Big Impact, Little Footprint: Packaging Industry Sustainability Careers
Libby Rice – Sr. Social Responsibility and Sustainability Specialist, Dart Container
Big Impact, Little Footprint: Packaging Industry Sustainability Careers
Libby Rice – Sr. Social Responsibility and Sustainability Specialist, Dart Container
Sustainable packaging is complex and must consider many things. Product protection and safety, damage prevention, food waste, accessibility and recovery are just some of the ways the packaging industry has to balance packaging design with larger environmental and social issues. In this new monthly series, AMERIPEN explores how sustainability is being adopted and integrated across the packaging industry.
Can you describe your role and how you feel it links to issues around sustainable packaging?
My role revolves around supporting Dart Container’s sustainability efforts by educating internal and external audiences about the sustainability attributes of our packaging, assisting with recovery of existing products, providing input for new product development, and creating programs that benefit society. Sustainability is really all about action for me. What can we DO to make an impact?
What does a typical day look like for you?
One of the best parts of my job is that rarely do I ever have the same day twice! Some days I work with our Michigan or Illinois recycling drop off sites or may be assisting our sales team with research on various sustainability topics. Other days, I’m presenting to our top tier customers about our sustainability programs and managing our Dart Community Action Teams across North America. Lately, I’m heavily focused on developing a new recovery program for multiple materials as well as new product innovations for a circular system.
Can you share a little about your career trajectory and what led you towards this role and an interest in sustainability?
I took the long way to get where I am. I graduated from Michigan State University with a Bachelor’s in Environmental and Natural Resource Policy in the mid-90s. Green jobs were scarce, really, unless you wanted to be knee-deep in the landfill (I wasn’t opposed to that, but it wasn’t my first choice). Environmental consulting was the biggest job market, but I wasn’t interested in the technical aspects of environmental projects at that time. I was broken-hearted after a non-profit internship ruined my rose-colored, I’m-going-to-save-the-earth glasses. My first job out of college was selling trash service to businesses. After 2 years of learning the waste management world, I had an opportunity to get into sales with a packaging company in Michigan. Little did I know I would spend the next 24 years working for Dart Container. Though I sold our products for 20 years, the opportunity came up for me to work with our Sustainability team and I jumped at the chance. My parents were very happy to hear that I’m finally “using” my college degree all these years later.
What skills do you think are most important for a role in sustainable packaging issues?
Those years in sales really bolstered my understanding of the marketplace – why people buy what they buy, but also why they don’t. Sustainability is both an emotional and economic endeavor. The experience I have had watching and learning how we interact with packaging has been crucial to understanding why sustainability in all shades is important to our future.
As an industry, where do you thinking packaging is making strides on sustainability and where do we still struggle?
I think the market is ripe for and the industry is on top of innovation – but recovery and end of life continues to be an issue. We can innovate all we want – if the systems to capture whatever material, aren’t robust or don’t exist, packaging will always be in the crosshairs. Our (the industry’s) sustainability commitments and the overall messaging is improving, and we need to continue to lean in to innovation for both materials and recovery.
What do you think is the biggest challenge facing packaging sustainability right now?
Ensuring packaging is placed in a compost or recycling bin by the public, sorted at MRFs, and ultimately recycled or composted.
What is one common perception around packaging that you believe challenges the notion that packaging can be a tool for sustainability?
That packaging is waste. That is has no value. These materials, whether we are talking about corrugate, plastic, fiber or bio-resins, extend the shelf life of food, enable people to enjoy prepared food when they don’t have time to prepare it themselves, and it offers a safe mechanism for transportation.
If you had one piece of advice for young professionals interested in sustainability, why should they consider the packaging industry? Your specific role?
This industry is constantly evolving. Your career in sustainability can be anything you want it to be based on where your goals and values are leading you. If your dream role doesn’t exist today, stay engaged. A time will come for you to step in and step up to lead. Be ready for it by immersing yourself in all topics, learn all types of industry and be willing to be a student of this field every day. It’s worth it.