Services

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PLASTIG BAGS

The US retail industry uses around 380 billion single use plastic bags and wraps annually, and despite their ability to be completely recycled over and over into many new products, including brand new plastic bags, today 95% still find their way to landfill. Plastic bags actually provide significant economic and environmental benefit including lower environmental impacts than paper, cotton and even re-usable plastic shopping bags. Yet, retailers and the plastic bag industry are under significant environmental pressure, even facing bans in some markets. Through collaborative, connected, and transparent circular economies, GearedforGreen is working with retailers, plastic bag manufacturers, and recycling – technology partners, to help significantly increase recycling rates and raise awareness to plastic bag sustainability.

MARKET CHALLENGES

The two primary challenges that have impacted the recycling sector for retail plastic film and bags are limited markets and limited technologies.Historically, retailers and recyclers have relied on two limited recycling markets for plastic films and bags. The primary market for many years was to export overseas. However, export rates diminished significantly as a result of China’s 2018 National Sword policy banning imports of most recyclables. The composite “wood” industry represents a secondary, but still significant recycling market, utilizing plastic films and bags as raw material inside thicker walled extruded and molded parts.Until recently, the lack of innovative, domestic technologies also limited recycling rates. Plastic films and bags are generally baled, containing a moderate level of contamination, including non-compatible plastic materials like polyester strapping, etc., and non-plastic waste materials like paper, food, etc. Export markets relied on a mix of low-cost labor and limited technology for sorting and recycling, while composite “wood” companies are able to mask the contamination inside thicker walled, lower value parts.As a result of limited markets, technologies and low domestic investment, the retail plastic film and bag recycling sector has seen very limited growth.

SOLUTIONS

Today, advanced recycling technologies as well as advanced specialty additives are paving the way for retail plastic film and bag circular economies!New proprietary plastic recycling technologies such as wet and dry washing, filtration and purification systems, etc., enable processors to recycle post-consumer contaminated plastic films and bags, and produce high quality, certified recycled plastic resins, suitable for blown film applications. Now, these sustainable resins (raw materials) can be reused directly into the retail circular economy, to make brand new film products including new grocery and shopping bags, trash bags and can liners, e-commerce shipping bags and so much more. With state-of-the-art processing facilities now expanding regionally throughout North America, retailers have more resources than ever to increase recycling rates.Additionally, new advanced specialty additives are helping improve plastic film and bag recycling rates, resulting in increased economic, environmental, and social brand value generated through the circular economy, including:”Bio-assimilation” additives that enable plastic bag manufacturers to make sustainable plastic bags that are both simultaneously recyclable and fully bio-degradable.“Tracer” additives incorporated directly into new plastic bags, enabling retailers to gain complete visibility to verify the entire recycling and re-manufacturing circular economy chain-of-custody.GearedforGreen’s retail plastic bag circular economies are strategic, collaborative, and transparent, connecting retailers, recycling and technology providers, with plastic film and bag manufactures, to provide limitless possibilities for retail plastic film and bag sustainability!

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS

GearedforGreen Circular Economy fully implements collaborative, connected, and transparent Circular Economy Partnerships among retailers, plastic film and bag manufactures, and recycling- technology providers that enable retail plastic bag Circular Economies to:de-risk the recycling supply chain by creating diversified and closed loop markets, providing price indexing options, and ensuring transparent chain of custody recycling verification.balance supply and demand as retailers play an active role in creating consistent, long-term and sustainable demand solutions for recycled materials.drive social sustainable awareness and strengthen relationships between retailers and “activated” consumers.create a “collaborative and proactive industry platform” that stays ahead of recycling mandates, such as SB270. Working together transparently, retailers, recycling and technology providers, and plastic film and bag manufactures can increase recycling rates, increase recycled content in new bags, and continually improve plastic bag sustainability!

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APPAREL & TEXTILE

Every year, the US generates more than 32 billion pounds of apparel and textile waste generated from used and “off-spec” apparel, and only 15% is re-used and/or recycled, typically into lower value applications. The vast majority of the remaining 85% of apparel and textile waste is sent off to landfills or incinerated. Overall, the apparel and textile industry is responsible for 20% of all global waste, 2nd only to the oil industry in terms of contribution to global environmental pollution.

Contributing factors:
Natural fibers, including cotton, require over 100 years to fully decompose while releasing significant amounts of methane and CO2 during the degradation process.
Synthetic fibers such as polyester, polypropylene and nylon are designed to last, and decompose over long periods of time, contributing to the global micro plastics problem.
Cotton farming represents 24% of insecticide and 11% of pesticide global demand.
Water usage is substantial, requiring 5,300 gallons of water in the manufacturing life cycle to make just one single pair of jeans and a T-shirt.

Through collaborative, connected, and transparent circular economy solutions, GearedforGreen Circular Economy® works with apparel and textile manufacturers, retailers and brands, along with specialized supply chain partners across the globe in a variety of fields including:
Recollection, recycling and reuse
Redesign, raw materials, research and process development.
Certification, technology, and communication,

to help minimize the collective environmental impacts associated with the apparel and textile industry and to increase sustainability industry wide.

MARKET CHALLENGES

There are many contributing factors associated with the environmental impacts caused by the apparel and textile industry, and all represent similar, yet distinct challenges.Consumer and market demand for “Fast Fashion” that while allowing consumers to look fabulous with current fashion trends, enables a wear and waste culture,The use and disposal of non-sustainable promotional, corporate branded apparel products and uniforms,Substandard manufacturing processes that continue to over-use natural resources,As the amount of waste generated by the apparel and textile is expected to increase in the coming years, there is a significant sense of urgency for the industry to begin developing solutions to this challenge now.

SOLUTIONS

At GearedforGreen, we concentrate on building Circular Economy solutions that offer real sustainability options for the apparel and textile industry. Our Circular Economy solutions are broad-based and aim to achieve the most strategic “next life” solution for a variety of end-of-life requirements, including:

Collaborating among new and existing recycling and recollection infrastructures to increase recycling rates and to create higher value recycling solutions, especially for blended natural and synthetic apparel and textiles.
Expanded apparel reuse collaborations for both industrial product waste and consumer product used in the market, including sharing and donation enterprises.
Product and component redesign strategies that can better support “end of use” recyclability for product used in the market.
Raw material sourcing and selection plans that can be tailored to better use more sustainable and recyclable materials.

Improving education and awareness between industry and consumers to help drive waste minimization and increase overall sustainability for the apparel and textile industry.

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS

GearedforGreen Circular Economy fully implements collaborative and transparent Circular Economy Partnerships that connect apparel manufacturers directly to strategic service partners offering critical, long-term and committed Circular Economy sustainability solutions such as:Strategic Donation programs that are socially purposeful and strategically enhance brand valueRe-Use / resale solutions, that may be combined withCertified destruction and brand protectionApparel / Textile recycling into a variety of alternate applicationsDesigning products for end-of-life recyclabilitySustainable raw material supplyRetail / brand communications and consumer awareness

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RETAILER COMPLIANCE

At APEX Sustainable Furnishings, we help youtake your event furniture and furnishings to a whole new level ofsustainability! Our sustainable catalog includes eco-friendly furniture, furnishings, fabrics, flooring, floral, and fixtures, all designed for events and all madefrom recycled and sustainable raw materials.

MARKET CHALLENGES

Today’s marketplace has changed. While the historical focus areas still apply for products and brands, standing alone they are no longer enough. As retailers and brands drive sustainability changes in the marketplace to meet consumer and corporate demand, they are also making decisions on shelf space allocation based on a product and/or brands sustainability and social purpose, including how “Compliant” products are with specific “sustainability scorecard” criteria. Today, brands need to incorporate, and verify, sustainability into their core focus areas with measures such as:

Responsible sourcing of raw materials
Optimization of design to reduce raw material usage
Ensure end-of-life recyclability and include clear recyclability labeling
Utilize post-consumer recycled content in products and packaging
Communicate sustainability initiatives, practices and corporate social responsibility goals

Often, the biggest challenge is determining how to get started down the path of incorporating sustainability criteria into existing and future product. A Circular Economy, by definition, requires significant collaboration among key stakeholders that are both internal to your organization and operations and external in your expansive supply chain. This breadth of internal and external execution, and the numerous products and supply chain partners this involves, can often be a paralyzing roadblock to initiating an effective Circular Economy strategy as there is no cookie-cutter or one-size-fits-all strategy that can be taken off the shelf and put in practice.

CIRCULAR ECONOMY SOLUTIONS

Utilizing more than 30 years of plastics Circular Economy and Sustainability expertise, GearedforGreen works closely with manufacturers and brand owners to help achieve retailer sustainability compliance via:

Optimizing packaging design to reduce raw material usage
Assisting in raw material selection to ensure end-of-life recyclability of product packaging
Incorporating post-consumer resin content into packaging and products
Providing chain of custody and post-consumer resin traceability
Securing the balanced supply of post-consumer sustainable raw materialsIncorporating sustainability and recyclability messaging
Social Sustainability Partnerships and impact on brand/product awareness
Verifying sustainability measures taken to meet and/or enhance retailer sustainability compliance

We help manufacturers and brands embrace Circular Economy concepts, embed them into the organizational and operational culture and recognize the positive, long-term strategic impact they present for not only the achievement of retailer sustainability compliance, but also for overall Business Strategy, Sales Development and Organizational Development.

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS

GearedforGreen Circular Economy® fully implements collaborative and transparent Circular Economy Partnerships to create strategic, long-term and committed sustainability solutions for manufacturers of products and brands via:

Optimization of packaging designVerifiable and transparent chain of custody of post-consumer sustainable raw materials
Implementation and de-risking of end-of-life recycling solutions
Creation of strategic and balanced supply of sustainable raw materials
Implementation of social and sustainable awareness campaigns

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SUSTAINABLE BRAND DEVELOPMENT

Consumer activation toward sustainability is happening now! Recent market studies confirm that 31% of consumers are “Aware” of the plastic and single use packaging issues, and more importantly, 34% of consumers are “Activated”, meaning they are making purchasing decisions in part based on a product, brands, or retailer’s commitment to sustainability. Overall, 65% of consumers are actually more aware and more concerned with ocean plastic waste versus 58% concerned with climate change!

Today, consumers want to know what brands, retailers and manufacturers are doing with respect to plastic sustainability, and more than 50% have actually altered their purchasing decisions toward products that meet their needs while demonstrating sustainability and social purpose.

Through collaborative, connected, and transparent circular economies, GearedforGreen works with brands, retailers, manufacturers and their supply chains to help brands develop and then fully implement Circular Economy & Sustainability initiatives.

MARKET CHALLENGE

Often, the biggest challenge is creating a brand sustainability roadmap, determining how to get started down the path of building a sustainable brand. Brands generally ask, “Should we first focus on our own internal operations? How do we implement social sustainability initiatives? When should we begin external consumer messaging, and how do we best collaborate with retail and supply chain partners?”

A Circular Economy, by definition, requires significant collaboration among all key stakeholders that are both internal to your organization and operations and external in your supply chain, including consumers. This breadth of internal and external execution, and the numerous products and supply chain partners this involves, can often be a paralyzing roadblock to brand owners that are initiating an effective Circular Economy strategy. While there is no cookie-cutter or one-size-fits-all strategy that can be taken off the shelf and put in practice, there are proven pathways to sustainable implementation.

Once you get started, brands must be careful to:
Ensure that your sustainability roadmap is strategic, collaborative, connected and most importantly – effective.
Focus on economic, environmental, and social brand value.
Communicate effectively and transparently, to both internal and external stakeholders, to verify what is truly being accomplished and to avoid “Green-Washing from incorrect sustainability claims.

SOLUTIONS

Utilizing more than 30 years of Circular Economy Sustainability Strategy and Execution, GearedforGreen Circular Economy® works closely with brand owners to develop and implement their sustainability roadmaps while overcoming roadblocks:

Key focus across Environmental, Economic, Social, and Strategic Value
Internal focus on Products and Manufacturing, Supply Chain Collaboration, Recycling and Waste management, Raw Material, and Packaging Design.
External focus on Brand Value and Sustainability Messaging, End-of-life recyclability, and Social Sustainability Partnerships and impact on Brand Awareness.

We help brands embrace Circular Economy concepts, embed circular organizational culture that recognize the positive, long-term strategic impact on overall Business Strategy, Brand Development and Organizational Development.

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS

GearedforGreen Circular Economy® fully implements collaborative and transparent Circular Economy Partnerships to create strategic, long-term and committed sustainability solutions for brands via:

De-risking the end-of-life recycling supply chain by creating diversified and closed loop markets that ensure transparent chain of custody recycling verification.
Create supply and demand balance to ensure that consistent and/or cyclical needs are met by matching the supply of waste plastic materials to diverse markets, allowing plastic waste to move readily into sustainable, strategic end-market solutions
Secure the supply of sustainable raw materials for brands seeking to incorporate “recycled content” into their products as part of their corporate sustainability initiatives

Drive social sustainable awareness and strengthen relationships among manufacturers, brands, retailers and “activated” consumers.

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SUSTAINABLE RAW MATERIALS

The raw materials marketplace for manufacturers of plastic products is changing rapidly, driven by retailers and brand owners as a result of the “Activated” consumer. Consumers today are “actively” making shopping and spending decisions in part based on a product, brand, or retailer’s commitment to social value, which includes our environment. As a result, the manufacturing landscape, for both single and multi-use plastic products, along with the supply chains that serve them, is evolving rapidly toward circularity. Today, manufacturers are becoming increasingly engaged in a number of sustainable manufacturing initiatives including:
Use of certified post-consumer recycled plastic raw materials,
Redesign of plastic products and packaging to use fewer resources
Redesigning products to ensure end-of-life recyclability
Connecting into more sustainable and efficient circular economies.

Today’s consumer “Activation” is spurring action downstream, including retailers, brands, governmental agencies and even capital investment managers, to pressure and even place mandates on manufacturers of plastic products with respect to sustainability and socially purposeful manufacturing.GearedforGreen Circular Economy® creates, connects, and implements sustainable plastic raw material supply chains, working with resin producers and distributors, recyclers and suppliers of sustainable raw materials and additives, technical support, science, and certification providers, along with the end of use recycling & recollection community, to provide manufacturers of plastic products with enhanced sustainable plastic raw material solutions.Consumer market reports including consumer trends and consumer Activation is available upon request

MARKET CHALLENGE

Historically, manufacturers purchased plastic raw materials direct from virgin resin producers and distributors and plastic resin supply was viewed in a very linear take-make-waste landscape. As the dominant raw material “value propositions” were focused on price per pound cost, ease of use, access to available consistent supply and overall cost of use, manufacturers favored using virgin plastics over recycled plastic resins.

Using post-consumer plastic resins typically introduces a higher level of operational complexity and cost for manufacturers, because the physical properties and quality of recycled plastic resins are more variable than those of virgin resins which are made to more precise specifications, and also because recycled sustainable plastic resins aren’t as accessible in terms of available supply.

Adding to current 2019-2020 market challenges, virgin plastic resin pricing continues to fluctuate, but at relatively depressed pricing levels, presenting a challenge to the historical linear value conceptions. Today however, the consumer landscape is changing, and manufacturers along with brands and retailers recognize the need for increased circular sustainability and are working collaboratively with their supply chains to increase usage of sustainable plastic raw materials.

SOLUTIONS

Recognizing the challenges manufacturers face today in increasing their usage of sustainable and recycle grade plastic raw materials, GearedforGreen Circular Economy® has created a number of specialized plastic raw material supply chain solutions.

Supply – we maintain an active supply line of over 1B pounds per year of recycled plastic resins, including commodity and engineered grades.
Distribution – we maintain sustainable raw material distribution partnerships with leading plastic raw material distributors in the industry to ensure access to consistent supply
Specialty Grades – we have developed a number of specialized grades including 100% PCR Film Grade resins to meet the plastic film and bag industries needs for SB270 certified raw materials
Technical support – we provide full technical support including on-site tech support, ASTM testing and certification, engineering support, etc.
Specialty resins – we provide a number of specialty resins including sustainable FDA grades
Specialty advanced additives – we provide a number of advanced specialty additives that help improve the overall sustainability for plastic products including
”Bio-assimilation” additives that enable manufacturers to make sustainable plastic products that are both simultaneously recyclable and fully bio-degradable
“Tracer” additives incorporated directly into new plastic products allow for complete visibility of post-consumer resin content to verify the entire recycling and re-manufacturing circular economy chain-of-custody
Natural processing additives that lower CO2 impactOdor and moisture control
Anti-fungal and anti-microbial

Bulk Sustainable Raw Material Purchasing programs which are designed to help retailers and brands to feed their supply chains by offering sustainable raw material demand certainty to drive increases in investment and capacity for manufacturers of post-consumer plastic resins.

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS

GearedforGreen Circular Economy® fully implements collaborative, connected, and transparent Circular Economy Partnerships among retailers, plastic product manufactures, and recycling- technology-science-certification providers that enable plastic Circular Economies to:De-risk the recycling supply chain by creating diversified and closed loop markets, providing price indexing options, and ensuring transparent chain of custody recycling verification.Balance supply and demand as retailers play an active role in creating consistent, long-term and sustainable demand solutions for recycled materials.Drive social sustainable awareness and strengthen relationships between retailers, “activated” consumers and plastic product manufacturers.Create a “collaborative and proactive industry platform” that stays ahead of consumer pressure and governmental mandates requiring post-consumer resin content percentages. Working together transparently, retailers, recycling and technology providers, and plastic product manufactures can increase recycling rates, increase recycled content in new products, and continually improve plastic sustainability!

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COSMETICS & FMCG

The Cosmetics and Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sectors share the spotlight from “Activated” consumers that are driving brands and manufacturers, along with retailers, to incorporate sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility into their organizations, operations and products. As two significant and highly consumer-facing market segments, organizations involved in Cosmetics and FMCG face pressures to improve sustainable sourcing, increase use of post-consumer plastic materials, re-think and re-design single use packaging, and to take responsibility for their products at end-of-use, etc.

MARKET CHALLENGE

FMCG and Cosmetic brands heavily rely on packaging visualization to competitively differentiate themselves on the shelf. Historically, these brands had the luxury of selecting packaging materials that not only satisfied visualization differentiation, but also created packaging that accommodated shelf life requirements. Ultimately, this created an incentive to use virgin plastic raw materials along with layered multi material packaging that allowed manufacturers of FMCG and Cosmetics the greatest level of flexibility in package design.

Considering the use of post-consumer resins introduces a higher level of operational complexity as its properties are more variable than virgin resins. This operational complexity holds the potential to increase the cost of production and with it, the price of the finished product. However, the pace of changes in consumer spending dynamics, with a focus on sustainability in their decision-making, are challenging FMCG and Cosmetic companies to re-design their business models. It is becoming increasingly critical for companies to re-design their organizations away from the old linear take-make-waste mindset focused on cost and profit margin, to a more circular focused model that maintains focus on corporate social purpose and treats plastic waste as a value-retaining raw material.

SOLUTIONS

With over 30 years of plastics Circular Economy and Sustainability expertise, GearedforGREEN is well positioned to assist FMCG and Cosmetic companies overcome the challenges of the current market environment.

A Circular Economy, by definition, is connected, collaborative and transparent. Therefore, creating and effective circular economy requires significant collaboration among all key stakeholders that are both internal to your organization and operations and external in your expansive supply chain. This breadth of internal and external execution, and the numerous products and supply chain partners this involves, can often be a paralyzing roadblock to initiating an effective Circular Economy strategy as there is no cookie-cutter or one-size-fits-all strategy that can be taken off the shelf and put in practice.

GearedforGreen, in collaboration with other key members of the GreenPack Alliance, focuses primarily on manufacturers and brands in the FMCG and Cosmetics space to bring sustainability solutions to their business. This focused, collaborative effort can be helpful in the development, execution and implementation of your Circular Economy and Sustainability strategy via a variety of sustainability channels, such as:

Optimizing packaging design (primary, secondary) to reduce raw material usage
Assisting in raw material selection to ensure end-of-life recyclability of product packaging
Incorporating post-consumer resin content into packaging and products
Providing chain of custody and post-consumer resin traceability
Securing the balanced supply of post-consumer sustainable raw materials
Incorporating sustainability and recyclability messaging
Social Sustainability Partnerships and impact on brand/product awareness
Verifying sustainability measures taken to meet and/or exceed sustainability compliance criteria of many retailers and mass merchandisers
Embracing product visualization distinctions as a “badge of sustainability”

We can help FMCG and Cosmetic companies embrace Circular Economy concepts, embed them into the organizational and operational culture to recognize the positive, long-term strategic impact they present for overall Business Strategy, Sales Development and Organizational Development.

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS

GearedforGreen Circular Economy® fully implements collaborative and transparent Circular Economy Partnerships to create strategic, long-term and committed sustainability solutions for FMCG and Cosmetics companies via:

Optimizing packaging design
Complete, verifiable and transparent chain of custody of post-consumer sustainable raw materials
De-risking current end-of-life recycling challenges
Creating a stable, strategic supply and demand balance to secure the supply of sustainable raw materials for brands seeking to incorporate “recycled content” into their products
Drive social sustainability awareness and strengthen relationships among manufacturers, brands, retailers and “activated” consumers.

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Our Services

OUR KEY MARKETS

PLASTIG BAGS

MARKET CHALLENGES

SOLUTIONS

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS

APPAREL & TEXTILE

MARKET CHALLENGES

SOLUTIONS

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS

RETAILER COMPLIANCE

MARKET CHALLENGES

CIRCULAR ECONOMY SOLUTIONS

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS

SUSTAINABLE BRAND DEVELOPMENT

MARKET CHALLENGE

SOLUTIONS

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS

SUSTAINABLE RAW MATERIALS

MARKET CHALLENGE

SOLUTIONS

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS

COSMETICS & FMCG

MARKET CHALLENGE

SOLUTIONS

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS