Alter Eco’s Gone4Good Packaging Wins a Nexty Award!

Every year at the Natural Product’s Expo West, a group of people review and evaluate all the new products at the show in order to curate a list of what they deem the most exciting innovations of the year. For the last three or four years we’ve had the privilege of working on projects that made this coveted Nexty finalist list, which is always an honor, but this year we’re super excited to announce that one of our projects won the Best New Packaging Award!

For quite a few years, Alter Eco has been trying to find a more sustainable solution for the stand-up pouches they use for their quinoa, rice, and sugar. The problem with the existing plastic pouches is that they are all landfill bound because they’re made of multiple layers of materials (which can’t be separated), and because they lay flat, like paper, when running through a material recovery plant (which means it can’t be sorted properly). So Alter Eco found that the best solution would be to use all compostable materials so consumers can just place them in their backyard compost bin, or commercial compost bin, and watch the pouch disappear after it served its purpose. This is easier said than done, though, and it couldn’t be done alone.

Enter the OSC2 Council, formed by Alter Eco and other sustainably-minded companies who want a solution to packaging problems like these. With the potential buying power of all the brands in OSC2, Alter Eco was able to influence the system and get packaging manufacturers to help develop and test their idea. A couple years of development later they finally had something that worked, and we got to help design the pouch graphics, and the campaign to promote the new solution now called Gone4Good.

With this new innovation looking sharp, Alter Eco decided to launch the pouch this year, starting with their line of four organic Quinoa’s. The Nexty judges took notice of how big this sustainable innovation could be for the food industry (which produces 17 million pouches a year), and honored Alter Eco (and us by association) the 2016 Nexty Award for the Best New Packaging. 

Needless to say, we’re honored to be a part of team Alter Eco, and to have some part in this great innovation and award. Go team! And congratulations to Alter Eco for the great success after years of hard work.