Community Updates

EnviroLife by Sustana:
A Sustainability Solution for Food Packaging

Sustana promotes and applies sustainable manufacturing and business practices to deliver premium, eco-friendly recycled fibers to customers across North America. One example of this is the unique food packaging product EnviroLife. EnviroLife allows brands to reduce their environmental impact by using recycled fiber in direct-contact food packaging.

Published 6 years ago | About a 3 minute read

EnviroLife has significantly lower environmental impact than virgin fiber

Using state-of-the-art equipment, energy saving strategies and advanced technologies, Sustana has constantly endeavored to reduce its water consumption, electricity use and overall energy use.

In a recent Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) analysis undertaken by the AGÉCO research and consulting firm, EnviroLife’s environmental impact was much lower than that of generic North American market virgin fiber.

The LCA measured 15 key environmental indicators, including global warming, water consumption impact, and ozone depletion. Notably, EnviroLife demonstrated a lower environmental impact than virgin fiber for all indicators across the board.

As such, EnviroLife is a welcome solution for food-serving companies seeking to minimize the environmental impact of their packaging and maintain more sustainable supply chains.

McDonald’s recent announcement that it will source all packaging from recycled, renewable or certified sources by 2025 points to EnviroLife’s potential market opportunity.

Sustana’s Chairman and CEO, Fabian de Armas, speaks to EnviroLife’s unique environmental benefits: “EnviroLife is the only 100% recycled fiber in North America that provides a zero-fluorescence solution and meets FDA requirements for direct food contact without the need for a barrier. Sustana provides its clients with premium products and environmentally sustainable solutions whose impacts are measurable. We conduct a third-party-verified analysis of the impact of using our products on the environment in terms of overall carbon footprint; it’s an entire life cycle analysis for our products. Sustana is the only producer that does this, and we’re proud of that.”

EnviroLife’s patented manufacturing process eliminates optical brightening agents (OBAs), resulting in a product which is suitable for food contact with no need for a barrier or coating. Furthermore, because of this treatment, EnviroLife is free from contaminants which are present in most other post-consumer fibers.

Straight from production, EnviroLife is ready to be used in all food packaging applications, including takeaway containers, soup containers, coffee and tea cups, coffee bags, cheese/meat interleaving paper, bread bags and more.

Furthermore, EnviroLife is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC), making it one of many Sustana products which meet the FSC’s strict environmental and social standards.

Sustana is a North American leader in post-consumer recycled fiber

Sustana is a leader in the transformation of post-consumer waste paper into premium recycled fiber, with state-of-the-art recycling mills in De Pere, Wisconsin and Lévis, Quebec. Every day 2.2 million pounds of waste paper converge on Sustana recycling mills, where it is sorted and processed into more than 230,000 tons of post-consumer recycled fiber per year. By recycling waste paper, the mills save enough energy to power 85,000 average US homes for one year.

EnviroLife’s low environmental impact helps food-serving brands meet their sustainability goals – and answer the growing consumer demand for environmentally-friendly products. Making EnviroLife a part of your supply chain can also have implications for waste reduction and waste management. This comes at an opportune time, considering the latest reports, stating that plastics within the world’s oceans are predicted to triple within a decade.

By Jay Hunsberger, VP of Sales for Sustana Group

Originally published on Sustana's Blog. Read more here.