started in New Earth Project, we brought our team out. To Burlington and in September of 2022, and it was the first time some of us had ever met in person. This was growing so quickly and we had a really good time and we met some really interesting people. And then Alex, thought that packaging might be a really interesting subject to build a curriculum around. And so they designed what at the time they were calling a lab series, on packaging, and it was really good. So we stepped up to sponsor that last year and we had a really good experience. Well, in parallel to this, we had been toying with the idea of developing our own event series that we had called First Look. The idea behind First Look is, we're bringing so many new materials to market. We've got so many innovative solutions. Wouldn't it be interesting for us to bring our very best customers and people that we would like to do business with into a room and introduce them to these new, innovative materials and innovative solutions, and give them a first look, but important to stand them up in front of. The crowd with a customer that was actually using that material. Because what we don't wanna do is, take people's time and bring them a, an idea that may or may not ever make it to market because, or you've seen this in what you've built over the last five years. How many great ideas just never get off the launchpad. Right. But we wanna make sure that we're delivering, actionable, scalable solutions. And so that was our idea. And so we're taking an intermediate step with First Look this year, and we have partnered with the team at Sea Change to develop what is called a track at Sea Change 2025. And we're calling it Packaging Matters. And the idea behind Packaging matters is we're gonna bring a really, accomplished group. Of folks who are in the packaging supply chain to come and explore some of the biggest challenges and opportunities that we are working through right now. So everything from I. What's happening with Compostability in packaging and what are some of the things that are driving both adoption of compostable packaging, but also some of the challenges that compostable packaging is having in the marketplace right now, particularly in light of what's happening in California. the audience for this podcast. our packaging professionals, and you guys I'm sure are all tracking what's happening with EPR and some of the challenges that compostable packaging is having with EPR legislation right now. So that's one. Lisa VanBladeren from Yeti is going to be leading a workshop on. How we're gonna harmonize packaging standards with the big retailers like REI and Dick's Sporting Goods and Amazon. And there's a lot of, discussion and turbulence in packaging standards right now. So having a good read on how the retailers are thinking about packaging standards and how we can be responsive to those needs. we're gonna be, Hosting a workshop during sea change, during packaging matters, on packaging as a brand attribute. And how the way you package your product really signals your ethics as a company. Do you care about it? Are you paying attention to it? And more importantly, how are you talking to your consumers and your customers about how you're packaging? so that's another one. So we are really excited about that and Matt Saunders is going to be who works with us and leads new Earth Ventures, is gonna be leading a workshop on AI automation and technology and what we can expect to see coming in the next couple of years. I. The packaging supply chain. And then in parallel, we are helping to support, Dave Ford and the OPLN, the Ocean Plastic Leadership Network and attract that they are convening to deal entirely with EPR and everything that's happening. seven states have. Passed extended producer responsibility legislation now in packaging, and there's probably another 10 states that at least have it on the drawing board. Hawaii passed a study bill, and I think they're, even Texas is considering an EPR law at this point. So Dave and his team are convening a parallel track, and they're bringing legislators in who? Come from the states that have passed legislation and inviting legislators from states that are considering the legislation to create this knowledge transfer and create a community of like-minded folk who want to help instantiate and put in place, effective EPR. Because we are big proponents of what we call intelligent EPR. We think that there's a lot of nuance and subtlety that needs to be brought into the conversation. So we're very excited about that. So I wanted to come on today with you, first of all to welcome you to the team. thank you. But also to urge anyone that is interested in some of these big complex and very, immediate challenges and opportunities in the packaging world to. Look into joining us in Vermont in September, so you can hit me at D Meek at a new earth project.com for more information. Or you can go to sea change sessions and find out more, but we're calling it Packaging Matters. It's taking place, September 17th and 18th in Burlington, Vermont at Hula. And so yeah, we're really super excited about being part of this and we would love to have, a great room put together. I think people get a lot out of this. I love it. I love the fact that you are presenting items that are successful already. yeah. A lot of what I see in the industry is, Hey, this is a really great idea. we think it might work. But, that's, and that's nice and that's a good step. But I think what a new Earth project and Atlantic Packaging have focused on is things that are actually scalable and will work and are effective and are sustainable. All of the things the, and is important to us here. And that's what I'm excited to see. I got to hear Dave Ford speak, the very first time I was ever asked. Asked to speak publicly, was at Waste Expo about, six years ago, and Dave was the speaker right after me and I thought, wow, what a cool program. What a neat innovation. And just to get to meet him and his partner at the time was so awesome. So I can't wait to see him again and get to hear from him again. So, who, I know we've talked about what will be there, but. Who, is the target, audience for this? it's leaders in the sustainability space. It's, purchasing. I really think it's, yeah. I, it's in, it's an interesting world that we're in, and like I said, I'm a real newcomer to packaging, and so beginning to understand who the stakeholders are within the packaging, decision making matrix is always, an interesting challenge. And sometimes in the big enterprises, you have some tension within these organizations because you have heads of sustainability that are looking to accomplish, sustainability goals, whether it's carbon reduction, water reduction, zero waste facilities. Figuring out renewable energy schemes. that's a chief sustainability officer role, right? And then you have procurement on the other side, and sometimes incentive structures are misaligned. So if procurement's about cost and sustainability is about sustainability, there's some orthodoxy out there that would suggest that sustainability is just defacto more expensive. Yep. We're gonna try to, or, address some of those. There's some. Mythology out there about this? it's interesting. I'll tell you a quick story. we have been at this selling sustainable solutions for, like I said, the better part of the last four years. And remember that our sustainability journey as a company Atlantic started years ago when we would help companies optimize for. Cost and material usage, And the first rule of sustainability is always use less. And we've helped people do that for 20 years. And so we had a headstart with our sustainability work, but we have really focused on a lot of our attention in the outdoor industry. And so we've been working with a brand called IBUs, IBIS. I have a spikes. And, Jason Jackson, who you've met, JJ Has been the lead sales guy on that. And working through our team at the solution center in Charlotte, we redesigned their entire, packaging system to eliminate single use plastic. I. But a byproduct of that work was we took their pack time from four hours per bike down to an hour per bike. And so one of the things that we are encouraging brands to do when they are looking at these types of projects is you can't just look at your materials cost. You have to calculate all of the inputs. That would include material cost. It would, but it also includes assembly time. Time to package and get ready to ship dimensional weight. There's a million things that go into it, and we think of it as a total cost of ownership metric. And so when you say that you've taken your. We, and we know that this also happened with our S3 surfboard shipping system. Yep. the total cost of ownership is far less than the previous incumbent solution, simply because your pack time goes from 20 minutes to five minutes. Yeah. And so your throughput is a lot higher, and you can calculate that based on labor costs and all kinds of different things. But anyway, we're encouraging people to look at total cost of ownership metrics. So those are some of the exciting things that we're doing. So. Back to who should be in the room. people who are looking at these challenges, who are looking at the complexities that we're dealing with. And so we're trying to bring people into the room who come with different perspectives and look to have these conversations that are going to move us forward in a collaborative. In an accelerated way, and the idea is that we want to give you both actionable insights and introduce you to other folks in the packaging supply chain who are thinking about the same things you're thinking about. Yeah, exactly. And I, in my brief time here at Atlantic Packaging, I've already had some, meetings with some customers, and the other day we were on a call with a customer and we were talking about, adding PCR content to their bags. And the reduction in the EPR fees was tens of thousands of dollars. So, yes, the material is slightly more expensive, but it's totally negated by the huge savings, from their extended producer responsibility fees. And so these, this is something we need to continue to discuss and, open people's eyes to.'cause frankly, I would say the majority of the industry still don't know what EPR is. it, it's an interesting point that you make and it's why I'm so proud of the work that Caroline DeLoach, our head of sustainability, and Gabby Geers, who works with Caroline, the work that they're doing, both to stay up to date on all of the trends with EPR. But then the educational. materials and programs that they're developing to let our customers and prospective customers know what is happening and why do you need to pay attention to it. And then you layer in what Matt Saunders is doing from the new Earth venture side and making investments in technologies that are going to make it far more, far easier for brands to calculate. Their material usage. Figure out the EPR fee structure, and understand what the impacts will be if they optimize for EPR compliance. so there's a lot of things happening that I think are really super relevant and it's why, we really are excited about our packaging matters, track at sea change, and just can't encourage people enough to take advantage of that. and would love to get the. The place busting at the seams.'cause I think it's gonna be a good one. I can't wait. I'm so excited for it. I've never been to Vermont before. but heard incredible things about it. And, anything else you wanted to talk about before we, call the show here? I. S No. Just how thrilled we are to have you, Corey. and how excited the entire team is. I know that you blew it up on LinkedIn when you announced that you were joining us, and that's a real testament to you. Thank you. I can't wait to keep going with you. And as, as we go and encourage everybody to reach out, we believe in radical collaboration as an organization and, we wanna mix it up and make good things happen. We're really. We're really dedicated to this and really excited about the future. So welcome to the team, man. Thank you, sir. I've admired you and the team here, for years and, I couldn't be more excited to be a part of it and, can't wait to see what we'll accomplish together. So thank you. Thanks Corey. See you.