Direct Pack Inc mitigates supply chain disruptions with expanded North America manufacturing operations

"As we receive consolidated bales of post-consumer thermoforms from our MRFs partners, we are seeing a very high percentage of our own DPI products coming back to us in post-consumer form," said Snedden. "There is nothing more gratifying than participating with existing recycling structure, which allows DPI to get our own products back, and this fact proves that recycling PET thermoforms really works."

The majority of the raw material in Direct Pack Baja will be derived from Direct Pack Recycling, the company's own reclaiming and reprocessing plant, where both post-consumer recycled PET bottles as well as clamshells are turned into PCR PET raw material again. Through high heat and vacuum in the solid-state polymerization process, the PCR flakes get the same performance characteristics as new material.

October 2021 Innovator Awards in Responsible Sourcing

A key example of DPI's full circular business model at work and its impact, is the recent recognition of long-term customer Driscoll's, who has received the Sustainable Packaging Coalition' 2021 Innovator Awards in Responsible Sourcing for their sourcing of PET clamshells with recycled content from PET thermoforms.

Direct Pack and Driscoll's have together leveraged the full circular business model, by including not only post-consumer recycled PET bottles in their berry clamshells, but also post-consumer thermoformed packaging. That means that a new Driscoll's berry clamshell contains material from previously used clamshells, keeping them from landfills, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the need for new material. Driscoll's transition to sourcing PET thermoforms is a first in the berry industry with respect to promoting full circular packaging solutions.

Camille Herrera, Packaging Development and Sustainability Manager at Driscoll's, said "A huge thanks to our packaging supplier Direct Pack for their efforts in solving both technical and supply chain challenges in the emerging PET clamshell-to-clamshell recycling space. We are deeply appreciative of their partnership in this endeavor, and look forward to even more success in the future as the reverse supply chain becomes more robust."

The expansion of DPI's North American recycling and manufacturing capabilities strengthens the company's capability to service the continuously growing demand of sustainable and full circular take-out and food packaging.

By further leveraging their vertical operations integration – where in-house innovation, outstanding design, and fast tool building is coupled with extrusion, thermoforming and post-consumer recycled raw material – and becoming even more flexible and closer to the key markets and partners they serve, DPI will make a greater impact on sustainability of PET plastic.

(Source: PR Newswire)

www.directpackinc.com