Berry, 3M sign on to sustainability projects

Both Berry Global Group Inc. and 3M Co. have revealed plans to take part in specific efforts launched by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in its fight against plastic waste and pollution.

Berry, the Evansville, Ind.-based plastics processor, is joining the foundation's New Plastics Economy Global Commitment.

That program aims to eliminate plastic pollution and waste at the source and was created in conjunction with UN Environment, an arm of the United Nations.

The global commitment brings together businesses, governments and other groups to create a common vision, according to the foundation.

Companies representing 20 percent of all plastics packaging already have signed on to the commitment. Other members include nongovernmental organizations, universities and industry groups.

"We are innovating our products to encourage recyclability, use of recycled content and lightweighting," Berry CEO Tom Salmon said in a statement.

Berry is pledging to "take action to eliminate problematic or unnecessary plastic packaging" as well as making "100 percent of plastic packaging to be reusable, recyclable or compostable," the company said.

Berry also has a "target of 10 percent post-consumer recycled content across all plastic packaging used," and it is looking at increasing the manufacture of reusable packaging.

The company already has commercialized some reusable packaging, Berry said, and will work to continue that approach on new models.

Berry will evaluate all product lines by the end of next year "to determine the best potential markets for reusable packaging," the company said.

Meanwhile, 3M is joining the foundation's Circular Economy 100, or CE 100 for short.

CE 100 brings together companies on a precompetitive basis to "learn, share knowledge and build new collaborative approaches," the foundation said.

"Success requires significant individual effort but serious actors also acknowledge the necessity to work collectively to build new markets," the foundation said on its website.

"3M is moving to more recycled and renewable materials in our product and package designs, but no one company can do it alone," Chief Sustainability Officer Gayle Schueller said in a statement.

As the Maplewood, Minn.-based company creates new offerings, developers "are required to describe their product's sustainability impact and how it drives impact for the greater good," the company said.

The company's Scotch-Brite Heavy Duty Scrub Sponges sold in the United States now contain 100 percent recycled content scrubbing fibers. The company's Thinsulate Recycled Featherless Insulation is also launching a 100 percent recycled content alternative made from plastic bottles.