Smile Compostable Solutions has won the compostability category for the first-ever U.S. PlasticsPact Sustainable Packaging Innovation Award.
The award showcases companies that are eliminating problematic and unnecessary plastic packaging while taking actions to ensure that 100% of plastic packaging is reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025.
Smile Compostable Solutions is the new name of Smile Beverage Werks, PBC. The company officially changed its name earlier this month, to better reflect its aim of helping food and beverage companies meet their sustainability and carbon reduction goals by providing compostable materials for foodware and coffee packaging. The company also offers TÜV-Austria OK Home compostable straws and certified commercially compostable laminate bags.
The company was awarded the honour by a panel of expert judges in circularity and packaging engineering from leading retailers and sustainability organisations, who felt the company met the criteria of providing a product with improved environmental impact with a likelihood of commercial viability, taking into consideration the level of potential impact in moving the industry towards circularity.
Smile's coffee pods provide a compostable alternative to the PP or aluminium commonly used for coffee capsules. The pods compost whole, eliminating water waste from cleaning and lid disposal.
"This validation from the U.S. Plastics Pact should prove to companies sitting on the sustainability fence that there is an immediate compostable, carbon neutral and plant-based solution that gives everyone in the coffee pod industry the opportunity to reduce their plastic and carbon footprints to help improve the environment," said Smile Compostable Solutions CEO and Co-Founder Michael Sands.
The compostability category judges how well a product meets Biodegradable Products Institute's (BPI) composting certification standards. In addition to passing ASTM D6400 and D6868 standards, BPI Certified products must be associated with the diversion of feedstocks desired by compost manufacturers and cannot be a redesign of a product that is a better fit for recycling.
Smile’s plant-based pods are moreover certified Carbon Neutral, USDA Biobased, and CMA-W compostable.
"Smile Compostable Coffee Pods are a fully compostable packaging solution with countless opportunities for expansion. The judges were impressed with their holistic approach to making sure the full package was compostable and designed to clearly communicate that to the consumer," said Crystal Bayliss, U.S. Plastics Pact Program Manager, Circular Economy Strategic Relationships.
Its founders Michael Sands and Frankie Schuster are members of the US Plastics Pact, US Composting Council, Biodegradable Products Institute, Compost Manufacturing Alliance, and Plant-Based Products Council.