Kwik Lok joins more than 70 additional companies, NGOs and government agencies to rethink the way we design, use, and reuse plastics
Kwik Lok has joined the U.S. Plastics Pact, a collaborative, solutions-driven initiative rooted in four ambitious goals intended to drive significant systems change by unifying diverse cross-sector approaches, setting a national strategy, and creating scalable solutions to create a path forward toward a circular economy for plastics in the United States by 2025. The first North American Pact of its kind, the U.S. Pact is a collaboration led by The Recycling Partnership, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
As a member of the U.S. Pact, Kwik Lok joins more than 70 brands, retailers, NGOs, and government agencies across the plastics value chain to bring one voice to U.S. packaging through coordinated initiatives and innovative solutions for rethinking products and business models.
“We have real challenges ahead, and it is up to all of us to find impactful, tangible solutions – that is why we are so excited to join a group of organizations committed to innovating in plastics reduction,” said Kwik Lok CEO Don Carrell. “We take the responsibility of creating new products and new technologies to reduce plastic’s impact on our environment seriously and look forward to working with others to improve the lives of our employees, customers and communities.
As part of the U.S. Plastics Pact, Kwik Lok has agreed to help deliver against the coalition’s four ambitious goals:
- Define a list of packaging to be designated as problematic or unnecessary by 2021 and take measures to eliminate them by 2025.
- By 2025, all plastic packaging is 100% reusable, recyclable, or compostable.
- By 2025, undertake ambitious actions to effectively recycle or compost 50% of plastic packaging.
- By 2025, the average recycled content or responsibly sourced bio-based content in plastic packaging will be 30%.
While the U.S. Pact follows the precedents set by the existing global network of Plastic Pacts, it is tailored to meet the unique needs and challenges of the U.S. market. The Pact reflects national priorities and realities, while still propelling the nation closer to other developed nations in its management of plastic waste.
“Together through the U.S. Plastics Pact, we will ignite system change to accelerate progress toward a circular economy,” says Emily Tipaldo, Executive Director of the U.S. Plastics Pact. “The U.S. Pact will mobilize systemwide change through support for upstream innovation and a coordinated national strategy. This unified framework will enable members to fast-track progress toward our ambitious 2025 sustainability goals. Members’ full participation will be vital to reaching our shared goals.”
As a member of the U.S. Pact, Kwik Lok is committed to transparent, annual reporting guided by WWF’s ReSource: Plastic Footprint Tracker, which will be used to document annual progress against the initiative’s four goals. Kwik Lok will establish a “roadmap” in 2021 to identify key milestones for achieving the U.S. targets and realizing a circular economy in which plastic never becomes waste.
To achieve its sustainability goals, Kwik Lok is working to reduce its portfolio-wide energy usage by 20% by 2025. To date, Kwik Lok has already saved more than 1 million kWh in energy since completing building renovations and operational upgrades in 2015 and has decreased energy consumption by 12%. Kwik Lok has also launched three sustainable product innovations, including its Eco-Lok product in 2019, formulated with a plant-based biopolymer called NuPlastiQ® that requires up to 20% fewer greenhouse gas emissions to produce than standard plastic bag closures.
