Be Green Packaging to Participate in Experience Green’s Hilton Head Island Zero Waste Earth Day Event
Experience Green, an organization dedicated to building sustainable communities through experiential educational, engaging businesses, and working with public institutions, will be putting on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina’s first ever ‘Zero Waste’ event this coming Earth Day weekend. The ‘Get in the Loop’ 2nd Annual Earth Day Celebration seeks to raise awareness on environmental issues that now face our society while also providing real-world solutions that encourage meaningful change on a community-wide level.
Zero Waste can be defined as the proactive approach to waste – the idea that we can design, use, and dispose of products in ways that don’t need landfill space. The Zero Waste movement has been rapidly gaining traction throughout the country and world in recent years as environmental awareness increases due to educational outreach and major issues such as climate change. Although the movement is driven largely by consumer demand, it is up to businesses to implement the changes needed to move away from packaging and products that are destined for the landfill.
“The Zero Waste approach addresses a product’s full lifecycle,” Experience Green Executive Director, Teresa Wade, said. “Packaging and waste are key first considerations for practices that are healthier for the planet and its people, and improves profit – the trifecta of sustainability. Innovation for sustainability aims for material use and design that results in recyclable, reusable, and compostable products for reduced waste. Consumers can drive this effort by asking for and purchasing less wasteful products and packaging.”
Be Green Packaging realized the need for truly sustainable, Zero Waste packaging back in 2007 and hasn’t looked back. The company designs and manufactures compostable and recyclable food service and consumer packaging from annually renewable plant fibers such as bulrush, bamboo, and bagasse (sugar cane pulp), among others. Be Green is currently developing the first US-based plant fiber packaging manufacturing plant right in Hilton Head’s backyard– Jasper County, South Carolina.
Be Green’s products are a textbook fit to the ‘cradle-to-cradle’ closed loop model that is central to the Zero Waste movement. The company uses the aforementioned non-food plants as feedstock for its packaging. The result is a durable, natural product that is the perfect solution for single-use food service packaging and various consumer packaging applications. Furthermore, when the packaging is ready to be disposed of, users can either recycle or compost the product, closing the loop and avoiding the landfill altogether.
“Teaming up with Experience Green for their Zero Waste Earth Day event was a natural fit for us.” Stated Ron Blitzer, CEO and President of Be Green. “As a triple bottom line company, we are concerned not just with profitability, but the bigger picture of what it means to be truly sustainable. That entails embracing the local communities in which we operate, which we are committed to doing whole heartedly. We support Experience Green’s mission and are proud to be a sponsor at this years event.”
Be Green will be sponsoring the ‘Slow Food District’ at this years event, where local restaurants will serve food to attendees on the company’s compostable dinning ware. When diners are finished eating, any left over waste will be “fed” (along with Be Green’s plates and trays) into Wilbur the Waste Eater, a commercial compost unit, as part of a collaborative pilot program effort of the Sea Pines Resort, i2Recycle, andExperience Green.
The event will be held on April 21st, from 11 am to 5 pm, at Shelter Cove Community Park, Hilton Head Island. Admission is $5 for adults and free for kids 12 and under.
